Out of the ‘Shadows’ Edgecomb author Lea Wait makes her mark with mysteries, children’s books

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Antiques have long been a mainstay of the Maine economy.

So maybe it’s logical that a series of books about a mystery-solving antiques dealer would be written by a Maine author.

Lea Wait is the right person to be writing such novels. The Edgecomb resident is a fourth-generation antiques dealer (her specialty is prints), and she is on the board of directors of the Maine Antique Dealers Association. Antiques and history are her twin passions, and have led her to write her Shadows Antique Print mysteries and a second series of children’s historical novels set in Wiscasset in the 19th century.

This new career as a novelist has happened for Wait since moving to Maine in 1998 to live in the 1774 colonial that has been in her family since the 1950s.

“I’ve wanted to live in Maine, to write and be an antiques dealer,” she said in a recent interview in her living room. “It took a little while, but I’ve finally managed to pull it all together.”

It took Wait, who will be holding two readings Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Bangor Public Library, quite a few years to obtain this happy arrangement.

Wait, 57, has been writing since high school. After graduating as an English major from Chatham College in Pittsburgh, the New Jersey native ended up working in public relations for AT&T. She became a single mother by adopting girls from Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and India, and wrote articles and books on the subject of adoption.

She studied the business of antiques by growing up around her grandmother, a dealer who specialized in old dolls and toys. Wait fondly recalls buying at auction, at age 9, a first edition of the Encyclopedia Americana from 1829-30.

“I learned a great deal about antiques through osmosis,” she said.

Wait started her antiques business in 1976, but her mother took care of most of the day-to-day operations, while she concentrated on her day job and raising her four girls.

She wrote her first mystery while living in New Jersey, working on it in the early mornings and late nights “as an exercise in writing sustained fiction.”

Wait sent off the manuscript to 40 literary agents, then collected the same number of rejection letters. Then she tucked the novel away in the bottom drawer of her desk.

Next came a buyout offer from AT&T in 1997.

“I was thrilled, because it meant I could move here full time,” Wait said.

In 2001, Margaret K. McElderry Books published her first children’s book based in Wiscasset, “Stepping to Home,” which was named among “Notable Children’s Books of 2001” by Smithsonian Magazine, and one of “The Best Children’s Books of 2001” by the Bank Street College of Education.

Wait was excited by this development, as “I love writing historical fiction, and I love writing for children.”

About this same time, she belonged to a critique group of fledgling authors. Since Wait had precious little fiction available to share, she dug what would become the first Shadows Antique Print mystery out of the bottom drawer. After a positive response from the group, she contacted her children’s book editor, who encouraged her to send along the manuscript.

Wait cleaned up and shipped off the mystery. Then she waited, and waited, and waited.

Finally, 11 months later, she got a call from her editor, who asked if she would be home that night. Then she received a call from Suzanne Kirk, a senior executive editor at Scribner, who offered her a multibook contract and asked when she could have another book written.

“Shadows at the Fair” came out in 2002, and earned an Agatha Award nomination for Best First Traditional Mystery. “Shadows on the Coast of Maine” followed in 2003, with “Shadows on the Ivy” coming out this year. Next up is “Shadows at the Spring Show,” due out next year.

The “Shadows” protagonist, Maggie Summers, reflects Wait in many ways. She lives in New Jersey and is an antiques prints dealer who is considering adoption as a single mom. The “Shadows” books are rich in detail about the antique dealer’s life, with a capsule description of a print, which Wait at the time owned, leading off each chapter.

Her children’s books have continued apace as well. “Seaward Born” was released in 2003, and was named one of the “Best Children’s Books of 2003” by the Bank Street College of Education and was selected for the International Reading Association Teachers’ Choices Booklist for 2004. Her latest release, which came out in September, is “Wintering Well,” which tells the story of how the lives of a young boy and his sister are changed after he loses his leg in an accident. She’s just now starting the research for her next book, “Finest Kind,” which is due at her publisher in January.

How does Wait juggle her writing and her antiques business? She gives a lot of the credit to her husband, Bob Thomas. The couple have known each other since 1968, when they worked together at AT&T, but they didn’t marry until last October.

Thomas largely manages the antiques business and takes care of their home, as well as running his own digital-photography business on the side. That frees her up to concentrate on her writing. She estimated that she spends 90 percent of her time on writing-related activities and 10 percent on antiques.

The walls of their home are lined with bookcases, organized by subjects and types, and artwork, both antique and modern. Wait writes on a computer in her office, which is complete with a minifridge and a tea kettle.

Between Wait’s two careers, the couple finds themselves frequently on the road. At one point last year, they were visiting San Francisco while one car was parked at the Baltimore airport and their van packed with prints was parked at her sister’s house in Hartford. She laughed as she recalled a signing at a small bookstore in Westerly, R.I., whose handwritten sign advertised “Meet two authors and a donkey.”

“That’s life on the road,” she said. “You have to be extremely flexible.”

Wait has found that, although retired, she’s still putting in 12-hour days. But she’s not complaining. As her husband explains, “We’re both living our dreams.”

Lea Wait will speak on her children’s books at 11 a.m. and her mysteries at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St., Bangor. For more information on the author, access www.leawait.com. Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.