In The Summertime

Life. What did you do this summer? Did you take a break from writing? Continue to write while you were on vacation? Change your writing habits at all?

By guest Edith Maxwell.

Catriona writes: If I had to guess what Edith does in the summer, I'd say "write several beautifully researched novels, feed a county with the abundance from the vegetable garden, and host relaxing get-togethers for grateful friends". Ha! I just read the guest post, and I am not far wrong. I don't know how she does it, but I'm very glad she does it. Please welcome, Edith Maxwell to the Minds today. 

Edith writes:Thanks so much for inviting me over, Catriona! I’m delighted to be here.

Summer is my favorite season. Nothing makes me happier than to pick tomatoes warm from the garden, take a long walk on the beach, or bake a pie from local blueberries and peaches. I try to cache pesto in the freezer when the basil is lush and read outside in the shade at the end of the day. A G&T on the deck is a plus. I grew up in southern California, so summer is supposed to be hot. Also, now that I’m in New England? It’s going to snow soon, so I want to store up the heat.

But I’m under contract for three books a year. I can’t really take too much time off. We didn’t go away anywhere this summer after a big southwestern US trip a year ago this time (and an Ireland excursion planned for next year).

So, yeah, I was at my desk by seven nearly every morning except Sunday writing away. I polished my eighth Country Store mystery (Candy Slain Murder) and sent it in. I read proofs of Murder at the Taffy Shop, my second Cozy Capers mystery. And I wrote the first draft of the sixth Quaker Midwife Mystery, which I still need a title for. I think I did copyedits on some other book in there, too, and I certainly booked and wrote guest posts like this one for the September release of Judge Thee Not, Quaker Midwife #5. As Maddie Day, I also have my first novella - “Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse” - out in the three-novella collection, Christmas Cocoa Murder.

But the season wasn’t all work. A beautiful long walkable beach is only twenty-five minutes away from me, and you know what? I can write with pen on paper, too. I took my “office” to Hampton Beach more than once, and also played hooky there with my bestie another day.

I enjoyed cooking and walking with my visiting son for a long weekend, and entertaining other family and close friends in the garden. This summer a dear friend entered hospice care, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with Annie as she weakens, grabbing precious moments of talking, reading poetry to her, and helping her eat.

What I have not done this summer is clean up my garden shed, weed out my closets, or do the other decluttering the rest of the world seems to be keen on. But hey, isn’t that what tomorrow is for?

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Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell, with nineteen novels in print and four more completed, has been nominated for an Agatha Award six times. She lives north of Boston with her beau and an elderly cat, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t killing people on the page or wasting time on Facebook. Please also find her at edithmaxwell.com, on Instagram, on Twitter, and at the Wicked Authors blog.

No stranger to judgmental attitudes in her small town, 1880s Quaker midwife Rose Carroll is nonetheless stunned when society matron Mayme Settle publicly snubs Rose’s good friend Bertie for her nontraditional ways. When Mrs. Settle is later found murdered—and a supposed witness insists Bertie was spotted near the scene of the crime—the police blame her. Rose is certain her friend is innocent, and she enlists the help of a blind pregnant client—who’s endured her own share of prejudice—to help her sift through the clues. As the two uncover a slew of suspects tied to financial intrigues, illicit love, and an age-old grudge over perceived wrongs, circumstantial evidence looms large in small minds, and Rose fears her friend will soon become the victim of a grave injustice—or worse. 

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