By Steve Pappas

Now is the time to be thinking about those holiday presents. Whether it’s for your scholarly father-in-law or your eccentric great aunt, there is no better gift than a book by a Maine author or a book about Maine.

As you shop, here are a few books to consider as you twice check your own list.

Mystery

You can’t go wrong with a good Downeast whodunnit.

Wayne Libhart of Seal Cove, the author of several Maine-based mysteries, has put together a tautly written thriller that feels like a Maine script of CBS’s “Cold Case.” Part mystery, part legal thriller, “The Mystery of the Clone’s Grave” (self-published, $10.95) pulls the reader through familiar corners of Hancock County (and its coastline).

“Clone’s Grave” has all of the elements of a sufficiently tangled web that spans years. But it’s Libhart’s knowledge of the region and his eye for detail that make this such an engaging read. It is a first-rate story about a disappearance, replete with a cast of characters you’ll swear you know personally.

Libhart, who was born in Brewer, served in the U.S. Navy. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He was a trial lawyer until his retirement in 1993. He is a veteran of World War II and the Korean War and is a retired captain in the naval reserve. Libhart also has served in the legislature.

Copies of “Clone’s Grave” are available at local bookstores, including Sherman’s and Mr. Paperback.

Island Art

Artists know Monhegan Island. For generations, it has been a refuge for painters — some of the finest ever to take up a brush. Carl Little of Town Hill, a renowned art expert and writer, has produced “The Art of Monhegan Island” (Down East Books, $40) that explores artists’ perceptions of Monhegan’s bold landscape and imagery. “Painters known for their urban landscapes or society portraits have found themselves transfixed by the dramatic headlands and inspired by the stoic island families,” Little writes in the introduction. And like those non-islanders who find themselves drawn to Monhegan, it is easy to get lost in book’s dozens of paintings. Little gives a wonderful art history of Monhegan. For anyone who loves Maine or art, this is a perfect gift.

It is available in local bookstores and online booksellers.

Maine History

Students of the U.S. Civil War and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain will enjoy “The Grand Old Man of Maine: Selected Letters of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 1865-1914” (University of North Carolina Press).

While some in the Civil War community complain of “Chamberlain fatigue,” it is difficult to gripe about this marvelous new collection of postwar correspondence from one of the most articulate officers on either side of the conflict.

Chamberlain survived the Civil War — including a horrible wound at Petersburg — to become one of Maine’s most prominent citizens. His postwar career included four terms as governor of Maine, a stint as president of Bowdoin College, numerous business enterprises, and perhaps most importantly, many years as a writer and lecturer on his Civil War experiences.

The correspondence included by editor Jeremiah Goulka covers nearly every aspect of Chamberlain’s personal and professional life. Chamberlain’s heartfelt letters to his family, especially those to his wife Fannie, reveal him to be a loving, thoughtful husband and father. His relationship with Fannie, stormy and difficult though it was for many years, survived numerous crises until Fannie’s death in 1905.

It is available in local bookstores on at online booksellers.

Frozen in Time

Got someone on your list who loves photography? “Maine 24/7: Amazing Photographs of An Extraordinary State” (DK Publishing) is part of a nationwide project to feature, in pictures only, a week in each state. Maine’s was released in late September. It is an all-digital project. “The exuberant democracy of images visible throughout these books is a revelation,” write the book’s editors in their introduction. Each picture tells a story about life in Maine. And many of them will leave indelible images in the mind’s eye. What’s especially unique about this series of books is the buyer can customize the book’s cover by adding their own digital image (at a cost, of course.) This coffee table book is a worthy collection for $25.

It is available in local bookstores on at online booksellers.

On the Water

Anyone with an interest in Maine’s waterfront industries should delve into “The Lobster Coast” by Colin Woodard, “The Secret Life of Lobster” by Trevor Corson and “Ralph Stanley: Tales of a Maine Boatbuilder” (Down East Books) by Stanley and Craig S. Milner. All three books have received critical accolades for their behind-the-scenes perspectives of the fishing and boatbuilding industries.

Woodard synthesizes the history of Maine’s coast and ponders its future. His text both begins and concludes with Monhegan Island, where one of the earliest English colonizers anchored and whose inhabitants today cater to tourists in the summer and to lobstermen in the winter. It’s a microcosm of wider themes in Maine history.

In Corson’s intimate portrait of an island lobstering community and an eccentric band of renegade biologists, the journalist escorts readers onto the slippery decks of fishing boats, through danger-filled scuba dives and deep into the churning Gulf of Maine currents to learn about the secret undersea lives of lobsters. In revelations from the laboratory and the sea that are by turns astonishing and humorous, the lobster proves itself to be a delicious meal and a sustainable resource.

Then there is Downeast Maine’s beloved Stanley. He is one of the best-known, most talented designers and builders of wooden boats in the state, if not the entire nation. Widely recognized, in particular, for his shapely lobster boats and Friendship sloops, Stanley has spent a lifetime in the shop and at the drawing board. Here, with the help of veteran boatbuilding journalist and professional photographer Craig Milner, Stanley tells the fascinating, colorful story of his family, neighbors, boats and his extraordinary career.

If it’s humor and adventure you seek, there is always Isle au Haut resident (and local celebrity) Linda Greenlaw’s “All Fishermen Are Liars: True Tales from the Dry Dock Bar.”  (Hyperion, $22.95) In her third book, Greenlaw takes time off from fishing to tell more stories of the sailing life. The 228-page book is made up of tales from the high seas she swears are true, even though many of them feel like fishing stories. Pound of hake for pound of hake, they are, for the most part, amusing and fun.

All three books are available in local bookstores and online.

Notes from Inside

The Volunteers for Hancock Jail Residents (VHJR) recently published a small book written by inmates. “Notes From Inside: Writings by Residents of Hancock County Jail, Ellsworth, Maine,” includes thought-provoking poems, essays and some artwork. The book includes information for contributing to Downeast Health Services, a nonprofit organization and VHJR sponsor. Proceeds from the book go to VHJR.

Copies are $5 each and available at Mr. Paperback, Blue Hill Books or by logging on to www.jailvolunteers.org.

Maine Voices

The Maine Voices Project, an arm of The Wilderness Society, published a wonderful collection of essays about landmarks statewide. “Maine Voices: A Celebration of the People of Maine and the Places They Love” includes about 75 essays — some of them written by accomplished writers; others by common (but very articulate) folk. The subject matter ranges from “Country Life” to “Little Jewel” (about Somes Pond) to “Maine on a Bicycle” to “Potato Picker’s Special.”

In the book’s forward, Governor John Baldacci writes “Maine has many voices and many outstanding landmarks, but we only have one future. To go confidently into that future, we need to listen to one another — closely and with deep respect for differing experiences and opinions.”

It is available in local bookstores on at online booksellers.

Compilations

Three anthologies from this year are worth noting — all of them quite distinct from one another.

“When Foley Craddock Tore Off My Grandfather’s Thumb: The Collected Stories of Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayor” (Blackberry Press) is a delightful look at coastal life and wholesome Maine characters.

Moore and Mayor were regional writers who spent many years on Gott’s Island. Many of their stories communicate a way of life rather than characters.

It is available at local bookstores.

“The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices from the Robert Frost Place, Volume II” (CavanKerry Press) is collection of poems from participants in several weeklong seminars held since 1979 by The Frost Place, A Center for Poetry and Arts, located in Franconia, N.H. The 520-page collection includes poems by several Mainers, including writer Carl Little of Town Hill and novelist William Carpenter of Stockton Springs. For poetry lovers, it is a must.

It is available in local bookstores on at online booksellers.

Likewise, “Eggemoggin Reach Review: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry” ($14.95) is a collection of works by The Deer Isle Writers’ Group and The Eggemoggin Writers’ Collaborative.

The book has 28 contributors whose work ranges from short stories to poems.