Edith Maxwell (born November 2, 1952) is an

Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short ...

-winning American mystery author also currently writing as Maddie Day. She writes cozy, traditional, and

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

mysteries set in the United States.

Biography

Maxwell was born in Pasadena and grew up in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

suburb of Temple City with two older sisters and a younger brother. Her father taught high school and her mother was a Girl Scout leader and a real estate appraiser. Maxwell was an exchange student with AFS Intercultural Programs in Brazil for a year in 1970. She holds a BA (linguistics, 1974) from

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

, and a PhD (linguistics, 1981) from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

. Prior to writing fiction full time, she worked as an auto mechanic, taught conversational English in Japan and independent childbirth classes in Massachusetts, owned and operated a small certified-organic farm, wrote free-lance articles, and most recently produced software documentation for several hi-tech companies in the Boston area. Besides Brazil and Japan she has also lived in Mali and Burkina Faso.

Authorial career

Maxwell’s first published fiction was in the

Pasadena Star-News The ''Pasadena Star-News'' is a paid local daily newspaper for the greater Pasadena, California area. The Pasadena ''Star-News'' is a member of Southern California News Group (formerly the Los Angeles Newspaper Group), since 1996. It is also par ...

, where she won a children’s fiction contest in 1961. Her first published short story as an adult was in 1996, and her first novel appeared in 2012. She is a lifetime member of

Sisters in Crime Sisters in Crime (SinC) is a writing organization focused on increasing equity and inclusion for women crime writers within the publishing industry. The group has 4,500 members in 60+ regional chapters worldwide, offering networking, advice and su ...

and served as President of the New England chapter for two years. She is also a member of

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...

, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and the Historical Novel Society. She has been a full-time mystery author since 2013. Maxwell has two dozen mystery novels and a novella in print. Maxwell decided to write cozy mysteries because "I don’t want to read noir or nail-biter thrillers. Our world is scary and messy enough. When I’m finished reading a book, I don’t want to feel worse about society. That’s what I write, too."

Bibliography

Local Foods Mysteries (as Edith Maxwell)

*''A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die'' June 2013

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

*''‘Til Dirt Do Us Part'' June 2014 Kensington *''Farmed and Dangerous'' May 2015 Kensington *''Murder Most Fowl'' May 2016 Kensington *''Mulch Ado About Murder'' May 2017 Kensington

Country Store Mysteries (as Maddie Day)

*''Flipped for Murder'' October 2015 Kensington *''Grilled for Murder'' May 2016 Kensington *''When the Grits Hit the Fan'' March 2017 Kensington *''Biscuits and Slashed Browns'' January 2018 Kensington *''Death Over Easy'' July 2018 Kensington *''Strangled Eggs and Ham'' July 2019 Kensington *''Christmas Cocoa Murder'' Sept 2019 Kensington *''Nacho Average Murder'' July 2020 Kensington *''Candy Slain Murder'' Sept 2020 Kensington

Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries (as Maddie Day)

*''Murder on Cape Cod'' December 2018 Kensington *''Murder at the Taffy Shop'' March 2020 Kensington *''Murder at the Lobstah Shack'' November 2021 Kensington *''Murder in a Cape Cottage'' September 2022 Kensington *''Murder at the Cape Bookstore'' August 2023 Kensington *''Murder at the Rusty Anchor'' June 2024 Kensington *''Murder at Cape Costumes'' August 2025 Kensington

Quaker Midwife Mysteries (as Edith Maxwell)

*''Delivering the Truth'' April 2016 Midnight Ink *''Called to Justice'' April 2017 Midnight Ink *''Turning the Tide'' April 2018 Midnight Ink *''Charity’s Burden'' April 2019 Midnight Ink *''Judge Thee Not'' September 2019 Beyond the Page *''Taken Too Soon'' September 2020 Beyond the Page

Lauren Rousseau Mysteries (as Tace Baker)

*''Speaking of Murder'' September 2012 Barking Rain, reissued in 2020 by Beyond the Page *''Bluffing is Murder'' November 2014 Barking Rain, reissued in 2020 by Beyond the Page

Awards and recognition

* 2014

nomination for Best Short Story, “Just Desserts for Johnny” * 2015 Agatha Award nomination for Best Short Story, “A Questionable Death” * 2016

nomination for Best Historical Novel, Delivering the Truth * 2017 Agatha Award nomination for Best Historical Novel for ''Called to Justice'' * 2018 Agatha Award nomination for Best Historical Novel, ''Turning the Tide'' * 2019 Agatha Award winner for Best Historical Novel, ''Charity's Burden'' * 2016 Macavity Award (Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award) nomination, ''Delivering the Truth'' * 2019 Macavity Award (Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award) nomination, ''Charity's Burden'' * 2016 Agatha Award nomination for Best Short Story, “The Mayor and the Midwife” * 2013 Honorable Mention in the Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction contest, “Breaking the Silence”

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Edith 1952 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American mystery writers American women mystery writers 21st-century American women writers Writers from Los Angeles People from Temple City, California American Quakers Writers from Massachusetts People from Amesbury, Massachusetts Writers from Pasadena, California University of California, Irvine alumni Pseudonymous women writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers