The first in a series of four mysteries by a former Old Town resident and newspaper editor was published in November under Berkley Publishing Group’s Charter/Diamond imprint. “Murder at the Spa” was written by Stefanie Matteson, who was editor of the Old Town-Orono Times (then the Penobscot Times) from 1974 to 1976. She is a summer resident of Seal Harbor.

Set in an upstate New York spa town modeled after Saratoga Springs, “Murder at the Spa” won first prize in a writing contest sponsored by the Pen & Brush, a distinguished organization of women writers and artists.

The second book in the series, “Murder at Teatime,” due out in March, is set on an island off the Maine coast, and involves a rare book collector, a crusty old lobsterman and an expert on herbs.

“Murder on the Cliff,” the third book in the series, will be published in November, and takes place on the famous cliff walk in Newport, R.I., among the mansions of the resort town’s Gilded Age.

Matteson is now at work on the fourth book in the Charlotte Graham series, tentatively titled, “Murder on the Silk Road.” It will be set in China’s Gobi desert.