Delivering the Truth by Edith Maxwell - Spotlight,Interview and Giveaway

Published: April 8, 2016

Number of pages: 312

Genre:Cozy Mystery

Series: A Quaker Midwife Mystery #1

Synopsis:

Quaker midwife Rose Carroll hears secrets and keeps confidences as she attends births of the rich and poor alike in an 1888 Massachusetts mill town. When the town’s world-famed carriage industry is threatened by the work of an arsonist, and a carriage factory owner’s adult son is stabbed to death with Rose’s own knitting needle, she is drawn into solving the mystery. Things get dicey after the same owner’s mistress is also murdered, leaving her one-week-old baby without a mother. The Quaker poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier helps Rose by lending words of advice and support. While struggling with being less than the perfect Friend, Rose draws on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver to bring two murderers to justice before they destroy the town’s carriage industry and the people who run it.

Praise:

“Edith Maxwell makes 1880s New England come alive through her own familiarity with the Quaker life and her home town. Rose Carroll is a richly crafted and appealing sleuth. A terrific historical read.”—Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of Molly Murphy and Royal Spyness historical mystery series

“Maxwell introduces a fascinating new heroine with her Quaker midwife Rose Carroll.”—VICTORIA THOMPSON, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MURDER ON ST. NICHOLAS AVE

“The historical setting is redolent and delicious, the townspeople engaging, and the plot a proper puzzle, but it’s Rose Carroll – midwife, Quaker, sleuth – who captivates in this irresistible series debut.”—Catriona McPherson, Agatha, Anthony and Macavity winning author of the Dandy Gilver series

“[Rose’s] strong personality combined with the author’s distinctive voice and vivid writing style transported me instantly to another time and place.”—KATHY LYNN EMERSON, MALICE DOMESTIC 2014 GUEST OF HONOR AND AUTHOR OF HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES, MURDER IN THE QUEEN’S WARDROBE, AND THE DIANA SPAULDING 1888 MYSTERIES

About the author:

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), andthe Lauren Rousseau Mysteries (as Tace Baker), as well as award-winning short crime fiction. Maxwell 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 www.edithmaxwell.com.

http://www.edithmaxwell.com
http://wickecozyauthors.com
https://www.facebook.com/EdithMaxwellAuthor/
https://twitter.com/edithmaxwell
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5826191.Edith_Maxwell
http://www.amazon.com/Edith-Maxwell/e/B001HQ0XU8
https://www.pinterest.com/edithmaxwell/

Purchase Links:

Amazon B&N

Interview:

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing? I started writing fiction in elementary school. When I was in third grade, my mother said, “Edie, you’re a good writer.” I thought, “Well, hey, I guess I am!” I’ve been writing ever since. Thanks, Mommy.

2. What do you do to help you get over writer's block? If I don’t know what happens next in the story, I do one of two things: A. Go for a long brisk walk and talk out loud to myself until my characters tell me what will happen in the next scene. B. Move back from my desk into my rocking chair with a pen and notebook, and brainstorm on paper until I figure it out. I find I’m rarely blocked for more than an hour.

3. Do you have scheduled writing time or a certain amount of words you write each day? I’m writing by seven in the morning six days a week. When I’m writing a first draft, I assign myself at least 1500 words and don’t let myself do anything other than throw in a load of laundry until I’m done, which usually happens by the end of the morning.

4. Where do you get your ideas for your books? Everywhere! I’ve always had a vivid imagination and a tendency to be a voyeur and an eavesdropper. So many stories, so little time...

5. When you are not writing what do you like to do? I garden when the ground isn’t frozen, do NYT crosswords, and read. I also love to cook, and my beau and I watch a lot of movies. I almost never watch television, however.

6. What one piece of advice would you like to give to aspiring writers? If you want to write, you will. If you want to write, you have to plant your butt in the chair and your fingers on the keyboard, and write. Every day is good, but if you only write on Saturday mornings, as I did for a couple of years, that’s good, too.

7. Who is your favorite author or book that you would like to recommend to your readers? I can heartily recommend any of my blogmates, the Wicked Cozy Authors. We are six New England cozy mystery writers, many with more than one series and more than one name, and all their books are good reads! Check out Jessie Crockett, Sherry Harris, Julianne Holmes (aka Julie Hennrikus), Liz Mugavero, and Barbara Ross. (We also have three Accomplices – see the blog.)

8. If you could meet any famous person dead or alive who would it be and why? I would like to meet one of the Quaker women who fought hard first for abolition and then for women’s suffrage: from Lucretia Mott to Charlotte Woodward to Alice Paul. They were so brave and risked so much.

9. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you like to visit? Just one? Despite being a world traveler (see next question), I’ve never been (yet) to India or Italy, or Australia, Alaska, or Antarctica. I want to go to all of them!

10. Five interesting facts about yourself: 

1 - I hold a long-dusty black belt in karate. 

2 - I hold an even longer-dusty PhD in linguistics. 

3 - I farmed and co-owned the smallest certified organic farm in my county for about five years. 

4 - I’ve lived a year each in Brazil, Mali, Burkina Faso, France, and Japan (almost two years in Japan). 

5 - I’m a fourth-generation Californian but now have lived in Massachusetts longer than I lived in California.

Book blurb: 

For Quaker midwife Rose Carroll, life in Amesbury, Massachusetts, provides equal measures of joy and tribulation. She attends to the needs of mothers and newborns even as she mourns the recent death of her sister. Likewise, Rose enjoys the giddy feelings that come from being courted by a handsome doctor, but a suspicious fire and two murders leave her fearing for the well-being of her loved ones.

Driven by her desire for safety and justice, Rose Carroll begins asking questions related to the crimes. Consulting with her friends and neighbors―including the famous Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier―Rose draws on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver in trying to bring the perpetrators to light.

Bio: Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Midnight Ink) 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 short story, “A Questionable Death,” is nominated for a 2016 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. The tale features the 1888 setting and characters from her Quaker Midwife Mysteries series, which debuts with Delivering the Truth on April 8.

Maxwell 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, @edithmaxwell, on Pinterest, and at her web site, edithmaxwell.com.

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Participants:

April 8 – Back Porchervations – REVIEW

April 9 – Shelley’s Book Case – REVIEW, GUEST POST

April 9 – Mystery Playground – INTERVIEW

April 10 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 11 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

April 12 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, GUEST POST

April 13 – The Girl with Book Lungs – SPOTLIGHT

April 14 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW

April 14 – A. Holland Reads – INTERVIEW

April 15 – Book Babble – REVIEW