Brunswick-based mystery writer Matt Cost will be the featured author at The Sounding Board on Thursday, Nov. 9 at Merry Barn Writers’ Retreat. The Sounding Board is a new monthly forum for Midcoast writers of all abilities to share brief pieces, receive supportive feedback, and hear new work from a published author.

Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a 10-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. Cost has published five books in the Mainely Mystery series, most recently, “Mainely Wicked. Pirate Trap,” the fifth book in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, is due out in December. Cost’s historical novels include “At Every Hazard,” “Love in a Time of Hate,” and “I am Cuba.” In “Velma Gone Awry,” set in 1923 Brooklyn, Cost combines his love of histories and mysteries.

Cost will open the gathering with a reading of yet-to-be-published work and discuss his writing process. Kelsy Hartley moderates The Sounding Board. Writers who have submitted pieces for approval prior to the event will read their work and receive feedback from the audience in the form of questions and specific language that resonates with listeners.

Gathering and light refreshments begin at 5:30 p.m.; readings and feedback from 6-8 p.m. Donations welcome. For more information, contact merrybarnwritersretreat@gmail.com.