Lisa Ks Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS

I'm so honored to be a stop on the blog tour for

STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM

Book 6 in the Country Store Mysteries

by Maddie Day

Robbie Jordan’s rustic country store is growing in popularity. But when a dead body appears, it turns out that Robbie’s home-style cooking attracts hungry customers—and murder!
While Robbie scrambles through breakfast orders for her expanding clientele at Pans ‘N Pancakes, tempers run as high as the sticky August heat in South Lick, Indiana. Real-estate developer Fiona Closs plans to build a towering luxury resort at one of the most scenic hilltops in Brown County, and not everyone can see the sunny side of the imposing proposition—including Robbie’s furious Aunt Adele, who doesn’t waste a minute concocting protests and road blockades. When tensions boil over and a vocal protester is silenced forever at the resort site, Robbie ditches the griddle to catch the killer. But if slashed tires are any indication, she’ll need to crack this case before her own aunt gets served something deadly next . . .

Includes Recipes for You to Try!

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!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

3 lucky readers will win a print copy of

STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM

Enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post.

Winner will be chosen after July 3 at the end of the tour.

This giveaway is through Great Escape Book Tours, not Lisa Ks Book Reviews.

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A Chat with Maddie Day

LKBR: Thank you for being here today, Maddie!

Maddie: I’m delighted to be back.

LKBR: Please tell us a bit about you, and your Country Store Mysteries.

Maddie: My real name is Edith Maxwell. I’m a fourth-generation Californian and a full-time author writing three-plus books a year as well as a few short stories. I have a long and checkered past including careers in academia, farming, childbirth education, technical writing, and more. Writing crime fiction in my second-floor office north of Boston is my favorite job, though, and I’m living my dream.

Strangled Eggs and Ham is the sixth Country Store Mystery. Southern Indiana, where I placed fictional South Lick and Robbie Jordan’s breakfast and lunch restaurant, can be pretty steamy in August. Robbie’s new bed-and-breakfast rooms are open for business, a power lifter named Fiona wants to develop a resort in town, and tempers are hot.

LKBR: Any hints or spoilers you can give us about your next book?

Maddie: The next Robbie Jordan story is “Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse,” a novella coming out in September in the Christmas Cocoa Murder collection with Carlene O’Connor and Alex Ericsson. It’s my first mystery set during Christmas and I had a lot of fun with it. Robbie sells a Mexican hot chocolate mix in the store, her boyfriend’s son gets a chocolate lab puppy for Christmas, and a man is murdered.

LKBR: Have you ever written a scene that you loved but had to remove it for the sake of the story?

Maddie: That doesn’t really happen for me, because I know every scene has to move the story forward. I’m aware of that requirement as I write. I also write sparse first drafts, unlike some authors who tend to write long and then have to delete their own words. During my revision process I flesh things out, make sure the puzzle works, enrich the language, and so on.

LKBR: Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Just find it hard to get into reading because you are so into your writing?

Maddie: Not really. It’s more finding the time to read mysteries. Oddly, it was when I had days on end while recuperating from several surgeries over the last decade that I madly read through entire series. It was heaven – at least the reading part. I think I need a vacation solely devoted to reading!

LKBR: Are there any magazines/publications that as a writer you subscribe to? Are these or others something readers could also benefit from?

Maddie: We subscribe to two newspapers and the New Yorker. They keep me up on the news – and sometimes lend inspiration for a subplot or short story. For readers, I would recommend Mystery Scene Magazine. It includes essays and reviews, and does not ignore the cozy genre.

LKBR: Is there anything you would give up if you thought it would make you an even better writer?

Maddie: Recently I have drawn back from a couple of volunteer projects (not in the fiction world). I’ve been feeling a bit overloaded with my writing commitments and all the promotion entailed to let readers know about my stories. I don’t want to drop my daily walk, time with family, or my garden, so something had to give.

LKBR: Any new projects in the works?

Maddie: I always have new projects! Nacho Average Murder, Country Store #7, is all turned in and I’m halfway through the eighth in the series, which will also be set at Christmas.

As Maddie I also write the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, with a cozy mystery book club helping bike shop owner Mac Almeida solve crimes. Murder on Cape Cod releases in January to wide distribution, and Murder at the Taffy Shop will be out in April, 2020.

As Edith Maxwell, Charity’s Burden came out in April and Judge Thee Not, #5 in the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, will be out this fall.

LKBR: If you could ask your readers 3 questions, what would they be?

Maddie: Which recipes of mine have you made? Where do you hear about my books? Wouldn’t you like to sign up for my author newsletter? <grin>

LKBR: Where can readers go to learn more about you and your cozy mysteries?

Maddie:

Killer Characters (on the third of every month)

Amazon

BookBub

Goodreads

LKBR: Thank you so much, Maddie, for letting us get to know you better!

Maddie: Thank you for having me!

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MY REVIEW

Everyone who follows the Country Store Mysteries think that they are the series’ biggest fan. Well everyone, you’re wrong. I am! ;-) Seriously, author Maddie Day has created such a delightful series, it’s no wonder it is so well loved.

I’m very excited each time I read a new book in this series. But also a little nervous at first. I mean, how can author Day pen a story even better than the one before? How can she keep it fresh, and interesting? Because she’s brilliant, that’s how! Every book in this series is better than the last, and STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM is no exception. From page one until the end, I was glued to my seat. I’m telling you, it would have had to have been an emergency of global proportions to drag me away from this book.

The best in the series to date (if you didn’t already get that from everything I said above), STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM is a fabulous mystery within an equally wonderful character-centric tale. I found myself so invested in the story, that when my dog barked, I was startled to find I wasn’t really in South Lick, Indiana within the walls of Pans ‘N Pancakes. I’m honest in saying, I could even smell the food! Speaking of, the recipes included are high on the yummy scale.

Exciting, fun, engrossing, surprising . . . I could go one and on with positive adjectives to describe just how much I loved STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM. But instead, I think you should get a copy and see for yourself. You’ll be happy that you did!

About the Author

Maddie Day is a talented amateur chef and holds a Ph.D. in linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-nominated author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and three cats in Massachusetts.

As Edith Maxwell, she writes the Local Foods Mysteries (Kensington Publishing) and the Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Midnight Ink).

You can find all Maddie’s/Edith’s identities at www.edithmaxwell.com. She blogs every weekday with the other Wicked Cozy Authors at wickedcozyauthors.com.

Look for her as Edith M. Maxwell and Maddie Day on Facebook and @edithmaxwell and @maddiedayauthor on Twitter.

Purchase Links

Amazon B&N Kobo Google Play IndieBound

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

June 24 – Laura's Interests – REVIEW, EXCERPT
June 24 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews - REVIEW
June 24 – ⒾⓃⓉⓇⓄⓈⓅⒺⒸⓉⒾⓋⒺ ⓅⓇⒺⓈⓈ - SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
June 25 – Baroness' Book Trove – REVIEW
June 25 – Socrates Book Reviews - SPOTLIGHT
June 25 – ❧Defining Ways❧ - SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
June 26 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews - REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 26 – Celticlady's Reviews - SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
June 26 – Author Teresa Watson – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 27 – The Avid Reader - REVIEW, EXCERPT
June 27 – Reading Is My SuperPower - REVIEW
June 27 – MJB Reviewers – REVIEW
June 28 – View from the Birdhouse – SPOTLIGHT
June 28 – A Blue Million Books – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 28 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
June 29 – StoreyBook Reviews - SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
June 29 – 4covert2overt ☼ A Place In The Spotlight ☼ - GUEST POST
June 30 - Carla Loves To Read – REVIEW
June 30 - Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews - SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
July 1 – Sapphyria's Books – REVIEW
July 1 – A Wytch's Book Review Blog – REVIEW
July 1 – I'm All About Books – GUEST POST
July 2 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 2 – Brooke Blogs - SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
July 3 – Curling up by the Fire - REVIEW
July 3 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 3 – The Cozy Pages - SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE