Guest Post

Guest Chick: Edith Maxwell

Today, the Chicks are pleased as wine punch to welcome back the marvelous Edith Maxwell, who has a new book releasing next week. Take it away, Edith!

My Chickie Inspirations

Thanks so much to the Chicks for inviting me back to celebrate the release of Deadly Crush, my second Cece Barton mystery! The book will be out next Tuesday.

Since this is the Chicks on the Case blog, I thought I’d share some of the chicks who helped inspire parts of this series.

Cece drives a 1966 blue Ford Mustang convertible (more on that tomorrow on the Jungle Red Writers blog). Cars don’t rust out as fast in California, and Cece has always taken good care of Blue. But why did I pick that model in particular? My longtime friend Mel Greenlee in Berkeley still owns her original, except hers is red.

I wish I could find the photo of Mel with the car or the one with my sons going for a ride in it, but they both are from the pre-digital time and are somewhere in the desert, that is, my too-large box of unorganized prints.

Imagine my amazement surprise when the car rental place in San Francisco directed me to the “Surprise” car I had reserved last fall, and it was a new Mustang convertible!

Cece is devoted to her personal Pilates practice. I included that aspect of her, not because I myself do Pilates (I probably should – and don’t), but because another longtime California friend, Linda Hillel, teaches it in her home studio. Linda was one of my college roommates at UC Irvine. She and her husband Jon, also a college friend, now live Healdsburg in the Alexander Valley, and they came to my book launch last year in Geyserville!

If you happen to live in Sonoma County and are interested in increasing your fitness, check out Linda’s business.

The next inspiration is from a fictional chick. Cece’s friend Ed Ramirez owns and runs Edie’s Diner, whose slogan is, “God Bless America, and Edie’s Diner, too.” Edie’s was actually a real diner in Corona del Mar, California, where I ate with family in about 2000. The location seems to have been taken over by Ruby’s Diner, one of a small chain in southern California.

All I have left is the paper menu (and the memories) of Edie’s, but I loved creating a fictional version of it in this series, especially since my childhood nickname was Edie.

Ed’s menu includes lots of Cali-Mex offerings, and vegetarian Cece can always find something tasty to order.

As for the other chicks in Deadly Crush – Cece’s twin Allie, her friend and mechanic Josie Jarvin, her statuesque employee Mooncat, Cece’s mom and college-age daughter – all those were inspired entirely by my imagination.

Readers: Who are the inspirational chicks in your life? I’d love to send one commenter a copy of the new book, so make sure I know how to contact you.

It’s the beginning of a new year, and for widowed single mom and recent L.A. transplant to California wine country, Cece Barton, that means green hillsides, flowing streams from winter rains, pruned vineyards—and a murder to solve. She’s shocked when she gets a call from her mechanic, Josie, that she’s found her ex-husband crushed to death beneath the lift in her automotive shop.

Cece convinces Josie to call the police, even though Josie is terrified. Electrician Karl was an abusive husband, was threatening her, and she has no alibi. Josie’s future is on the line, and maybe her own, so Cece starts her own investigation. With a bouquet of motives and unanswered questions, Cece is going to need the help of her twin, Allie, who owns a nearby B & B, as she dives into Karl’s past—before the killer catches up with her, and the lights go out for good . . .

Maddie Day pens the Country Store Mysteries, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries. As Agatha Award-winning author Edith Maxwell, she writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and short crime fiction. Day/Maxwell lives with her beau and their cat Martin north of Boston, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook. Find her at EdithMaxwell.com, wickedauthors.com, Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, and on social media:

Facebook

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49 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Edith Maxwell”

  2. One chick that is inspirational to me is Julia Child. She never gave up until she found her passion and followed it for the rest of her life. Plus, she taught us all how to have fun while cooking!

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  4. Love all the photos commemorating your friends & past experiences, Edith! Besides my mom, I was really inspired by my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Okada, who really motivated me with her love of English. I think I wrote my first mystery in her class!

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  5. That car! I’m so jealous! I’ve always had a soft spot for Mustangs.

    There are so many inspirational chicks on my life – especially the Chicks! – I can’t begin to list them. Which I file under a High Class Problem!

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  6. Yes–that car is fab! I had a ’63 Ford Falcon convertible for several years which had a Mustang V-8 engine. Dang, was it powerful!

    As for chickie inspirations, like Jen, I first thought of my mom. But Julia Child is also up there–as are all my Chicks on the Case!

    Thanks so much for visiting us today, Edith, and congrats on DEADLY CRUSH!

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  7. It’s always fun to see the inspiration behind the characters, so thanks for sharing. And congrats on the new book! (No need to enter me in the giveaway.)

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  8. What a fun post, Edith! I have a lot of weird inspirations, but my favorites are when I do some conversational shoplifting while sitting in an airport, or in a hotel lobby, or at a food court, and then build a character or paint a plot out of the fun or unusual way someone talks.

    Congrats on the new book!

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  9. Congratulations on the new book baby, Edith! I’m fortunate to have been, and continue to be, inspired by a lot of chicks in my life. The Chicks on the Case are amazing, as are you and your buddies at The Wickeds. Most of all, I’m inspired by my wife, Nancy. I’ve been luck to have her in my life for over 35 years now. Cheers!

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  10. Congratulations, Edith! Wow, would love to take a spin in that car. Thank you so much for visiting us today.

    And I’m so grateful for all of the amazing folks I’ve met in the mystery community (especially Chicks and friends of course). 🩷

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  14. So great to have you back, Edith, and what a wonderful post!

    I feel blessed that I have so many inspirational chicks in my life, I can’t count them all! Of course, the Chicks on the Case chicks top the list, along with my mom and (former) mother-in-law. Great women, all!

    PS Love the vintage ride here! My protagonist drove the same model of Studebaker that used to sit in my garage, so I feel a special affection for a bookish car crossover.

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  15. Besides my mom and twin sister, I have many friends who have been inspirational chicks for me through the years. cherierj(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  16. Edith, thanks so much for sharing this lovely post! So many inspiring chicks (and vehicles). Congrats on Deadly Crush–so much fun! Was Josie’s talent as a mechanic inspired by yours?

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    1. It was inspired in part by my own experiences, and also by a small mechanic’s shop in southern California I sometimes took my VW to. The lift was outdoors and if you brought the dude a six-pack of beer, he’d take something off the price (and share one with you at the end of the day!).

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  17. My mother. She started college at the University of Texas in 1936 where everyone of her siblings went to college. I do not know what happened, but her father sent a telegram to her brother to put her on a train and send her home to Brownsville, Texas as he needed her to work in his curio store (I think that there was something else going on, but I will never know) and put her on a train. In 1939, she met my father, who was the manager of the Capitol Theatre in Brownsville while he sold tickets to “Gone with the Wind.” Daddy and my mother were married January 13, 1941, and they spent their whole lives together until his untimely death in 1982. When my sister, Ginger went to the University of Texas in 1962, mother also went and finished her degree. She then went on to get her master’s degree at Texas A & I University in Kingsville, Texas. She won a Fulbright Hayes Grant to study Spanish at the University of Costa Rica in 1965. She was fluent in Spanish. She was a stewardess for Pan American Airlines during WWII when my father went to war. The FBI wanted her to come to Washington, D.C. to be a translator, but her father said that women did not go to places like that unattended. She put everything on hold to raise my sister and I despite all of her medical conditions. She was never supposed to have children, and she had four-my sister and I and two boys that died. She lost the use of her legs and had to go to Galveston to learn to walk again when I was 2 or so (about 1950). Despite all of this, she went on and had a great life and career. She died at 81 1/2 with a lot of problems that were the result of a horse-riding accident when she was a teenager. She was a beautiful lady and a very creative and fantastic mother. We talked daily and I miss those phone calls and talking to her.

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  18. Congratulations on the new book! So nice to hear about those who inspired you. Besides my dad, a long-time journalist, my freshman English/Lit teacher inspired me. She’d read from Great Expectations, or The Raven, by Poe, with such enthusiasm and drama, you’d swear she was onstage on Broadway. Her last message to me was, “Don’t stop writing.”

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  20. Wow! Great interview with Edith Maxwell–love the books! Also, appreciated the mention of “Pilates,” as I have been a Pilates instructor (from Orange County) for over 20 years–have my own studio in Redlands (studio is in our refurbished/finished garage), and I teach a group of elderly (80’s) neighbors every day. I am amazed at how these older guys and gals come hobbling in, and then within a few sessions, they’re standing upright, running around like teenagers. I never charge for any sessions. Pilates (on the Reformers) is something that I wish everyone could do after 50. Especially writers who sit curled over their computer keyboard all day. I know that when I write for three or four hours straight, I need to do a stretch/balance/core strengthening session. My husband, also a SIC member and writer does the Pilates sessions (and often steps in and teaches them). He’s had open heart surgery, and doing the sessions has kept him young and healthy. So happy to hear that Cece is devoted to her Pilates sessions too! It’s addicting. Studies have shown that it activates the Right and Left sides of the brain–so great for thinking/plotting/outlining and all of that. Thanks again!

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