"What about this one?" I asked, passing several oil paintings and pointing to another large needlework. "It looks like a coat of arms."

"It does. Although about a third of the stitching is gone. I wonder if it was done here, or in England? Stitching coats of arms was more common there. Americans didn't have family crests or coats of arms."

The coat of arms was in poor condition. The glass protecting it was cracked, and dirt had sifted onto the embroidery. Threads were broken or missing in several places, so only part of the crest was clear, and the linen backing was torn in several places. Still, it fascinated me...-- Lea Wait, Thread HerringsSuch a delight today to talk to the extraordinary Lea Wait. Life-long advocate for single-parent adoption and the adoption of older children, writer of historical books for young people and cozy mysteries for adults, Lea is as fascinating as her novels. Start by checking out her website, which includes discussion guides for her Antique Print Mystery Series and teacher guides for her books for children.

Like Maggie Summer, the heroine of her first series, Lea has worked as an antique dealer. She credits her grandmother -- also a dealer, in dolls and toys -- with sparking her love for antiques and auctions. The warmth in her novels is clearly echoed in our conversation when she talks about her family and the community of antique dealers -- which didn't stop her from plotting to kill some of them off! On the page only, of course.

Lea has so many books, I'm going to fail in any attempt at getting them all in order. However, her own website does a terrific job of parsing them so I'll link you back to that, and of course to her author page on Amazon. Although they're not mysteries, if you have children in your life, do check out her historical novels. As you'll see from our conversation, they give a very nuanced look at life in the 1800s.

In addition to her website, you can keep up with Lea on Facebook and Goodreads. 

As always, if you'd rather read than listen, the transcript is below. Enjoy!

-- Laura

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Transcript of Interview with Lea Wait

Laura Brennan: Author Lea Wait has written historicals, children's books, nonfiction, and not one, not two, but three cozy series set in her home state of Maine.

Lea, thank you for joining me.

Lea Wait: It's wonderful to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

LB: You are so interesting and accomplished that I almost don't know where to start. But since I'm a theater person, let us start with college because you majored in drama and English.

LW: I did indeed. It's been actually an immense help. I'm not sure my family was enthused at the moment, but I always wanted to be a writer and by working the theater, I learned a lot about dialogue.

LB: Well, you are writing professionally pretty much from the get-go. You are writing speeches and films. How did you get started?

LW: Well, actually, I did think I was probably just going to go on to graduate school -- writers, they teach, so -- but I ended up with a job interview and I ended up talking to someone who had graduated from the Yale School of Drama, and he said, "You write plays." And I said, yes. He said, "Have you got any with you?" Of course I was young, I graduated from college early, so I was 20, long blonde hair, protest marches on weekends -- dates me a little bit.

LB: Not at all, no. [Laughter]

LW: But I pulled out, I think it was a play -- children's theater, so was like a chipmunk and a rabbit or something, definitely simplistic stuff. And he actually sat at his big mahogany desk and read several pages and looked at me and said, "You can write dialogue." And I said, "Yes, I can." And he said, "Then you can write executive speeches."

The first executive speech I wrote was for the president of what was then part of AT&T, the Western Electric Company. I became fascinated.