Good Morning, Booklovers!
Who would have thought we’d be mowing lawns in April in the Midwest? And then it snowed yesterday! So, it's a little too cool for deck time. In fact, I have the fireplace on this morning. Pull up a chair and settle in for this week’s interview with mystery author Edith Maxwell.
Welcome, Edith. How do you take your coffee?
EM: I drink two cups of a good dark roast, the darker the better, with a splash of whole milk. I carry it upstairs to my office in a Contigo travel mug – even though my commute is all of thirty seconds – because I like it to stay hot.
Ally: My magic pot can duplicate that, so while I pour, tell readers a little of your background.
Who would have thought we’d be mowing lawns in April in the Midwest? And then it snowed yesterday! So, it's a little too cool for deck time. In fact, I have the fireplace on this morning. Pull up a chair and settle in for this week’s interview with mystery author Edith Maxwell.
Welcome, Edith. How do you take your coffee?
EM: I drink two cups of a good dark roast, the darker the better, with a splash of whole milk. I carry it upstairs to my office in a Contigo travel mug – even though my commute is all of thirty seconds – because I like it to stay hot.
Ally: My magic pot can duplicate that, so while I pour, tell readers a little of your background.
Bio:
Agatha Award-winning author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she pens the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell is a member of Mystery Writers of America and a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime. She lives with her beau and maniac cat north of Boston, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook: Edith M. Maxwell and Maddie Day Author. She blogs with the Wicked Authors and at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, and can also be found at twitter and Instagram.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “I was a certified childbirth educator and taught classes to expecting couples in my living room. I also worked as a doula, doing labor support.”
Agatha Award-winning author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she pens the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell is a member of Mystery Writers of America and a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime. She lives with her beau and maniac cat north of Boston, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook: Edith M. Maxwell and Maddie Day Author. She blogs with the Wicked Authors and at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, and can also be found at twitter and Instagram.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “I was a certified childbirth educator and taught classes to expecting couples in my living room. I also worked as a doula, doing labor support.”
INTERVIEW:
Ally: When did you first decide to pursue writing as a career? Is it your only career, or do you have a “day” job?
EM: I started writing stories as a child. I kept writing for the next few decades but it was non fiction: journalism, essays, academic writing, and technical documentation. My first short story as an adult was published in 1999, and my first novel didn’t come out until 2012. I left my most recent day job in 2014 – and haven’t looked back. I’m living my dream, writing 3-4 books a year.
Ally: What is the hardest part of writing?
EM: For me it’s the middle of the book. I get stuck every time. I’m currently writing the middle of my 29th mystery, and I’m oddly more inspired by this story than in previous books. Stand by for news!
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
EM: Traits of real people show up, for sure - people I know well and people I’ve only seen walking down the street. I’ll remind myself to include a character who walks like that guy, laughs like that friend, wears a coat with flair like a woman on the bus, has ears like that kid.
Ally: What's the best writing/marketing advice you’d like to pass on to other writers?
EM: Write – butt in the chair, fingers on the keyboard. Write the best book you can. Fix it, and fix it some more. Then find your tribe (like Sisters in Crime), learn from them, and write some more.
Ally: What is your next writing project?
EM: I’m writing (as Maddie Day) Murder in a Cape Cottage, the fourth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery. It will likely release in fall, 2022.
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you choose to answer?
EM:
Ally: When did you first decide to pursue writing as a career? Is it your only career, or do you have a “day” job?
EM: I started writing stories as a child. I kept writing for the next few decades but it was non fiction: journalism, essays, academic writing, and technical documentation. My first short story as an adult was published in 1999, and my first novel didn’t come out until 2012. I left my most recent day job in 2014 – and haven’t looked back. I’m living my dream, writing 3-4 books a year.
Ally: What is the hardest part of writing?
EM: For me it’s the middle of the book. I get stuck every time. I’m currently writing the middle of my 29th mystery, and I’m oddly more inspired by this story than in previous books. Stand by for news!
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
EM: Traits of real people show up, for sure - people I know well and people I’ve only seen walking down the street. I’ll remind myself to include a character who walks like that guy, laughs like that friend, wears a coat with flair like a woman on the bus, has ears like that kid.
Ally: What's the best writing/marketing advice you’d like to pass on to other writers?
EM: Write – butt in the chair, fingers on the keyboard. Write the best book you can. Fix it, and fix it some more. Then find your tribe (like Sisters in Crime), learn from them, and write some more.
Ally: What is your next writing project?
EM: I’m writing (as Maddie Day) Murder in a Cape Cottage, the fourth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery. It will likely release in fall, 2022.
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you choose to answer?
EM:
- a. most watched tv show: “Call the Midwife”
- b. a movie you’ll always remember: “Bridges of Madison County” – I am a total sucker for sappy romances.
- c. the best thing a book fan has ever said to you: “Your book got me through my mom’s eight-hour surgery. Thank you.”
- d. Your pets: Maniac one-year-old teen tiger cat Ganesh. He’s sweet – and he’s crazy and dangerous.
- e. favorite comfort food: Warm home-baked bread with tons of butter. Or a warm steamed tamale. Or a bowl of hot rice with butter and salt. Or a bowl of hot pasta with homemade pesto. The theme is starch!
A Changing Light (A Quaker Midwife Mystery)
Genre: historical traditional mystery
PG-13
Midwife Rose Carroll sees signs of progress and change everywhere. Her New England mill town presents its 1890 annual Spring Opening, when world-famous carriage manufacturers throw open their doors to visitors from all over the globe. This year’s festivities are tainted when a representative from a prominent Canadian carriage company is murdered, and plans for a radical new horseless carriage go missing. Faced with the question of whether the two crimes are connected—and a list of suspects that includes some of Amesbury’s own residents and any number of foreign visitors—Rose delves into a case with implications for the future, even if the motive for murder is one of mankind’s oldest.
Find A Changing Light here:
Jabberwocky Bookshop (specify in the comments who you would like Edith’s signature endorsed to)
Amazon
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