AUBURN – When Jenifer LeClair boarded her first windjammer in 1995 in Rockport for a weeklong sailing cruise, she had no idea her destiny was also tied to that ship and the others on which she would subsequently sail.

Thursday, July 17, at 6:30 p.m., the author will be at Percy’s Burrow in the Auburn Mall to discuss “Rigged for Murder,” the first book in her Windjammer Mystery Series, now available in trade paperback at bookstores and online for $14.95.

“When I was in my 30s, I read an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press about the Lewis French, the oldest of the Maine windjammers. I fell in love with the whole idea of those ships. But I had two young children, and there was no question of taking them along,” LeClair said in a prepared statement.

She finally got the chance to take her first cruise in 1995, and has been back many times. Over the years, she has spent much time in Maine, doing research and sailing on windjammers. Her adventures have taken her through pea soup fog and high seas. She has helped raise and furl many sails and has taken her turn at the wheel. She has sailed to remote islands in the Gulf of Maine, been aboard the winning ship in the Gloucester Schooner Race off the coast of Gloucester, Mass., and has been on deck during a gale off the coast of New Brunswick.

“Rigged for Murder” revolves around Minneapolis homicide detective Brie Beaumont who is fighting post-traumatic stress after being shot and takes a leave from the department. Beaumont heads for Maine where she has family roots, and for the sea where she feels at home. She ships out on the Maine Wind for an early season cruise with Captain John DuLac and eight others. Caught in a gale, they anchor off remote Granite Island. When someone aboard is murdered, Beaumont reluctantly resumes the mantle of investigator.

The action moves from the ship to the small fishing village of Lobsterman’s Cove and from there to the forests and cliffs of Granite Island. Snug Harbor Bed and Breakfast affords refuge to the sailors and a place for Beaumont to conduct her investigation. Plagued by flashbacks and fighting a growing attraction to Captain DuLac, she works to unravel a mystery that will place her directly in the path of a psychopathic killer.

A graduate of Trinity College in Burlington, Vt., with a bachelor’s degree in English literature, Leclair lives in St. Paul, Minn. For more information on “Rigged for Murder,” log on to www.windjammermysteries.com.


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