DEER ISLE, Maine — Thomas Ricks first came to Maine as a boy on camping trips with his family, then later in college for a summer job as a timber marker for a paper company. “I couldn’t believe that people would pay me to walk through the woods,” he said, smiling at the memory.
When assigned to some swampy woodlands in Aroostook County, though, he discovered the downside of the job. “I spent most of the summer there just covered in black flies and mosquitoes. I would reach up behind my ear and just bring down wads of blood and bugs.”
After college, Ricks became an award-winning reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Now retired from daily journalism, he divides his time between Deer Isle and Austin, Texas, and has just written a crime novel set on the Maine coast called “Everyone Knows But You.” The setting was important to him, almost like a character in the book.
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“I love Maine,” he said. “And I think what this book is, in retrospect, is a love letter to Maine wrapped in what looks like a conventional mystery novel.”
Some people need to exercise every day. Ricks said he needs to write. Getting the words onto the page is a pleasure, especially when he’s writing fiction and letting his imagination run free.
“A Maine policeman said to me [about a plot detail], ‘You know, Tom, the FBI does not have jurisdiction over murders in Acadia National Park.’ And I said, you know what? In my book, they do.”
When Ricks signed a deal for “Everyone Knows But You,” his publisher insisted that he commit to writing a sequel, something he happily agreed to. The sequel is already finished and he’s now well into his third novel in the series. Part of the reason the writing flows easily is that sixty years after he first started coming to Maine, Ricks remains enchanted by its natural beauty.
“I think my favorite spot in the entire state is the Schoodic Peninsula part of Acadia National Park,” he says. “I think it’s probably one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I’ve been all around the world and the Schoodic Peninsula is just wonderful.”