News Flash: Sheila Golding is the randomly selected winner of the author apron! Congratulations. Sheila, please send your mailing address to edith at edithmaxwell dot com and I’ll get the apron out to you.
Maddie Day here, otherwise known as Edith, at Barb’s Boothbay Harbor home with all the other main Wickeds on our annual retreat, and boy, is it ever lovely.
I’m using one of our occasional Saturday posts to share some exciting news. The preorder page for Murder on Cape Cod, complete with a special exclusive edition cover, is finally ready over at Barnes & Noble. This is book one in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, due out December 18, and I’ve been waiting to show you all this cover for a while. I’ll celebrate by sending one commenter a special author apron!
Here’s a little about the series, but you’ll be hearing more about it in coming months.
The series is set in the quaint fictional Cape Cod village of Westham, which is replete with a salt-water taffy shop, craft distillery, gourmet ice cream store, fudge shop, nautical-themed gift shoppe, bakery and cafe, sushi restaurant, lobster shack, and indy bookstore. The shops are bookended on each end by churches, with the town hall, library, and police and fire stations in the middle. Many of the proprietors are members of the Cozy Capers book group – a group that reads and meets to discuss one cozy mystery every week – as are the almost-due-to-retire police chief, the head librarian, and the town clerk. Unfortunately, murder starts popping up in and around the town’s shops.
Mac Almeida is our protagonist, a wiry thirty-six year old with short black curls, who owns and operates Mac’s Bikes, a bicycle repair and rental shop serving locals and tourists alike. She lives in a tiny house behind the store. Her parents reside in the UU rectory, her half-brother and his little daughter live in a local lighthouse, and her baker boyfriend is just down the road, too. I’ve loved setting up these new characters and this fictional town.
So are you ready for the cover? Ta-da!
I love it! As you can see, Murder on Cape Cod is an exclusive deal with Barnes & Noble for the first year, but after that Kensington Publishing will re-release it on all platforms. My agent and my editor were both excited about the unusual arrangement, and who was 
I to say no? The books will have seaside-based recipes and lots of intrigue. Oh, and murder – on the bike trail in this book!
Readers: Who has been to Cape Cod and what do you love about it? If you haven’t, what’s your favorite waterside place to visit (or live)? I’ll send one of you an author apron!
I haven’t been to Cape Cod, but would love to get there some day. My favorite waterside place is Ocean Shores, WA. I go a few times a year. Hearing the ocean is so relaxing for me. I love the sound of this new place you’ve created – who wouldn’t want an ice cream shop and a saltwater taffy shop right next to a bookstore? 🙂Thanks for this opportunity!
I love listening to the ocean, too, Sharelle. Thanks for visiting the blog!
A really neat cover, it’s inviting. I’ve never been to the cape. Wisconsin has beautiful lakes, Lake Superior and in door county it’s gorgeous. Lighthouses too. Lots of small lakes too. Thanks for the chance.
I have always heard about Wisconsin’s lakes! Thanks for visiting the blog, Donamae.
I was born on Cape Cod and love it! The beaches are beautiful but I love the way being there makes me feel and the memories it evokes.
Lucky you, Karen! Thanks for stopping by the blog.
I’ve only been on the cape twice….what little I was able to see was so inviting. We were on our way to Maine for a few weeks..visited a relative near Boston and decided to take a side trip…didn’t really have time to get out and walk around. I’ve always hoped to go back and visit the area properly! I was embarrassed there at dinner. We had our 15 year old ( youngest of six), our 18 year old, and a 16 year old foster child. Stopped in at a pretty fancy and expensive restaurant for dinner…the Foster ordered Rump steak. All was ok…until the food was delivered. Then the Foster said in a very loud voice, “ wait till I see my mom again and I tell her we went to Cape Cod and you bought me a piece of Ass!” Startled gasps in restaurant, then restrained laughter…by the time it finished…there was unrestrained laughter except from the very proper people at a nearby table who asked to be reseated away from the rowdy riffraff….I can laugh about it…couldn’t that night though! Felt we needed to slip out of town fast! lol. As you do with teens..agreed it was funny and humorous…but that there was a time and place for it…and not necessarily in a “proper” restaurant! I am hoping if you live on the Cape, you were not in the restaurant! It was in 1993….middle of summer.
My favorite place to visit for the summer..is any place by the sea. I grew up on the beaches in Southern California…migrated to east coast as an adult..I just love the sea and mountains…
Oh, my, Renee. I can just imagine how you felt as a parent! I don’t live on the Cape and was not in that restaurant, LOL. I also grew up going to southern California beaches! Huntington and Newport, primarily. Thanks for stopping by the blog.
What’s not to like about Cape Cod. Visited for my 30th wedding anniversary and I’ve never been the same since. Whale watching, seals, art shops in P-Town, shopping and beaches. I can still taste the salt on my lips. What wonderful memories!! Great hub for visiting Nantucket and the Vineyard also. I could go on and on. Definitely at the top of my list.
It is a very special place! Thanks for visiting the blog, Linda.
I have not been to Cape Cod but love the peace and serenity of St. Simon’s Island, GA.
Peace and serenity are always good, Karlene!
I don’t think I’ve been to Cape Cod. My favorite place to go is Virginia Beach. We got engaged there, we got married there, and soon we hope to make it our home. It has dolphins in the surf and fighter jets buzzing overhead, along with that southern hospitality. What more could you ask for?
Dolphins in the surf sound so fun, Kristin!
I’m originally from Massachusetts and spent many vacations on the Cape! I get back almost annually for a girl’s weekend; there’s something special in the air of Cape Cod.
Love Your cover. Congratulations on the release. I’m a sucker for first in series so will be checking this one out.
Thanks so much! I agree about something special in the air on the Cape.
What a wonderful cover! I also love Cape Cod. It’s a great family vacation destination. Good luck with the book!
Thanks so much, Tina!
Having lived in Massachusetts, while working .. took many a trip to the Cape. Love the cover of the book..a beautiful Cape Code house ..such great memories !
Thank you, Patricia. It’s a really special place. Thanks for stopping by the blog!
This really sounds like something I would enjoy! Many, many years ago I got library books by mail. I could choose from a list and they sent me 3 or 4 paperbacks at a time. Some of the books I liked the best took place on Cape Cod in the 20s or 30s. No idea who wrote them but I would love to read them again. I seem to remember a rather old codger who solved or helped solve mysteries. I couldn’t wait to go to CC and get me some beach plum jelly. By the time I did get there several years later nothing was as I had expected!
Beach plum jelly sounds fabulous, Judi. A friend of mine used to make it! Thanks for visiting the blog.
I have never been to the Cape Cod. I have to read the book soon. I love the review.
Thanks, Veronica.
I have never been to Cape Cod, but I have enjoyed visits to the East coast! Near where I live in Northern CA, I enjoy Aptos, Santa Cruz, and Monterey!!
I love Santa Cruz , Linda! Thanks for visiting the blog.
What a great cover! I have never gotten to go to Cape Cod, but have been to Marblehead. Immediately when you began to describe your small town, my mind started picturing Marblehead. I have lived in the South for many years, and I can still remember on my visit to Marblehead years ago how amazing it was to walk by a house and see a sign saying it was built sometime in the 1600’s!
My favorite beach town in the world is Destin, Florida. Sand beaches that are sugar white and incomparable turquoise waters – on a good day, anyhow!
Nancy
workmomad@gmail.com
Then you are going to love Sherry Harris’s new Redneck Riviera series! It’s set in a fictional town near Destin, I believe. When she goes there on research and sends back pictures of that sand and water, I always marvel at it!
Your new series sounds AMAZING!! I’ve never been to Cape Cod but would live to remedy that one day. For now, my favorite beachy spot is Florida’s Marco Island.
I’v heard such good things about Florida beaches, Cheryl!
I have been going to Cape Cod ever since I was a child it is its own quiet place for me especially in the fall.
The fall is so lovely there, Donna.
I have not been to Cape Cod. I do love to take the RV and the dogs and stay at Huntington State Park in Murrell’s Inlet, SC.
ezellmarlene(at)gmail(dot)com
Sounds nice, Marlene.
So I’m guessing no ARCs for those of us without a B&N nearby?
I don’t know if I’m even going to get ARCs! (And aren’t you dozens behind, anyway?)
Sadly, yes. But I’m always willing to bump my favorite authors up in the queue!
Wonderful cover, Edith. Best of luck with this new series. I can’t wait to dive in and revisit the Cape virtually.