Interview with mystery author Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell)

Cozy mystery author Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) joins me today to chat about the first novel in a new series, Murder on Cape Cod.

Bio:

Agatha- and Macavity-nominated Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t wasting time on Facebook.

Welcome, Maddie! Please tell us about your current release.

Murder on Cape Cod is the first in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries from Kensington Publishing. Here’s the blurb:

Summer is busy season for Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida’s bicycle shop, nestled in the quaint, seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts. She’s expecting an influx of tourists at Mac’s Bikes; instead she discovers the body of Jake Lacey, and her brother soon becomes a suspect. Mac’s only experience with murder investigations is limited to the cozy mysteries she reads with her local book group, the Cozy Capers. So to clear her brother’s name, Mac has to summon help from her book group co-investigators. For a small town, Westham is teeming with possible killers, and this is one mystery where Mac is hoping for anything but a surprise ending.

The book releases tomorrow (December 18) in a paperback exclusive from Barnes & Noble. It will rerelease a year later in all formats on all platforms.

What inspired you to write this book?

I spend solo writing time in a retreat cottage in West Falmouth on Cape Cod a couple of times a year and love the Cape in all seasons. Setting a cozy series in a fictional town in that area appealed to me and my editor alike. And with the miles of bike trails, it made sense to have a bike shop proprietor as the protagonist. Her participation in a book group that only reads cozy mysteries was icing on the cake.

Excerpt from Murder on Cape Cod:

Now I found the turn from the bike trail to the pathway that cut up to Main Street. Near the end of the path a hedge of scrubby coastal Rosa Rugosa separated the walkway from my postage stamp of a yard. The fragrant scent from the just-blooming native shrub mixed with the salt air and reminded me of my childhood here on the Cape. I slowed as I rounded a bend. I was scanning through the mist for the opening that would let me through the wall of roses when I tripped.

The obstacle in my path, oddly both soft and solid, was a sizable one. I yelled, arms windmilling like in a vintage cartoon. The air gave me nothing to grab hold of and I landed on my hands and elbows. I glanced down and back to see my knees resting on . . . Jake.

“Gah!” I shrieked and scrambled forward off of him. I crouched in place, my heart beating like the timpani in the Cape Symphony. Jake lay on his front with his head half-turned toward me, lips pulled back in a grimace, eyes unblinking.

“Jake!” I called. “Jake, are you all right?”

He didn’t respond. I inched closer and couldn’t detect any signs of breathing. I touched his temple but I didn’t feel a pulse under his too-cool skin. His skinny legs were splayed at an odd angle, and his back was still, too still. No breaths moved it up and down. He was never going to enjoy another free spaghetti dinner—or anything else. Jake Lacey was dead.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Next up is my seventh Country Store Mystery. Chef Robbie Jordan is going to leave southern Indiana to attend her tenth high school reunion in Santa Barbara, California. While there, a friend of her late mother’s hints that Mom’s death might not have been from natural causes, after all.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

My first paid publication was a short story when I was nine. I entered “Viking Girl” in a contest run by the local newspaper – the Pasadena Star News - and was paid two dollars. I have been writing in non-fiction of various kinds my entire adult life, but I got back to fiction – and specifically crime fiction – about twenty five years ago. I started writing mystery novels in earnest in 2009.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

Writing has been my full-time job for over six years. I am at my desk and working by seven every morning but Sunday. I usually write (or revise) until about eleven, then I go for my power walk, eat lunch, and do other authorly things in the afternoons. I am under contract to write three books a year, so I’d better treat it seriously.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I often talk out loud to myself on my daily walk. I plot the next day’s writing, then dictate a text to myself so I don’t forget. I think I’m known around my town as that crazy author lady who talks to herself. I don’t care. I like my plotting walks!

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I don’t remember! I recall wanting to be a teenager, but other than that? Not a clue.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Thanks so much for interviewing me, Lisa! I hope readers will visit my group blog, the Wicked Authors, and find me on my web site and on social media.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Wicked Authors blog | Murder on Cape Cod

Thanks for being here today! Happy book launch tomorrow!

Interview with cozy mystery author duo J.C. Eaton

Today’s special guests are the writing duo behind J.C. Eaton (Ann I. Goldfarb & James E. Clapp). We’re chatting about their new cozy mystery, Botched 4 Murder.

Bios:

New York native Ann I. Goldfarb spent most of her life in education, first as a classroom teacher and later as a middle school principal and professional staff developer. Writing as J. C. Eaton, along with her husband, James Clapp, they have authored the Sophie Kimball Mysteries (Kensington), The Wine Trail Mysteries (Kensington Lyrical Underground), and coming in August 2018, The Marcie Rayner Mysteries (Camel). In addition, Ann has nine published YA time travel mysteries under her own name. Visit the websites at: www.jceatonauthor.com

www.facebook.com/JCEatonauthor/

www.timetravelmysteries.com

When James E. Clapp retired as the tasting room manager for a large upstate New York winery, he never imagined he’d be co-authoring cozy mysteries with his wife, Ann I. Goldfarb. Non-fiction in the form of informational brochures and workshop materials treating the winery industry were his forte along with an extensive background and experience in construction that started with his service in the U.S. Navy and included vocational school classroom teaching. Visit the website at www.jceatonauthor.com

Welcome! Please tell us a little bit about Botched 4 Murder.

Amateur sleuth Sophie (Phee) Kimball is at it again, only this time at the Sun City West bocce courts when her mother’s friend, Myrna, is convinced she killed someone with a lobbed bocce ball that managed to get into the adjoining golf course. Naturally, there’s a dead body, but it wasn’t a bocce ball that felled the victim – it was a bow and arrow!

To make matters worse, the community is all a-buzz with the latest proposal from one of its board members – turn the golf courses into eco-friendly parks. With more threats than imaginable, Phee’s worried the golf course victim won’t be the last.

What inspired you to write this book?

This is the fourth novel in our Sophie Kimball Mysteries, set in the retirement community of Sun City West, Arizona. We’re always seeking out potential “hotspots” for murder as well as motives. The motive came easy for this one – we read an editorial from someone in our community who wanted to turn all of the golf courses into eco-friendly parks. Imagine the outrage it caused! Then, while walking our dog near the bocce courts, we watched one lady lob her bocce balls all over the place. Jim immediately announced, “She could kill someone with one of those!” and that’s how the novel began!

Excerpt from Botched 4 Murder:

That particular Saturday in February was unlucky. It wasn’t that the ladies were more annoying than usual, it was the men seated at the table across from them. Mom’s neighbor, Herb Garrett, was surrounded by his pinochle buddies–Bill, Kevin, Kenny, and Wayne. I got to know them this past fall when my mother decided she and her book club would take part in the local theater production of Agatha Christie’s The Mouse Trap. When the men weren’t playing cards, they worked on construction and lighting for Sun City West’s theatrical troupe. And when they weren’t doing either of those things, they were complaining.

The men had their noses buried in newspapers, and all I could see were a bunch of bald heads with one exception–Wayne’s. He was the only one who still had all of his brownish gray hair. There was less conversation at the men’s table but more grunting. That was, until they noticed my mother. It seemed each one of the men suddenly had a beef they thought she should deal with. It started with Bill Sanders, who got up from his seat just as I was about to bite into my toasted poppy bagel with cream cheese.

“Psst! Harriet! I need a word with you. Good. Myrna Mittleson’s not here yet.”

My mother said “excuse me” to the group and swung her chair around.

It didn’t matter. Bill’s voice was loud enough to be heard in Idaho. That was three states away, no matter which route you took from Arizona.

“You’ve got to do something about Myrna. She’s destroying the bocce league. Not to mention the havoc she’s wreaking on our team. For criminy sake, Harriet, can’t you talk her into quitting? Maybe convince her to take up knitting or something?”

“Knitting? Are you nuts? Myrna’s all thumbs. Besides, she loves bocce.”

Bill let out a groan that made Cecilia Flanagan flinch and pull her black cardigan tight across her chest. Louise Munson and Lucinda Espinoza furrowed their brows and gave Bill nasty looks before returning to their food.

“Yeah,” he said. “She may love bocce, but she can’t toss the blasted ball. Lofts it all over the place. Last week it bounced into the miniature golf course next door and took out one of the blades on the windmill. And the week before, it bounced out of the bocce court and wound up on the garden pathway. That’s right next to the pool. Luckily it didn’t hit someone in the head or they might have drowned.”

“It can’t be all that bad. Besides, these things happen,” my mother said.

“Not every day! Not every time people play! Look, I hate to be blunt, but Myrna’s a menace. She’s a regular Amazon. All of us are scared to death when it’s her turn. She tromps up to the start line as if she’s about to throw a javelin. And no matter how many times we tell her to gently toss the ball, she heaves it like a shotput. I’m begging you, Harriet, please get her to quit. The Sun City West Bocce and Lawn Bowling Tournaments begin in three and a half weeks and she’ll get us disqualified.”

“You know I can’t do that. Plus—”

“Forget about Myrna and bocce ball,” Herb shouted, throwing his newspaper on our table, nearly knocking over glasses of water and cups of coffee. “We’ve got real problems in Sun City West. Did you read this article? Did any of you read this article?”

Then he motioned to his own table. “Check out Sorrel Harlan’s editorial on page fourteen. The one that says ‘Turn those golf courses into eco-friendly parks.’ That woman is insane. I always thought she had a screw loose, but it was her own screw. Now that she got appointed to the recreation center board of directors, she’ll be turning it on all of us!”

What exciting story are you working on next?

We’re juggling another Kensington series for Lyrical Underground and are finalizing Sauvigone For Good.

It’s winter in the Finger Lakes and time for the annual Chocolate and Wine Festival. Reluctant winery owner Norrie Ellington is counting the days before her sister and brother-in-law return from Costa Rica so she can relinquish the winery reins to them. Meanwhile, she’s got a chocolate festival to run and this year the winery association invited three master chocolatiers from Europe to do presentations at the wineries. Unfortunately, no one told Norrie they were rivals of the worst sort. When one of them is found dead with an empty glass of Two Witches’ Sauvignon in his hand, Norrie must scramble to find the killer before her winery’s reputation melts like the fine chocolates they planned to serve.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Ann’s been writing for eons, but for Jim, it came the moment they decided to collaborate on Booked 4 Murder, the first novel in the Sophie Kimball Mysteries.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

We write constantly! Sometimes on pieces of scrap paper or napkins when we go out to eat, but most of the time at home – Ann at her desk in our spare room and Jim on the laptop or tablet paper, or anything he can find. We don’t have set hours but try to maximize the time we have. Sometimes it’s only a half hour but other times, it can be the entire day. Living in Arizona where it hits the triple digits from June – August, we write in the afternoons because it’s impossible to go outside!

We thought we’d have lots of time on our hands as retirees, but we were wrong – dog park activities, exercise classes, swimming, eating out, book clubs…it never ends and we love it!

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

More like styles, than quirks. Ann has to work in absolute silence in her office. Jim can have a marching band in front of him and it wouldn’t matter. He writes with the TV on or music playing.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Ann always wanted to be a teacher or a writer. She’s thrilled she was able to do both. Jim is still deciding…

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Co-authoring our cozy mysteries continues to be the greatest fun for us. We had to work around some kinks, like Ann preferring first person POV and Jim wanting third person POV. (Ann won!). We toss around ideas like crazy, practice ad lib dialogues that eventually get into print, and come up with the looniest characters based on composites of family, friends, and neighbors. For us, humor is paramount in our books. We want to keep our readers laughing and guessing. We’re both avid pet lovers and share our home with a neurotic Chiweenie that we based Streetman (Sophie Kimball Mysteries) on, as well as five quirky cats who drive the dog nuts. The goat and Plott Hound in the Wine Trail Mysteries are based on two of Ann’s brother’s pets. We’re got enough animals in the family to keep us going for a while!

Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Thanks for being here today! All the best with your writing projects.

Interview with mystery novelist Lea Wait

Mystery novelist Lea Wait is helping me wrap up the week by chatting with me about her new cozy novel, Thread Herrings, A Mainely Needlepointer Mystery.

Bio:

Lea Wait lives on the coast of Maine. A fourth generation antique dealer, and author of the Agatha-nominated Shadows Antique Print mystery series, she loves all things antiques and Maine, and she’s learning to do needlepoint. She also writes historical novels for young people set in (where else?) nineteenth-century Maine. Find her at Facebook, Goodreads, and her website.

Please tell us about your current release.

Tagging along to an estate sale with her fellow Needlepointer, antiques shop owner Sarah Byrne, Angie Curtis impulsively bids on a tattered embroidery of a coat of arms. When she gets her prize back home to Haven Harbor, she discovers a document from 1757 behind the framed needlework—a claim for a child from a foundling hospital. Intrigued, Angie is determined to find the common thread between the child and the coat of arms.

Accepting her reporter friend Clem Walker's invitation to talk about her find on the local TV news, Angie makes an appeal to anyone who might have information. Instead, both women receive death threats. When Clem is found strangled in a parking lot, Angie fears her own life may be in jeopardy. She has to unravel this historical mystery—or she may be the next one going, going... gone...

What inspired you to write this book?

I’m a fourth-generation antique dealer, so it makes sense that Angie Curtis, my protagonist, has a close friend, Sarah, who’s both a needlepointer and an antiques dealer, and that Sarah would take Angie with her to an auction. Angie can’t resist bidding on a piece of 18^th century needlepoint … and then wants to learn more about it. And so the mystery begins.

Excerpt from Murder in Maine:

I’d parked near Sarah’s shop and apartment. This time of day she’d be sorting and pricing items for her shop, or studying recent prices for antiques. I decided to stop and see her.

I was two stores away from her door when my phone rang. I pulled it out quickly. Clem?

But it wasn’t Clem. It was Pete.

“Angie, are you still downtown? You were waiting for your friend Clem Walker twenty minutes ago.”

“I just left the Harbor Haunts,” I answered. “Why?”

His voice was steady. “Sorry to have to break it to you this way, but Clem won’t be meeting you for lunch.”

I stopped walking. I didn’t feel cold or hot, despite the wind whirling fallen snow around me. “What’s happened?”

“We had a call from someone else who had lunch at the Harbor Haunts. Clem had parked next to them at the town wharf.” He paused. “She never got out of her car.”

“What?”

“She’s dead, Angie.”

I stood in the snow. My mind went blank. “No!” Not Clem. I’d coped with death before. Even murders. But none of the victims had been my friends. “When? How?”

What exciting story are you working on next?

Most small towns include a few characters who, because of intellectual disabilities or mental health issues, are accepted by the town, and play a role in it, but basically live their lives in parallel with others. Ike Hamilton has lived in Haven Harbor all of his life, where now he lives on disability payments and collecting bottles for deposits. So why would anyone want to kill him? And who is the teenaged boy who Ike had been watching out for? Thread on Arrival will be published in May of 2019.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Since I learned to read, I’ve wanted to be an author. In college I wrote poetry and plays, and my first post-college job was as a corporate executive speech writer. I supported myself doing corporate writing and writing about adoption (I adopted four older girls as a single parent and was an adoption advocate) while I raised my family.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I’ve been a full-time writer for twenty years now, although I continued my antiques business for the first ten of those years. Thread Herrings is my twenty-fifth published book; I write three mystery series for adults and historical novels for young people.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I only use one pen – a Bic GripRoller Fine. I buy them by the box, and always use them to sign my books.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer, of course. Also a marine biologist, president of the United States, and an archaeologist. Three of those four occupations didn’t work out, but are still interests of mine.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

When I was single I was an adoption advocate and adopted four daughters. Now I write mysteries and historical novels about people searching for love, acceptance, and a place to call home.

Thanks for being here today, Lea.