We’re so happy to welcome back Edith Maxwell, she of the numerous award nominations and books too numerous to count. Read on for a fun post about her latest entertaining Country Store Mystery…
Robbie Jordan: A Chick on the Case
Recently, there was a discussion on an author list about the term “chick.” When I was thirty, I would have been offended at a man calling me a chick. Actually, I still would. But I love the moniker of this blog. It’s fine for strong women to reclaim the term for our own and wear the badge proudly. And in Strangled Eggs and Ham, the sixth book in the Country Store Mysteries, Robbie Jordan is a real Chick on the Case.
I lived in southern Indiana some decades ago, and I knew I wanted to set a book during a steamy Midwestern August. The humidity and temperatures both soar, right along with discomfort and tempers.
Here’s the blurb:
While Robbie scrambles through breakfast orders South Lick, Indiana, tempers run as high as the sticky August heat. A developer’s plans to build a towering luxury resort at one of the most scenic hilltops in Brown County infuriates opponents, who concoct protests and road blockades. When tensions boil over and a vocal protester is silenced forever at the resort site, Robbie ditches the griddle to catch the killer. But if slashed tires are any indication, she’ll need to crack this case before her own aunt gets served something deadly next . . .
South Lick Hill – pretty!
When Robbie’s dear aunt Adele plans to lead the protest against the development, Robbie is terribly worried she’ll be hurt, or worse. Robbie checks out the developer – a female power weightlifter – as well as a local who stands to profit by selling her land to the resort. Also involved are a security guard and heavy-machinery operator who desperately need the jobs the project will provide.
The protestors, led by Adele, decided to close down traffic on the state route near South Lick and the hilltop. I was delighted to draw on my memories of being one of a small but stalwart band of anti-war protestors in my college days at UC Irvine in conservative Orange County, California. All thirty of us walked out to MacArthur Boulevard (a high-speed main thoroughfare between inland the coast) with our signs and our chants in 1973. We shut down traffic for, oh, a full fifteen minutes, then walked back to campus. Small potatoes, but a highly visible action.
In the end, Adele manages to rescue herself with the help of her friend Vera. Robbie does, too, then points the police to where the villain has escaped. Three strong chicks! As with all cozies, justice is done, and harmony restored to the village. Until the next book, that is…
And I’m delighted to announce that my novella, Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse – which includes a black lab puppy named Cocoa – will be the next adventure in book time – and real time! It releases in a three-book collection called Christmas Cocoa Murder on September 24.
Readers, how do you do in hot weather? Prefer super dry or less warm but humid? How do you cope?
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, with eighteen novels in print and five more completed, has been nominated for an Agatha Award six times. She lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t killing people on the page or wasting time on Facebook. Please find her at edithmaxwell.com, on Instagram, and at the Wicked Authors blog.
Chicks on the Case 
Congrats on your upcoming release! I can’t say I’m fond of super-hot weather, but I do much better in the heat than I do in the cold. I definitely prefer dry over humid though. And it’s funny how different terms can be offensive or not depending on who the speaker is. “Chick” is sort of like the term “queer,” I suppose, in that its usage is generally not offensive coming from someone who identifies with the group in question but can easily be construed as an insult when adopted by an outsider.
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Thanks, Marla. And that’s so true about insider/outsider with terms like “chick.”
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Love the hot weather. I am a July baby so naturally I love it warm. Good luck with your new book.
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I love hot weather, too, Christine. Thanks!
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I like cook, crisp fall weather, and those Quaker Midwife Mysteries! And you know, nowadays we would just get “#StopTheWar” trending on Twitter for a couple hours, without ever having to leave our dorm rooms. Ah, the times, they are a-changin’.
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**COOL, crisp…** (Oh, well, good weather for cooking, too…)
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Indeed they are! I’m delighted you love the Quaker Midwife books, and hope you’ll try the Country Store series, too.
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I don’t mind hot weather that much when it isn’t muggy, but I do like to go to the mountains in Colorado to escape the August Texas heat!
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Colorado mountains are drop dead gorgeous, too.
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Definitely hot! But it’s best if it’s also dry. I once spent the late winter and spring in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the dry, dry, below-zero temperatures were far easier to endure than the moist mid-forties temps in Santa Cruz!
Then again, I do love hot muggy evenings, as long as I have a ice-cold drink to accompany them….
Congrats on your newest release, my dear! Sounds terrific!
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Thanks, Leslie! Does it get muggy in Hilo?
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It’s a little muggy, but the trade winds keep it pretty perfect, actually–not at all like the Midwest or Florida.
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Edith, I loved this story. And thanks so much for supporting our blog – and name! You’ll always be a Chick to us, in the best sense of the word. xo
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And I definitely prefer hot. Dry heat is easier, except when it’s over 100. Then it feels like I’m trapped in an oven. I grew up in NY and went to school in NOLA, so I can stand my own against humidity. My husband’s from St. Louis, and hates it. He likes cold. I dream of living in NOLA one day, but it’ll be a battle over the elements. (He does love the food, though, so it’s still a possibility.)
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NOLA food is so fabulous, how could he turn that down? Thanks so much for hosting me, dear Ellen.
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I love the heat, but I’m used to dry heat. I haven’t done well in humid places when I’ve visited. And I do enjoy my AC when it is hot out.
I’m about 100 pages from the end of the book, and I’m loving it as always.
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Awesome, Mark. I’m so pleased. Yes, dry is the way to go.
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I don’t like the heat so much, but humidity definitely makes it worse! I’m really looking forward to the Christmas novella– that sounds fab! And thanks for hanging out today with the Chicks!
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Thanks so much!
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Counting the days until fall…but in the meantime, I’ll vote for dry heat over humidity. Wishing you continued success in your book adventures, Edith (the title Strangled Eggs and Ham always makes me smile…Seussian joy). Also, hooray for cocoa cozies!
ps: Love the story of your protest.
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Thanks, Cynthia. It was one of the few cozy titles I came up with on my own. Usually I crowd source them.
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Since we have looooooooong, snowy winters here, I love hot days when they finally arrive. Our high desert climate means a dry heat–just as I like it. (It’s funny… my husband, a native Floridian, vows to never be hot again. He’s like the Scarlett O’Hara of weather!)
Congrats on the upcoming release, and thanks for all the Chick support!
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I love high desert, Kathleen.
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Edith, so sorry I’m late to the party–but thank you for taking the time once again out of your busy writing schedule to visit us Chicks. I’m like Goldilocks when it comes to weather. I prefer not-too-hot and not-too-cold. As a native New Englander, I’m happiest with 4 unpredictable seasons. We only have so much time to complain before we’re hit with the next extreme, and then we wish for the polar opposite of whatever elements we’re currently dealing with. It’s a prime-time sport here to shout at the TV weatherpersons, who must always be on their toes. Looking forward to the new titles!
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