Interview with Edith Maxwell – Cozy Mystery Author

 Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

E: First, thanks for asking me over, Babs! I’m a Californian and world traveler transplanted to New England. I had a number of seemingly unconnected prior careers – linguistics professor, organic farmer, doula, technical writer – all of which now provide material for my mystery novels now that I write fiction full time. I’m also a proud mom of two fine adult sons, a gardener, an amateur chef, and a reader.

How would you describe your books to readers?

E: I write cozy and traditional mysteries with regular people solving crimes. A farmer, a midwife, a chef, or a professor in a village-based setting finds herself enmeshed in a murder. By the end of my books, in which violence, sex, and obscenities are all off the page, justice and balance are restored to the town. All is well again – except for the victim and the villain, of course.

 What are you currently working on?

E: I’m polishing Mulch Ado about Murder, my fifth Local Foods Mystery, and then I’ll start working on the third Quaker Midwife Mystery, possibly titled Breaking the Chain.

Of the books you’ve written, which one is your favorite and why?

E: Usually it’s the book that just came out! So right now Delivering the Truth is my favorite. I love being immersed in 1888 with my Quaker midwife hearing secrets and catching both babies and murderers in the historic town where I live.

 What books have most influenced you as a writer?

E: That’s a hard question. I guess I’d have to say the mysteries of greats like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Arthur Conan Doyle. I’ve been reading them since I was a child (and giving myself nightmares as a result!). When I decided to try my hand at writing fiction about twenty years ago, it just seemed natural to create a mystery novel.

 What do you find to be the most challenging part of writing? And the most rewarding?

E: Getting my arms around the entire story is ever a challenge. I, and many authors, always get bogged down somewhere in the second third of the book. I have to keep track of everything I’ve already written and keep the story moving forward without getting lost. It’s tricky. But now that I’ve written eleven novels, all of which are either published or will be, I no longer panic. I know I have to just push through. Once the first draft is done, I’ll be able to refine and tinker until it all shines and the puzzle works. And that’s very rewarding.

 What can we look forward to seeing from you in the future?

E: Now that Delivering is launched, the next two books to release are Murder Most Fowl, Local Foods Mystery number four, and Grilled for Murder, Country Store Mystery number two – both at the end of May!

 Is there anything you’d like to share with your readers?

E: I love to hear from readers. Find me on Facebook or twitter. Check out my web site and send me an email. Come to one of my events if you’re in New England! Authors are nowhere without readers and I appreciate every single one.

Book blurb:

In Delivering the Truth, Quaker midwife Rose Carroll becomes a suspect when a difficult carriage factory manager is killed after the factory itself is hit by an arsonist. Struggling with being less than a perfect Friend, Rose delivers the baby of the factory owner’s mistress even while the owner’s wife is also seven months pregnant. After another murder, Rose calls on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver to help bring the killers to justice before they destroy the town’s carriage industry and the people who run it.

 

 

 

Bio:

Agatha-nominated and Amazon best-selling author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and the Local Foods Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries (as Maddie Day), and the Lauren Rousseau Mysteries (as Tace Baker), as well as award-winning short crime fiction. Her story, “A Questionable Death,” which features the same 1888 setting and characters as Delivering the Truth, is nominated for a 2016 Agatha Award for Best Short Story.

Edith is Vice-President of Sisters in Crime New England and Clerk of Amesbury Friends Meeting. She lives north of Boston with her beau and three cats, and blogs with the other Wicked Cozy Authors. You can find her on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, and at her web site, edithmaxwell.com.

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