Edith Maxwell is here today to talk about her new book, Mulch Ado About Murder (come back next week for our review) and match it to the perfect drink. Edith is a frequent Mystery Playground contributor both of us had short stories in the 2016 Bouchercon anthology: Blood on the Bayou.
Mulch Ado About Murder, the fifth Local Foods Mystery, opens at the end of an extra-warm May. When organic farmer Cam Flaherty walks her boyfriend’s dog over to a neighboring farm to ask her neighbor a few questions about one of the suspects, the woman offers Cam iced coffee.
“Helen handed Cam a glass of iced coffee and sank with her own glass into a lawn chair opposite Cam. They sat under a big oak in the front yard of Helen’s white farmhouse. Pink and purple petunias spilled over blue window boxes that matched the trim on the house. Dasha sat in a sphinx pose next to Cam, having slurped up the water Helen had brought him.”
I first tasted iced coffee when I was teaching English to Japanese businessmen several decades ago. My American boyfriend and I were strolling a wide boulevard in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in the summer. We stopped for an iced coffee and I was instantly sold on this sweet, milky, cold beverage that still gives a kick of good dark java.
The way I make it is pretty simple.
Iced Coffee
1 cup brewed French roast coffee, warm
2 heaping teaspoons sugar
½ cup whole milk or cream
Ice cubes
Stir the sugar into the coffee while it is still warm, and then cool in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Add the milk and ice cubes and stir again. For a late afternoon or evening drink, add a shot or two of Kahlua or brandy to fancy it up.
Then kick back with your copy of Mulch Ado About Murder and enjoy!
Bio:
2017 double Agatha-nominated and national best-selling author Edith Maxwell writes the the Local Foods Mysteries and the Quaker Midwife Mysteries; as Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Her award-winning short crime fiction has appeared in many juried anthologies and journals, and she serves as President of Sisters in Crime New England.
A fourth-generation Californian and former tech writer, farmer, and doula, Maxwell now writes, cooks, gardens (and wastes time as a Facebook addict) north of Boston with her beau and three cats. She blogs at WickedCozyAuthors.com, Killer Characters, and with the Midnight Ink authors. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and at www.edithmaxwell.com.
Book blurb:
It’s been a hot, dry spring in Westbury, Massachusetts. As organic farmer Cam Flaherty waits for much-needed rain, storm clouds of mystery begin to gather. Once again, it’s time to put away her sun hat and put on her sleuthing cap when a fellow farmer is found dead in a vat of hydroponic slurry—clutching a set of rosary beads. Showers may be scarce this spring, but there’s no shortage of suspects, including the dead woman’s embittered ex-husband, the Other Man whose affair ruined their marriage, and Cam’s own visiting mother. Lucky for Cam, her nerdy academic father turns out to have a knack for sleuthing. Will he and Cam be able to clear her mom’s name before the killer strikes again?
You can also check out another one of Edith's books from this series, and of course, it's matched with another drink.
