Welcoming back Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day and Scone Cold Dead

 HALLIE EPHRON: Once again it's our pleasure to host Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day and celebrate the release of Scone Cold Dead, her thirteenth Country Store Mystery.  

Welcome back, Edith! What a great cover! Seems like only yesterday...

EDITH MAXWELL: Thank you, Hallie. I’ve made appearances here at Jungle Reds from the start. Hallie also hosted me back in 2015 for the release of book #1, Flipped for Murder. In “How the Heck Did we get to Indiana?”, I explained how I arrived at the perfect setting for my first series written as Maddie Day.

I was honored to have Hank endorse the book, and I helped launch it at that year’s Magna Cum Murder conference in Indianapolis, birthplace of many a Maxwell including my father. 

For those readers who haven’t been with me for the whole journey, I thought I might recap the series for you.

• Flipped for Murder #1 October 2015
• Grilled for Murder #2 May 2016
• When the Grits Hit the Fan #3 March 2017
• Biscuits and Slashed Browns #4 January 2018
• Death Over Easy #5 July 2018
• Strangled Eggs and Ham #6 July 2019
• Christmas Cocoa Murder #6.5 Sept 2019
• Nacho Average Murder #7 July 2020
• Candy Slain Murder #8 Oct 2020
• No Grater Crime #9 Sept 2021
• Batter Off Dead #10 March 2022
• Christmas Scarf Murder #10.5 September 2022
• Four Leaf Cleaver #11 January 2023
• Deep Fried Death #12 December 2023
• Scone Cold Dead #13 April 2025

In the first book, Robbie Jordan has finished fixing up the rundown country store she bought in Brown County Indiana, and she’s opening the doors to Pans ’N Pancakes, her breakfast-and-lunch restaurant in the store, for the first time. A couple of days later a murder victim is found with one of Robbie’s cheesy biscuits stuffed in her mouth, and Robbie’s future is suddenly in peril.

Leapfrog to Book #3, When the Grits Hit the Fan, takes place during a snowy winter while Robbie is working on renovations upstairs to make a few bed and breakfast rooms. A man found dead in an ice fishing hole is Robbie’s next case, and later in the book Robbie and her new boyfriend Abe are attacked during an ice storm in a remote cottage in the woods.

For that release, which coincided with the release of one of my Quaker Midwife Mysteries, Julia and Hank did a fun interview with Edith and Maddie, and for my launch party, Maddie and I interviewed each other.

Four Leaf Cleaver features a St. Patrick’s Day competition in Robbie’s store – and murder. When I crowd-sourced a title and Grace Koshida suggested Four Leaf Cleaver, I knew I had a winner. I promptly wrote a cleaver into the story.

Jenn hosted me for the release of Biscuits and Slashed Browns.

Debs hosted me for a joint celebration when No Grater Crime released, along with Alyssa Maxwell and her new book – even though we’re not related! Robbie has the first death from poisoned food in her restaurant and gets to work fast to find out who is trying to sabotage her business. The book ends happily with her marriage to Abe O’Neill.

In Batter Off Dead, the murder of a senior citizen eerily echoes one in the past, and both are linked to police Lieutenant Buck Bird, now a good friend of Robbie’s. Julia was sweet enough to host me but horrified to hear that I write into the headlights without benefit of a plot!

Fast forward: And now #13, Scone Cold Dead. A man’s body is found dead on Aunt Adele’s sheep farm, and it turns out to be someone she knew long ago. But was he murdered? Another mysterious stranger shows up in town. The bank manager has a history with the corpse, as well.

Robbie spies a face looking out from the second floor of an abandoned brick farmhouse. Adele becomes oddly tight-lipped about everything, even when the police want her to talk. In this book, Robbie is weeks away from giving birth. She tries not to put herself and her baby in danger – but she has to clear Adele’s name and get to the bottom of the mystery.

I’m grateful to have shared so many releases here. Thirteen books in ten years is a good long run for a series, and Robbie and Abe now have a newborn. I’ve made the decision to let her go on out top. Yes, I’m ending the Country Store Mysteries. You’re hearing it here first.

My deep apologies to ardent fans of the series (sorry, Jay!), but I’m at the stage of my life when I don’t want to work quite as hard. My publisher wanted to continue the Country Store Mysteries, which made the decision even more difficult.

Still, I have shifting personal priorities (one of whom is named Ida Rose), and they’re important to me. Also, nobody wants a series to go stale for readers or author. I wanted to end it while I still loved creating the stories.

I’ll still be writing the Cozy Capers Book Group series and the Cece Barton Mysteries, plus short stories and possibly a new project or two, and I hope you’ll check out my other series if you haven’t already.

Thank you to all my followers who fell in love with Robbie and the South Lick gang. I often receive messages or comments asking for the next book and saying they miss their favorite characters. I know I’ll miss Adele and Samuel, Buck and Corrine, Danna and Turner, Abe and Sean and Freddie, not to mention Birdy, Maceo, and Cocoa – and Robbie. Who knows, maybe a few of them will pop up in a short story somewhere.

Readers: Do you have a favorite book or character in the Country Store series? Or tell us about a series whose ending made you sad.

BOOK GIVEAWAY! Edith is giving away a signed copy of SCONE COLD DEAD to two luck commenters.

In Scone Cold Dead, country store and café owner Robbie Jordan is just weeks away from giving birth, and it seems Robbie and her husband, dad-to-be Abe, aren’t the only ones grappling with anxiety. A stranger is causing a stir in town and Robbie’s Aunt Adele appears unusually preoccupied at the baby shower. But when someone finds a body in the ram field on Adele’s sheep farm, it’s Robbie’s turn to be worried. Especially after Chief Buck Bird uncovers a troubling link between Adele and the possible murder victim. Robbie has no choice but to knit the clues together and solve this mystery before anything else gets flocked up . . .

Spring sprung yet in your neck of the woods??

 HALLIE EPHRON: Here in New England we have “sprung ahead” so daylight is breaking at around the time I am waking and signs of spring abound!

A pair of downy woodpeckers are doing their darndest to make a dent in my brick chimney. Cardinals are back and proclaiming wallah-ballou from the rooftops. A flicker is drilling for worms between the stones in my patio. A house finch (with a bright red head) is singing from the top of a maple tree in front of my house. And I’m bidding a fond farewell to the darling little juncoes (snow birds) that have literally flocked to my garden all winter.

My yard is shaking off winter doldrums. Carpets of blue scilla are popping up everywhere, and some have hopped the fence and are colonizing in my neighbor’s garden. The little clump I planted at Jerry’s grave is blooming.

Sedum, which will bloom in October, are starting to poke their tidy succulent heads heads out of the soil.

What’s happening in your neck of the woods that says: Spring has sprung! Or maybe not so much...

JENN McKINLAY: Spring came and went and we’re back to summer here in AZ! It was 99 degrees the other day. Hoo boy! I’m hoping the heat slows its roll. Summer is long enough out here. But my vegetable garden is busting out, so I am very happy!

RHYS BOWEN: I’m with Jenn! Just when I was loving spring it was suddenly summer and 99 degrees. I had to switch from heating to air conditioning. I think it’s back to more normal temps next week but if it stays like this it’s back to California for me.

Lucy Burdette: Spring in Key West is not subtle! We have the bright red royal Poinciana trees, yellow, or pink plumeria (which also smell lovely), and what my sister calls yellow rain. This tree has delicate bright, yellow flowers that rain down onto the sidewalk. Also, the orchids that have been tied to various palm trees seem to burst into blossom this time of year. Here’s one from my neighbor.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: In one word: ducks! They are back, and Flo and Eddy are as adorable as ever. 

Also, spring brings the opening salvos in the humans vs. squirrels/rabbits skirmish over the tulips–who will prevail? We are spreading Rabbit Scram like mad. Sorry bunnies, you are so cute, but our hosta and tulips are not bunny salad. Grrr.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: The squirrels are very helpfully turning our flowerbeds for us, Hank. But I can't say a bad word about them since Rick has tamed one of them. He's named her Tikka and she eats peanuts out of his hand. As annoying as the digging up of things is, I have to admit she's pretty cute.

Spring is springing in full force here in north Texas, although it seems a couple of weeks later than is normal for us. Last night we moved the big plants back outside, and today I'm off to hit the stores for Boston ferns.

I bought tomatoes last weekend so hopefully we will get those in this next week, as well as getting new plants in the deck and patio pots.

The roses are all thick with buds and the Climbing Old Blush (always the earliest) has a bloom or two. The bridal wreath is blooming, the Japanese maples have leafed out in brilliant scarlet.

There will be something new every day now–and so many chores and projects! The gorgeous pots and hanging baskets I brought back from Round Top will need to be repotted into bigger containers. Here's one of the pots with the Japanese fishing float that was my fun find at the show.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’m experiencing just the opposite of Rhys and Jenn here in Maine - just as I was enjoying the first signs of spring, The Old Crone of Winter came back for another go-round! We have four inches on the ground and more sleet and freezing rain in the forecast.

The few song birds that already arrived are very quiet today - probably wondering why they weren’t still in the Carolinas!

I did get out yesterday afternoon while it was nice and warm and started my annual spring task of picking up all the branches that fell over the winter. I have two enormous trees in the front of the house, and it amazes me how many deadfalls they have over the course of a year and still keep right on leafing out.

As for other signs of spring… sigh. I’m visiting friends in the Hamptons in a week and a half; I’m hoping the landscape is more hopeful there.

HALLIE: It should be super-springy week after next in the  Hamptons!

Now over to you! Is spring bursting out, limping along, or in hiding in your neck of the woods?

What We're Writing: Jenn Edition

 JENN McKINLAY: Someday I'm going to gather all of these what we're writing posts together just to get a sense of what I was doing every 8 weeks. I will either be pleased or horrified--probably both.

If I worked for the government and was required to submit my list of five things I accomplished this week, it would read something like this:

1. Copyedits on WITCHES OF DUBIOUS ORIGIN - 25 pages/day due Apr 4.

2. Emailed cover ideas for THE SUMMER SHARE (contemporary novel 2026) with a mock up made on an app on my phone because I'm an overthinker. The art department probably hates me. LOL.

Yes, there's a Harlequin Great Dane	in the book named Dude.

3. Wrote 5-10 pages/day on BOOKING FOR TROUBLE (Library Lovers 2026) due ASAP.

4. Decided I wasn't ready to let go of the cupcake bakery series and started writing 3-5 pages/day on a manuscript FORMULA FOR DISASTER (working title) with no plan for release or publication as yet.

5. Started drafting proposals for the next contemporary romance, a romantasy idea I have, and a possible cupcake mystery spin off series.

Bonus task: Prepped a print version of I CAN'T EVEN, which comes out on 4-8-24 (Oops! I meant 4-8-25- thanks, Edith for catching) for the readers who demanded it. You're welcome :)

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So, those are my top working tasks this week. What else did I do? Had a long chat with my agent that boiled down to this:

Amazeballs Agent: Jenn, we've talked about working smarter not harder over the years--

Me: That's never gonna be me. It just isn't.

Amazeballs Agent: LOL. I know.

(I think I wore her down, y'all)!

And lest you think I don't have a life, I also took care of my critters every day, worked in my garden, continued training for the upcoming Pat's Run (4.2 miles!), celebrated my birthday with the fam by seeing the musical WICKED, and tried to keep up with the news (oh, horror)! 

So, Reds and Readers, are you a "work smarter not harder" sort of person? Or an incurable workaholic like me?