Marla here, welcoming Maddie Day back to the blog. One of the most fun parts about having guest Chicks is learning the interesting backstories of our fellow cozy mystery authors, and today’s story is the perfect example. Read on to hear about the time Maddie took on a traditionally male-dominated job — and comment for a chance to win a copy of A POISONOUS POUR!

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A Winding Path from Pump Jock to Author

Thanks for inviting me to be a Chick for a Day! I’m delighted to hang out here for a pre-celebration of A Poisonous Pour, the third Cece Barton mystery, which releases in four weeks.

My friends, get cozy. Maybe even pour a glass of wine, because I’m going to tell you a story about the olden days.

Once upon a time, there was an assertive young college senior in southern California. A friend she’d met in English class said her father had a part-time job open at the Mobil gas station and auto shop he owned on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach. The student took the job. When she graduated from University of California Irvine one term early with a BA in linguistics, she went full-time at the station.

Readers, that young woman was me. Our wave of feminism was in full swing in 1974, and I was an eager early adopter. Nothing pleased me more than taking a job traditionally done by men. I rode my bike to work in my Mobil shirt with Edie embroidered on it. I spent my days pumping gas, cleaning windshields, changing and balancing tires, and changing oil. 

One of the best parts was when a customer would ask to speak to my father, assuming the only reason I worked there was because it was a family affair. I smiled sweetly, said my dad was teaching high school an hour north of us, and asked if I could help instead. 

My boss sent me to tune-up school, and to get my State of California headlight adjuster and smog device (catalytic converters were a new thing at the time) licenses. This was during the previous oil crisis, and the station sometimes ran out of gas. And not a single car had a computer in it.

For years after that I did all the work on my own 1966 VW bug and later a 1970 Volvo sedan that I bought used in 1980. (Now I drive a Prius plug-in hybrid, and it’s way too complicated to even think about servicing, not to mention that I no longer hang out lying on my back on the ground.)

This is a long and wandering path to explaining why I gave Cece Barton a pretty blue 1966 Mustang convertible to drive. Every Chick needs a favorite ride, right? Plus, her friend Josie Jarvin owns a vintage auto shop and only works on what I call analog cars. Years ago I proposed a new cozy series featuring Josie, but my editor didn’t think it was cozy enough. I showed him!

So it’s also no surprise that I invented an antique car show and wine tasting event that opens the new book. It takes place during Memorial Day weekend in fictional Colinas, which I situated in the wine-producing Alexander Valley north of San Francisco. I made up the event, but I would totally go if it were real!

Readers: What’s your favorite vintage car? How about a wine vintage? I’ll send a commenter a copy of A POISONOUS POUR after it releases.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

At the Memorial Day classic car show and wine tasting, northern California wine bar owner Cece Barton witnesses heated discussions with local vintage car owners and overbearing association director Regan Green. After Regan is later murdered, Cece once again enlists her twin, Allie, as her partner-in-sleuthing to clear the name of Cece’s elderly but muckraking neighbor. But they’ll have to act quickly to investigate an artist, a hardware store owner, the mayor, and more before the trail goes sour.

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Maddie Day writes the Cece Barton Mysteries and other gentle and historical mysteries; as Edith Maxwell, she writes Agatha-Award nominated short crime fiction. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America and a proud lifetime member of Sisters in Crime. Maxwell/Day lives north of Boston with her beau and their cat Martin, where she writes, cooks, gardens, and wastes time on Facebook. Find her at edithmaxwell.com and at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen.