“SHIPS, SWINDLERS AND SCALDED HOGS: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CROOKER SHIPYARD IN BATH, MAINE

By Frederic B. Hill

Down East Books, 2016

273 pages, $26.95

Relax, readers! No hogs were scalded or harmed in any way in the title of this book. However, two prominent Bath businessmen brothers were scorched by shysters, swindlers and con artists in this history of a prosperous Maine family’s rise and fall during the mid-1800s.

“Ships, Swindlers, And Scalded Hogs” is by Arrowsic author Frederic Hill, a former foreign service officer and journalist. He tells the intriguing history of the Crooker brothers of Bath, William and Charles, the creation of their successful shipbuilding empire and their dramatic downfall amidst liars, thieves, bad decisions and a bitter family feud.

Hill’s tale is also a history of Bath shipbuilding in the 1800s, “the golden age of wooden ships,” including insight into the shipbuilding business, the economics of global maritime trade, and the lives of the men and women who made Bath a nationally known shipbuilding center (22 shipyards) by the 1850s.

The focus, however, is on Charles (1797-1877) and William (1805-1868) Crooker and how they built a commercial empire in Bath, beginning as storekeepers, moving into shipbuilding, and owning and operating their own fleet of wooden-hulled sailing vessels, owning shares in others. They enjoyed nearly 20 years of financial success, but then the wind went out of their sails.

By the 1850s the brothers lived next door to each other, but didn’t speak. Their company dissolved after crushing losses from over-extension, unwise borrowing, failed sidelines, neglect of debts and sensational swindles by their own cousin. Court fights, lawsuits and scandals followed, leaving Charles to his hobby of botany and William in jail.

Hill’s excellent history of the Crooker brothers is a cautionary tale of business gone bad — and all the things that can go wrong if somebody isn’t paying attention to the bottom line.

SHADOWS ON A MORNING IN MAINE: AN ANTIQUE PRINT MYSTERY

By Lea Wait

Perseverance Press, 2016

240 pages, $15.95

Maggie Summer is an antique print dealer, all set to open a gallery in the small fishing village of Waymouth, Maine. She is new to this insular community and is eager to fit in. But she must first solve a gruesome and surprising murder.

“Shadows On A Morning In Maine” is the eighth book in Lea Wait’s “Antique Print Mystery” series, featuring Maggie as an amateur detective, sort of a middle-aged Nancy Drew. Wait lives in Edgecomb, and is also the author of the “Mainely Needlepoint Mystery” series and five young adult novels.

This story is a nice blend of mystery, suspense, intrigue and personal angst as Maggie solves crimes and tries to adopt a precocious 9-year-old girl. Maggie and her long-time boyfriend, Will Brewer, work hard to prepare for the gallery opening, but the brutal, senseless killing of harbor seals interrupts their efforts. And then somebody knocks off a popular young lobsterman with two bullets to the head.

Maggie may be a newcomer in town and despite the warnings from police to keep her nose out of their homicide investigation, she just cannot help herself — she is determined to solve the murder. She is nosy and persistent, and soon suspects emerge, but she cannot uncover a motive for the killing.

Meanwhile, the pending adoption is creating second thoughts about being a single mom, and Will reveals a startling secret about his past professional life. Maggie is stunned, but she does not share her own family secret with Will or anyone else.

Maggie’s own investigation into the murder narrows and she finally convinces a state police detective to take a chance on her risky plan to draw out the killer.

Lea Wait is at the top of her game here.

Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell

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