Meet the Author: Wolfe Trap by Matt Cost

Today we travel to Brunswick, Maine to chat with Matt Cost about how a video store, Fidel Castro, teaching history, jazz music, the Cuban Revolution, great advice, Jukebox Hero, and a blind pony come together as part of Matt’s past and current life.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Over the years, I have owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. I have also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

I live in Brunswick, Maine, with my wife, Harper. We have four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. I now spend my days at the computer, writing.

In which genre do you write?

I write histories and mysteries. Historical fiction and mystery.

How many published books do you have?

6. Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War; At Every Hazard, I am Cuba; Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution, Mainely Power, Mainely Fear, Mainely Money, Wolfe Trap. I am under contract for Love in a Time of Hate, Mind Trap, Mainely Angst, and Mouse Trap.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer and what ignited your author’s flame?

I had an inkling I wanted to be a writer when I was eight, but this did not ignite into flame until my senior year in college when a Latin American History teacher got me excited to write a book about Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. It was his sheer passion for the subject that burst me into flames.

What is an interesting writing quirk you have, that we wouldn’t know by reading your biography?

My desk is in a corner of the living room, and I write with headphones on listening to jazz music. My wife and four kids and three dogs could be having a party behind me, and I wouldn’t know it.

What are you currently reading?

Celestine by Kevin St. Jarre

Where did the idea for your most recent book come from?

A story in the paper about a mother who was wiping the residue from her heroin bag on her infant daughter’s gums to get her to stop crying. While in the short term it worked, the end result was not good. This is the premise for Wolfe Trap.

What do you do when not writing or marketing your books?

Travel. I’ve been to Cuba, Iceland, Russia, and all over Europe to name a few places.

What songs hit you with a wave of nostalgia every time you hear them?

Jukebox Hero by Foreigner

If you could have a fantasy tea or coffee date with an author or famous person from the past or present, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Robert B. Parker. Where did Spenser come from?

What’s a great piece of advice you’ve received lately?

Write true to yourself.

Share an interesting or funny story from your childhood.

When I was seven, I owned a blind pony. He used to get spooked by chickens and other sounds when I rode him. One day, startled, he took off running and I was unable to rein him in. We rode straight into a swimming pool. No ponies or young boys were injured in this incident.

You can have anyone fictional as your imaginary friend, who do you choose and why?

Spenser. I like his amusing, affectionate, but no-nonsense style.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently writing the first draft of the fourth book in my Clay Wolfe/Port Essex series. The first book, Wolfe Trap, came out June 23rd.

Tell us about your most recent book and where we can find it.

Wolfe Trap is about heroin being smuggled through lobster traps in a coastal Maine town. When a woman comes into the office of PI Clay Wolfe to hire him to uncover who sold the drugs that killed her grandbaby, he has no idea of the storm that is going to follow. The book is filled with a colorful setting and flamboyant characters. The plot twists its way through the underbelly of Port Essex, from hardworking fishermen to wealthy summer residents. The end is as shocking as the beginning and will leave the reader rapt within the pages.

It was great having you be a part of MTA, Matt. Wishing all the best and much success with your writing! – Camilla

More About Matt:

Matt Cost, from Brunswick, Maine, in the U.S., is the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of the Mainely Mystery series. The first book, Mainely Power, was selected as the Maine Humanities Council Read ME fiction book of 2020. This was followed by Mainely Fear and Mainely Money.

I Am Cuba: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution was his first traditionally published novel in March of 2020. A second historical, Love in a Time of Hate, will be published in August of 2021.

Wolfe Trap was the first in the Clay Wolfe Port Essex Trap series. Mind Trap, will be published in October of 2021, and Mouse Trap will follow in April of 2022.

Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

Where to find the book:

Wolfe Trap on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wolfe-Trap-Clay-Essex-Mystery/dp/1645991695/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=wolfe+trap&qid=1624628273&sr=8-2

Connect with Matt:

Website: https://www.mattcost.net

Twitter: @MattCost8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matt.cost.3/

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