Giveaway, Guest Post

Guest Chick: Maddie Day

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!

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.

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.

19 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Maddie Day”

  1. Welcome, Maddie! Thank you so much for visiting with us. Congratulations on the upcoming release of A Poisonous Pour. Best wishes for great sales. I once had a 76 Mustang. It sounds a lot cooler than it was. Ha!

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  4. Oh gosh, memories…the first car I ever bought by myself was a foreign car (Japanese – HORRORS to my father!) It was so ugly it was cute, but oh my was it reliable! It was a 1976 Subaru, the skinny little thing where I could touch both sides while sitting in it. Loved that thing!

    Congratulations on the new release. I’m looking forward to reading Cece’s new adventure.

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  6. Three cheers to you, Maddie, on the new book! I don’t know that I have a favorite vintage car, though I’ve always thought that the early Corvettes were super cool. Cheers!

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  7. Great story, Edith. Takes me back to the days when I pretty much ran the parts department at the swimming pool store where I worked in college. Customers would ask to see the manager – also a woman. The best day was when a customer requested a part for a 1970 Jacuzzi pump motor, one that was no longer available. I gave him the manufacturer’s recommended replacement. The customer asked to see a particular field service employee. Russ came out, looked at the part, asked, “What did she tell you?” The customer replied. Russ said, “Then that’s what you should use” and walked out.

    The Hubby is currently toying with the idea of buying a “summer toy” – one of those vintage cars, but not something so pretty we can’t drive and enjoy it. I’ve always loved the ’69 Camaro, myself.

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  9. Thanks for being here, Maddie/Edith! I love how you took on that job with flair!

    I’m not sure if I have a favorite vintage car, but I’m partial to VW bugs with flower vases. I’m also a fan of DeLoreans for the Back to the Future nostalgia.

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  10. Edith, I absolutely love that you did this! But of course you did, because you’re you.

    Oh, do I have a favorite vintage car. When I was a teen, my parents bought a 1964 Ford Falcon Futura Convertible – black on the outside, red on the inside, with a red roof. It was the “station car” – that’s the car Dad used to drive to the train station to catch the train into the city for work. I LOVED that car. I learned to drive on it, passed my test on it. When it finally gave up the ghost and was towed from our driveway, I lay on my bed and cried.

    In my full-length play, OLD SINS, LONG SHADOWS, a character has the same car and he loved it so much, when it “died,” he had it buried in the local cemetery, headstone and everything. And it’s the car Maggie drives in my Cajun Country Mystery series.

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