Murder at a Cape Bookstore Release Week!

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News Flash: Adrienne is the lucky winner! Congratulations, Adrienne, and please check your email.

Edith/Maddie here, writing from north of Boston

I’m so excited that Murder at a Cape Bookstore releases tomorrow. It’s even more exciting that I get to share release week with both Liz (as Cate Conte) and Barb!

Congratulations to both these dear friends and brilliant authors. I’ll celebrate with a giveaway, so read down to the end.

My new book is the fifth in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, so I thought I’d (briefly) run through the whole series for you.

Murder on Cape Cod introduces Mackenzie Almeida, the Cape Cod town of Westham, and the Cozy Capers book group. I really enjoyed setting up this series, discovering who the regulars would be, and designing the fictional Cape Cod town.

In Murder at the Taffy Shop, Mac’s friend and walking buddy Gin is suspected of murdering the woman she and Mac discovered dead one morning next to Salty Taffy’s, Gin’s candy shop.

I loved opening Murder at the Lobstah Shack with Mac’s friend Tulia giving a hat tip to the start of Fogged Inn, one of Barb Ross’s Maine Clambake Mysteries, which the Cozy Capers group is reading.

Murder in a Cape Cottage begins with a different kind of corpse – a ninety-year-dead skeleton bride Mac and fiancé Tim find in the wall of their cottage only five days before their own wedding.

Murder at a Cape Bookstore is the new release. I hope it doesn’t make you nervous to walk behind a tall shelving unit in your favorite indy bookstore! Here’s the official blurb:

Everyone loves a festival, though Mac has a few concerns about the Spring equinox event organized by the new Chamber of Commerce director, Wagner Lavoie. After all, March weather is unpredictable. Still, there’s plenty to enjoy, between flower-shaped candies at Salty Taffy’s, spring rolls at the Rusty Anchor, and a parade of decorated bicycles. But the festivities soon take a stormy turn. Mac glimpses conflict between Wagner and other locals during the festival, but it’s a shock when he’s found dead in the Book Nook, pinned beneath a toppled bookshelf. Mac and the rest of the Cozy Capers will have to use all their sleuthing skills to bring the killer’s story to an end.

I’ve turned in Murder in the Rusty Anchor, the sixth book in the series. As she walks to work one rainy July morning, Mac doesn’t expect to be pulled into the Rusty Anchor pub to witness a dead body behind the bar. You can believe that the Cozy Capers are pulled in to help solve the homicide of Mac’s former high school English teacher, a man who alienated almost everyone he met. The book will release at the end of June next year.

I have one more book under contract in the Cozy Capers Book group Mysteries, and it might take place in September in book time.

Readers: What would you like see happen in book seven? Do you have a favorite book or character in this series? If you aren’t caught up, share your favorite coastal location, in fiction or otherwise. I’ll send one commenter your choice of TAFFY, LOBSTAH, or the new book.

Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

82 Thoughts

  2. Congratulations on your new release. It’s almost as exciting for us as it is for you!

    As for a book set in September, it could take place at a fall carnival perhaps to celebrate a new school year. Maybe someone is drowned while bobbing for apples or is given a cup of poisoned apple cider. Sorry if my suggestions are too cliche.

  3. My favorite coastal location is either Avalon, NJ or Huntington Beach, CA. Both have great swimming, which for me is the best part of being at the beach/shore. I love to swim in the salty ocean- there’s nothing like it!
    Excited to read your newest in this series- love that it’s set in a bookstore. I’ve liked them all so far! adriennechasteensnow@gmail.com

  4. Congratulations on your newest release! I really enjoy reading about Mac – I love the town you’ve created. I’d say my most favorite coastal location would be Bar Harbor, Maine. Acadia is beautiful, the harbor has lots of shops and boat rides, the whole atmosphere there is calming.

  6. Congratulations to all three of you on all three fabulous releases!

    Love all your books and know whatever you have planned will be fabulous to read in the upcoming book(s). As for characters, how can you not love Mac! Sounds funny to say, but she can make murder funny, fresh and exciting with her way of facing it, exploring all the possibilities of who might have done it and helping to solve the case all while juggling her life, her business and her romantic interest. All I can say is KEEP THEM COMING!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  7. Congratulations on the new books! I can’t wait until tomorrow! I miss New Hampshire and Hampton Beach and the mountains and…..

  10. I’ve read the first book and my favorite character is Mackenzie. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

  12. When I think of September, I think of apples and cider. Mysterious things could happen at a coastal orchard (e.g., Old Orchard Beach)! Murder at the Taffy Shop is on the top of my reading pile–looking forward to it.

  13. Congratulations, Maddie!!!! Is it Tuesday yet? Can’t wait to go into your world and participate in more antics with my BFF Mac Almeida, and ABO Reba 🙂 I am also thrilled that you have yet another book in this delightful series “in the oven”. Thank you for all the fun you share with us readers as we travel to your worlds and interact in our minds with our beloved characters! 감사합니다 Luis at ole dot travel

  14. Cape Cod is definitely one of my favorite settings for any kind of story, but cozy mysteries in particular. I spent vacations at the Cape with most of the rest of my family members over the years. It’s such a special place!

  15. Congrats, Edith, on another successful release. I couldn’t begin to have any better ideas for a book than you have. I’m always pleasantly surprised by the variety of plots you come up with.

    Since I have all three of these books pre-ordered, tomorrow will definitely include a trip to Aaron’s bookshop. Whee!!

  16. Congrats on the new book!. I read book 1 for the Cozy Mystery Party book club. I liked it a lot. As for my favorite coastal location, I love them all, LOL.

  17. Congratulations to all three of you on your new releases! I’ve only read one book in the series so far, but really enjoyed it so plan to read more. I’d be interested in seeing Mac & Tim on vacation in a different location having to deal with a murder without the support of the book club. Maybe this is on my mind because I’m currently reading Misfortune Cookie, the latest in Vivien Chien’s Noodle Shop series. Instead of investigating murders near the family shop in Cleveland, Lana is in LA without her friends and police detective boyfriend which makes the investigation much harder for her.

  18. Congratulations on the new book. I love this series. My favorite book was Cape Cottage. As for book seven, what if a body is discovered in Mac’s little house in their backyard? Looking forward to the new book!

  19. Congratulations! Mac is a great character! September always makes me think of back to school events and preparing for fall.

  20. Another Mac fan here! Fall always makes me think of back to school, pumpkins, and warm drinks.

  22. Love your books, Edith. And, Barbara Ross and Lee Hollis are favorites, too. As a long time resident of Portland, Maine, how about one centered in that city? I now live near Charlotte NC.

  23. Congratulations on another book! I like the area where Gidget and her friends hung out in the old TV show.

  24. Sea Brook Island in South Carolina near Charleston is a location I enjoyed very much in February and March of 2000, right before Covid became a major and unprecedented event.

  26. Congratulations on your new release, I’m looking forward to reading the book. My favorite coastal location is Holland MI. A nice little town on the shore of Lake Michigan.

  27. I only made it halfway up the Cape Hatteras lighthouse before my realization that I was all alone made me worry that maybe I wasn’t . . . and I quickly made my way back to my car. Yeah, that would be a fun spooky scare to explore . . . 😉
    I love these little summaries, refreshing the details . . . and have my review ready to post once Amazon allows it. <3

  28. When I think of September I think of leaves changing colors on the trees, cooler weather and picking apples at the apple orchard.

  29. Hi Edith/Maddie! I literally just bought Murder on Cape Cod this afternoon! I loved Murder in a Cape Cottage and am eager to read the others. My favorite character is Mac.
    Because I haven’t read all the books yet, this may have happened but I’d love to see Mac in some sort of town wide contest/garage sale, etc.
    Thank you for the chance to win! aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com

  30. I am behind in the series, but I have them all and will get them read as I love your books. I think you should have them travel to the Florida Keys. These keys are great–maybe even at Fort Jefferson below the Florida Keys in the Dry Tortugas.

  31. Haven’t been to the coast, just beaches here in Ohio. Once I went to one of the islands, Put-in-Bay, and we visited Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial.

  32. Congrats to all on the new releases! I look forward to catching up with favorite characters again.
    Re: beach location, I love Corolla, NC, at the northern end of the Outer Banks. This narrow part of the barrier island has the Currituck Beach Lighthouse on the sound side and the ocean on the other side. Years ago you could see the wild horses roaming in the area, but development has pushed them into a smaller area further north (that fortunately includes a wildlife refuge). It’s a special place.

  34. Happy Book birthday!! I love Mac. She does not back down at all. She loves her community and towns people. I would love to see a backstory with the sheriff. There seems to be a story between her and Mac. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.

  35. We spent many wonderful summer vacations in Eastham, MA, swimming in the bay and the glacial lakes. Your books take me back there, thanks! I enjoy all the books in the series. The last one really grabbed me because of the darkness in the hearts contrasted with the happiness of a wedding day. Chilling and completely captivating. One of my favorite places is the National Park. The dunes and scenery are breathtaking. Perhaps you could include that in a future book. And antiques, lots of antiques!

  36. My favorite coastal place is Nantucket Island. My ancestors on my mother’s side are Hussey descendants. We went there to see the island and all the historical buildings and sites. The ride over there was very rough and I imagined the sea captains and crews who dealt with that. I love both the west coast and east coast beaches but with family history added, the trip is something that I will never forget.

  37. Congratulations on your book birthday Edith! I am not caught up with the series. I have only read books 1 and 3 but Mac is my favorite character. I love the beaches in Delaware because that was where we vacationed when I was a child. The nostalgia and cooler water than more southern beaches make these ones my favorites.

  38. I just LOVE anything on ‘the Cape of Cod’!! There are some interesting things that could happen in/near any of the windmills or some of the remote dunes around, maybe!!?? Please keep your books coming!! ☘

  39. I love Cape Cod as a setting, that’s one reason I gravitated towards this series!

  41. I just started the series. My favorite coastal location is Clearwater Florida.

  42. Congratulations on your new book! I’m sure it will be another great book added to the great series!!!

  43. I read and enjoyed Mac in the first book. I gave it five stars on Goodreads!

  44. Congrats! Thirty books is amazing!! I really enjoy this series and while my favorite character is Mac, I really enjoy reading the interactions with her parents and the recipes (OMG) are amazing. As for a new idea for the next book, I’d like to see a sweet treat and a savory meal. Incidentally, is there a back story with Mac’s bird. Maybe something involving one of the book club folks or someone close to one of the book clubbers.

  45. I really need to catch up, I am a little behind. My favorite coastal place to be is Daufuskie Island SC. Only accessible by boat and a great place to unwind from real life.

  47. Congrats on the new release. My favorite coastal place would be anywhere where there is alot of Lighthouses to see.

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