by caleb mason
Available to Preorder at Page Bottom
The Next in the Archer Island Series . . .
"In Mason's stirring follow-up to Thickafog, 68-year-old Evan Olson and his wife, Hilda, become entangled with an emotionally disturbed woman on Maine’s remote Archer Island. Mason sustains nerve-shredding suspense in scenes set at the Olsons’ storm-battered farmhouse, and he treats his potentially lurid premise with sensitivity and care. By the time the novel arrives at its affecting conclusion, readers will be wowed. Mason has done it again." (Apr. 2026)
-- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
What do you know about that person in your short-term rental unit?
In The Last Renter: An Archer Island Thriller, a dangerous mental patient escapes to Archer Island seeking revenge against her abusive stepfather and holds her elderly rental hosts captive in their remote farmhouse.
Millicent Kilvert has led a tragic life of mental illness, culminating in her being sent to an insane asylum to live out her life. She manages to escape and after killing her mother heads for Archer Island in late-November as a big coastal storm rolls into Maine. She rents the attached bungalow in an old farmhouse owned by an elderly couple, Hilda and Evan Olson. Evan leaves his wife alone with the renter as he takes the ferry to the mainland to help their pregnant daughter move into a new home. Hilda and Evan are excited to become first-time grandparents and are unaware of their renter’s past.
That first night as the storm rages, Hilda hears strange noises coming from the attached rental unit. When she creeps downstairs to investigate, what she finds will change her life forever. Will her husband Evan be able to make it back in the storm to save her? Can Hilda convince her hallucinating guest to let her seek help?
As Evan battles the high seas to rescue his wife, several townspeople converge on the farmhouse once the roads become passable. Jon Davis and Charlie Walsh, characters from Thickafog, attempt to save her. Will they succeed? Or does tragedy await?
The Last Renter is a psychological thriller exploring serious dissociative mental illness and paints a sympathetic portrait of a tragically damaged young woman.
Content Warning: Contains disturbing scenes that may be upsetting to some readers, including graphic violence, serious psychotic behavior, self-harm, sexual abuse, and death.
Read Excerpt: HERE
Pub Date: April 7, 2026
$19.95 trade paperback; ISBN: 979-8-9866178-6-2
$9.99 ebook; ISBN: 979-8-9866178-7-9
Distributors: IPG, Overdrive, and others.
Note: Indie bookstores, please order from the Independent Publishers Group (IPG) to receive the best available discount.
About the Author
Caleb Mason is the author of The Isles of Shoals Remembered: A Legacy from America’s First Artists' and Musicians' Colony (1992), about which Allen Lacy of The New York Times wrote: “Provides a fascinating look at an important time period in the American arts.” Caleb has authored five previous novels, including Thickafog (2025). He also writes under the pen name Don Trowden and has published: Normal Family (2012); No One Ran to the Altar (2016); All the Lies We Live (2019), and Young Again (2022), co-authored with Valerie McKee. Caleb welcomes reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as constructive comments on his social media outlets, where he is mostly to be found under the pen name Don Trowden.
Read author blog post about The Last Renter. Read here.
Preorder from the links below:
REVIEWS:
For Thickafog:
"In this stunning literary mystery, a gruff carpenter (Jon) becomes the primary suspect in the murder of his father. Mason burrows deep into Jon's battered psyche and paints nuanced portraits of his main characters without ever letting the intrigue slacken."
-- Starred Publishers Weekly review (March 2025)
“Thickafog is insightful and beautifully written.”
-- Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
"Murder mystery Thickafog gets Maine island life right. We care about the characters. We want the mystery of Bobby's death cleared up, and we want to see Jon's life get straightened out. Mason keeps us engaged while twisting the threads of his story into a satisfying ending."
-- The Maine Sunday Telegram (reviewed by John Alden)
"Through it all, the constant presence of the island fog—“thickafog,” as the lobstermen say—plays a recurring role. The thick fog that rolls in and blankets the island, the fog in Jon’s brain from his drinking, the fog of dementia that the “Island Queen” suffers from."
-- Clarke Canfield, The Working Waterfront
"Thickafog reveals the humanity of its characters, with all their failures and triumphs, hatreds and redeeming love, and above all the ways a community can test and nurture and connect us to each other.”
-- Wayne Karlin, author of eight novels including A Wolf by the Ears