So this is exciting. Publishers Weekly has reviewed A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die! Their Facebook page describes them as " the leading international trade magazine of the publishing business."
Friends and colleagues tell me being reviewed in PW is a big deal, because libraries read it and it governs purchasing all over the place, with a circulation of somewhere around 25,000. My publisher, Kensington Publishing, submitted the book to PW, but a review is not guaranteed by any means.
When I ventured an opinion to a couple of fellow authors that it isn't really a rave review, I was assured that any positive coverage is great, since at least it isn't negative.
And the words "absorbing" and "exciting" are actually pretty, well, exciting!
Here's the actual review:
A
Tine to Live, a Tine to Die (Edith
Maxwell. Kensington, $24 (304p) ISBN 978-0-7582-8461-7)
Maxwell
(Speaking of Murder under the pen name Tace Baker) brings her
expertise as a former organic farmer to her absorbing first Local
Foods mystery. Cam Flaherty, who has taken over her great-uncle’s
organic farm in Millsbury, Mass., feels obliged to fire farmhand Mike
Montgomery after he admits he was going to use pesticide on the
beetles he was tired of handpicking off asparagus and potato leaves.
That evening, Cam finds Mike lying dead, her pitchfork stuck in his
throat. Suspected of the farmhand’s murder, Cam must contend with
Mike’s angry mother and an unfriendly police detective. Lending
support in her hunt for the real killer are her fellow organic
farmers and childhood friend Ruth Dodge, who’s now a police
officer. Issues involving immigrants and a local militia group add
weight to a plot that builds to an exciting climax. Agent: John
Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (June)
Note:
the town in the book is Westbury, not Millsbury.
I'm
still looking for smaller-scale reviewers for the book, but this is a
lovely start to the release now less than two months distant!
And
I'll say it again: if you have a sizable network, be it on Goodreads,
your local farm's CSA newsletter, or your own blog where you could
circulate a review, let me know if you'd like an advance copy and
we'll see what we can work out. I'm always looking for readers.