Starting in 2023, MWPA and the Maine Crime Wave established the Lea Wait Award. Lea was a frequent panelist at the Maine Crime Wave and a finalist for the Maine Literary Award and beloved in Maine’s writing communities. She was also a USA Today best-selling author and speaker and wrote the Mainely Needlepoint mystery series, the Shadows Antique Print mystery series, and the Maine Murder Mystery series, among others.

Each year, the Lea Wait Award goes to a writer who has made significant contributions to the Maine crime writing community and whose own work exemplifies excellent writing across a variety of related genres, forms, and styles. In 2023, we gave the first Lea Wait Award to Kathy Lynn Emerson, and Kate Flora and Sarah Graves have also received the award. This year, we are pleased to present the Lea Wait Award to Barbara Ross.

Barbara Ross is the author of twelve mystery novels and six novellas in the Maine Clambake series, all published by Kensington. Her books have been nominated for multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and have won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. You can visit her website at www.maineclambakemysteries.com. She has also written the Jane Darrowfield Mysteries. Barbara’s first mystery novel, The Death of an Ambitious Woman, was published in 2010. In her former life, Barbara was a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of successful start-ups in educational technology. She and her husband live in Portland, Maine.

Lea Wait Award 2026