Fans of Jerry Farnham’s “Red At Night” series about the Finn family will soon learn how it all works out in the end when “Last Light” is published early in the fall. This final installment picks up four years after “Red in the Morning.”

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Jerry. We talked about how he knew it was time to end the series, and how he felt about it. His life has been intertwined with the Finn Family of Boothbay Harbor since 2015 when he began writing the first book, “Red At Night.” Six years later, it was published on Nov. 4, 2021 by Bookbaby.

He said he’d already had ending the series in mind as he wrote “First Light,” the book that revealed the back stories of the characters in response to questions readers had about what made the characters tick and more about their past.

“Well, yes and no. I already had it in my mind that I couldn't do anything more with these characters. I mean, even after ‘First Light,' I’m thinking, they’ve dealt with human trafficking, drug smuggling, high speed gun chases ... And I'm like, you know, if I do anything else crazy, or too much crazy after ‘Last Light’ I'm jumping the shark ... So I decided I needed to end these characters where they ended up and be happy with it.”

Readers may remember “Read in the Morning” ended with the birth of Jack and Melissa’s son. And, like the entire Finn clan and the town of Boothbay Harbor, really, readers needed that joyous moment, too. Who can forget the tension created by the drug smuggling operation and its international ties, and the death of the family’s patriarch, Russell Finn.

“Last Light” picks up four years later. Jack and Melissa, now parents of two children, are adjusting to life with kids, about kids and for the kids. Melissa’s roles in the Hollywood films she made in no way prepared her for this one – the most important, all-consuming one of all.

The former Hollywood A-lister was a happily married wife and mother in a small coastal Maine community. In addition to his role as a father, Jack’s also coping with a changing lobster industry that’s forcing him to go out further for lobster – and taking more risks.

“And, it’s easy to understand why locals begin thinking he's going soft with all of her Hollywood money – which he’s not. But he makes it a point to try to prove himself,” said Farnham.

The entire family works at the restaurant, opened in the second book, every summer. And here’s where things get tough for Melissa: Some people remember her and ask for her autograph while others have no idea who she is, or was.

“This all creates a bit of insecurity for her. And when another character comes into the story, who's an up-and-coming Hollywood actress ... Yeah, there's some conflict there.”

Jerry shared a bit more about the Melissa storyline: She’s contacted by a film director she’d worked with “back in the day” about becoming an advisor on a movie to be filmed in Boothbay Harbor. Jerry created this scenario as a means for Melissa to prove she’s “still got it” and feel she’s still part of the Hollywood scene. So now we have an inkling into how Melissa meets the up and comer.

So far, it sounds like Farnham’s fans, who’ve stayed on this journey, might get a bit of a breather in “Last Light” from the child sex trafficking tackled in his first book, “Red At Night” to the drug smuggling in “Red in the Morning.” And no one could say Jerry ever shied away from taking on the serious and insidious.

True to form, he’d already begun writing the first three or four chapters of the book kicking off his new series, this one featuring FBI agent Lizzie Williams from “Red in the Morning.”

Jerry made a point of noting how much he’s enjoyed working with Bryan Soames out Texas way. Jerry found him on an online book forum and sent Bryan a photo of dad Fred Farnham’s fiberglass 38 Young Brothers boat, aka Jerry’s dream boat, with the color scheme he wanted. Since then Bryan has created all of Jerry’s book cover art.

When Jerry’s not hanging with the family, working a full-time job, or writing, he attends book launches. A few Christmases ago, he met author Tom Cotton at an authors event. Cotton is a retired Bangor Police Department lieutenant, who'd already had essays and other works published. But one thing they had in common was Cotton's first novel was also published in 2021. Naturally the two got to talking and every now and then Jerry would check in with Tom online.

Last fall, after realizing he wouldn’t be able to attend the book launch for “First Light” that October, to help promote Jerry’s event, in an online post Cotton wrote,“If you want to buy a few good books, uniquely written, with humor and heart, drop by Brady's this afternoon and support Maine's Blue Collar Writer, Jerry Farnham.”

Cotton wrote another endorsement, this one for "Last Light": "Maine’s Blue Collar Author is at it again! Farnham is an engaging writer who can translate coastal Maine’s mischief and mayhem into language that even the unsalted can embrace and enjoy. Jerry has ground out another tale to keep you up for just one more chapter. “Last Light” has arrived, and it illuminates the family chaos and small-town secrets surrounding Jack and Melissa Finn. While Boothbay Harbor is quintessential “Maine,” there’s a lot you don’t know—but Farnham does." 

For more about Farnham, and to get a jump on the pre-sale of “Last Light,” visit his new website: https://jerryfarnham.com/