Support an Author, Win Art

May 27: The book is out! And Barbara Pease won the scarf. Congratulations to Barbara, and thanks to all who preordered. I hope you like the book. And if you do, one of the nicest things you can do for an author is post a positive review on Amazon, Goodreads, your church newsletter, your farm stand bulletin board, or wherever! 


May 14:
My author friend Linda Rodriguez held a giveaway contest for fans who preordered the latest in her fabulous Skeet Bannion mystery series, Every Hidden Fear. I liked the idea so much I decided to do it myself. 

I ask you to help me ensure my Local Foods Mysteries contract is renewed. Publishers love it when lots and lots of people buy the book during its release week, and the best way to do that is to preorder Til Dirt Do Us Part from the brick-and-mortar or online bookstore of your choice (see the link buttons on the right). The release date is May 27, and I'll close the contest at nine PM (eastern time) on May 26.


But I'll sweeten the pot. Not only will you receive the book you ordered on its release day, you can also win a gorgeous prize.

If you send me proof of your preorder,  I'll enter you in a contest to win a piece of art. It's a picture of 

the sun, rain, and sprouting plants hand-painted on a sky-blue crepe-de-chine silk scarf, signed by the artist, Joanna Lynam. Isn't it beautiful? (Unlike Linda R, I didn't make it myself...)

If you don't wear scarves yourself, wouldn't it be a lovely present for the person in your life who does? So go ahead and preorder the book, then forward the order email, scan the receipt, or take a screenshot of your Paid page, and send it to edithmaxwellauthor at gmail dot com. Make sure you put PREORDER CONTEST in the subject line. When I get your email, I'll enter you in the drawing to be held on May 27. Heck, print out your receipt and snail mail it if you want (but you'll have to email me for my address). 

And thank you from the bottom of my author heart. I'm living my dream, and am eager to continue to do so. Merci. Obrigada. Doomo. Danke. Inice. Gracias. Tak. Thanks.

Cam's Gardening Tips

Every Wednesday my fictional farmer, Cam Flaherty, has been posting gardening tips over at the Sisters in Crime New England blog. 

Stop by and check them out!

Recent News

Goodreads Giveway:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

'Til Dirt Do Us Part

by Edith Maxwell

Giveaway ends March 30, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Event News:

I am delighted to have three San Francisco Bay area author events scheduled in a couple of weeks and would love to see you at any of them:

• Friday March 14 at Great Good Place for Books in Oakland, 7 PM.
• Sunday March 16 at Borderlands in San Francisco, 1 PM
• Monday March 17 at Books Inc in Berkeley, 7 PM

I'll be talking about my local foods mystery series and my life as a writer, will read a bit, and will take as many questions as you have. I'm a fourth-generation Californian living north of Boston and am looking forward to being back! Thanks.



'Til Dirt Do Us Part releases May 27. Pre-order it here or here. The very first review is up and it's a five star! 

The produce is local - and so is the crime - when long-simmering tensions lead to murder following a festive dinner on Cam Flaherty's farm. It'll take a sleuth who knows the lay of the land to catch this killer. But no one ever said Cam wasn't willing to get her hands dirty...

Autumn has descended on Westbury, Massachusetts, but the mood at the Farm-to-Table Dinner in Cam's newly built barn is unseasonably chilly. Local entrepreneur Irene Burr made a lot of enemies with her plan to buy Westbury's Old Town Hall and replace it with a textile museum-enough enemies to fill out a list of suspects when the wealthy widow turns up dead on a neighboring farm.

Even an amateur detective like Cam can figure out that one of the resident locavores went loco - at least temporarily - and settled a score with Irene. But which one? With the Fall harvest upon her, Cam must sift through a bushelful of possible killers that includes Irene's estranged stepson, her disgruntled auto mechanic, and a fellow CSA subscriber who seems suspiciously happy to have the dead woman out of the way.


The closer she gets to weeding out the culprit, the more Cam feels like someone is out to cut her harvest short. But to keep her own body out of the compost pile, she'll have to wrap this case up quickly.

A High Compliment

A story I wrote a couple of years ago, "Just Desserts for Johnny," was published in the online Kings River Life Magazine a few days ago. It was a satisfying story to write, about revenge exacted on a literary thief. The essence of the story came from a bad experience I had with a fraudulent press a few years ago. The details, of course, are fictional. It's set in the San Francisco bay area, where I have many friends and family.

But equally delightful was the comment that a very esteemed editor and writer made after she

read it. Chris Roerden won an Agatha award for Best Non-Fiction work. She has helped countless authors with her books Don't Murder Your Mystery and Don't Sabotage Your Submission, among others. I've met her at conferences and she's a really sweet person.

So when I read what she had to say about my story, I was over the moon!

"Just Desserts for Johnny" by Edith Maxwell is a model short story, from the perfect opening line to the satisfying, twist end. Love it!

Thanks, Chris. I'm glad you liked it. I hope others will, too.

It Was a Very Good Year

When I summarized my writing accomplishments for this year, I was pretty amazed. I thought I'd share it with you, dear Reader. Here goes! 

As most of you know, A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die came out to positive reviews. I learned a huge amount about marketing, selling, and the limits of my own energy. I turned in 'Til Dirt Do Us Part, the second book in the series on time and wrote 62,000 words on the third book. 

I self-published two short stories that had previously been in anthologies: "Yatsuhashi for Lance" and "Reduction in Force." 

My short story "The Stonecutter" appeared in the Fish Nets anthology from Wildside Press. My short story "Breaking the Silence" not only made it into the Level Best Books anthology Stone Cold, but also won an honorable mention in the Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction Contest. 

I finished writing and signed a contract with Barking Rain Press for Bluffing is Murder (written as Tace Baker), the second Lauren Rousseau mystery. 

I wrote 55 blog posts and contributed to a bunch more. Five other New England cozy mystery authors and I joined forces and started the Wicked Cozy Authors group blog, posting every weekday.

My story of revenge on a literary thief, "Just Desserts for Johnny," was accepted for January 2014 publication in Kings River Life Magazine. 

I was a panelist at four mystery conferences and spoke at a couple dozen library or bookstore events. And I quit my day job to become a full-time fiction writer. 

It was a fabulous year in my life. Thank you so much to all my readers and supporters!

'Til Dirt Do Us Part!

I've been  haunting Amazon for days, waiting to see the cover for 'Til Dirt Do Us Part, the second Local Foods mystery. And it showed up today!

Isn't that fun? 

The produce is local - and so is the crime - when long-simmering tensions lead to murder following a festive dinner on Cam Flaherty's farm. It'll take a sleuth who knows the lay of the land to catch this killer. But no one ever said Cam wasn't willing to get her hands dirty...

Autumn has descended on Westbury, Massachusetts, but the mood at the Farm-to-Table Dinner in Cam's newly built barn is unseasonably chilly. Local entrepreneur Irene Burr made a lot of enemies with her plan to buy Westbury's Old Town Hall and replace it with a textile museum - enough enemies to fill out a list of suspects when the wealthy widow turns up dead on a neighboring farm.

Even an amateur detective like Cam can figure out that one of the resident locavores went loco - at least temporarily - and settled a score with Irene. But which one? With the fall harvest upon her, Cam must sift through a bushelful of possible killers that includes Irene's estranged stepson, her disgruntled auto mechanic, and a fellow CSA subscriber who seems suspiciously happy to have the dead woman out of the way.

The closer she gets to weeding out the culprit, the more Cam feels like someone is out to cut her harvest short. But to keep her own body out of the compost pile, she'll have to wrap this case up quickly.

The book, the second in the Local Foods Mystery series, will release in late May, 2014. 

Where I Write

My new one-minute commute to my upstairs office is such a treat. Sheila Boneham asked me over to describe it, complete with pictures.
http://sheilaboneham.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-one-minute-commute-with-guest-author.html