Rose Lives On

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



Edith/Maddie writing from northeast MA, where flowers are trying to bloom.



Big news – my Quaker Midwife short story collection is out today! I introduced you to it here in January, and it’s finally release day. Read down for a giveaway.







But first some background. The Quaker Midwife Mysteries series began with a short story originally titled, “Breaking the Silence,” which appeared in  Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold . The story won an Honorable Mention in that year’s Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction contest. Oddly, it precedes Rose and is told by her niece Faith Baily.



After the first book in the series came out, I kept writing short stories including Rose and her amateur sleuthing in Amesbury, Massachusetts. They appeared in subsequent Level Best anthologies, Malice Domestic and Bouchercon collections, Kings River Life Magazine , and elsewhere. Two stories – “A Questionable Death” and “The Mayor and the Midwife” – were nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Short Story.



But I knew many fans of the novels hadn’t had a chance to read the short stories. What better way to keep the love for Rose alive than collecting and publishing her shorter tales? I wrote a short intro for each story, too.



For this collection, I wanted to bookend the stories with Rose’s origin story while she’s an apprentice to her midwifery teacher, Orpha Perkins, and with a story that takes place well after the last book in the series. “In Pursuit of Justice” opens with John Greenleaf Whittier, a character in each series book, asking for Rose’s assistance in the suspicious death of a fellow Quaker in 1886, two years before the first book in the series. The victim is a father whose wife gave birth six months earlier with Rose in attendance, and Rose agrees to help.



In the “The Management of Secrets,” the last story in the collection, Rose is urged to come out of sleuthing retirement in January of 1900 to work on a stubborn case again involving members of her faith. Now a mother of four, she agrees.



These Crippen & Landru collections also include a chapbook story, which is printed separately and included with the signed, numbered, hardcover edition of the book.



For the chapbook I wrote “Labor’s Peril,” which was inspired by Amesbury’s history of strikes against the horribly abusive practices of textile mill owners in the era. George Edwin McNeill, the “Father of the Eight-Hour Work Day,” was born in Amesbury and is widely regarded as responsible for prodding the labor movement into life.







What could be more appropriate than labor and social justice to include in a story about a Quaker midwife?



Besides Victoria Thompson’s fabulous introduction to the collection, for which I am so grateful, I’ve gotten a few other glowing endorsements.



“For lovers of  Call the Midwife , Edith Maxwell’s  A Questionable Death is a must read! The book’s ten midwife Rose Carroll short stories, featuring history, birth, and murder, will leave you wanting more.” —Award Winning Author Debra H. Goldstein



“I so enjoyed spending time with Edith Maxwell’s beloved sleuth, Rose Carroll, in these astute and thought-provoking stories!” —Alyssa Maxwell, author of The Gilded Newport Mysteries



“Edith Maxwell’s Rose Carroll is more than a Quaker midwife in late 19 th  century New England. She’s a moral compass, an astute observer, and a staunch advocate for women in a time when women’s rights were more trampled than honored—and a fine detective who uses her ability to go where the police can’t to work tirelessly for justice. The compact, compelling stories in  A Questionable Death  will satisfy the mystery lover and the history lover alike.” —Leslie Budewitz, three-time Agatha Award-winning author of the Spice Shop Mysteries and the “Stagecoach Mary” Fields short stories



Ever since I ended the series, I’ve heard from so many fans about how much they miss Rose – a lot – and hope I’ll continue writing the books. New books are not in the cards right now, but I hope sinking into a few fresh shorter tales helps.



And remember,  if you are in New England, please reserve the early evening of May 6 for an in-person launch party at Amesbury’s fabulous Industrial History Center. We will have wine and cheese and books and conversation!



Readers : If you’ve read the books, who is your favorite character from the Quaker Midwife series? Anyone, have you followed other favorite novelists to short stories they’ve written? I’ll send one lucky winner a copy of the paperback edition of the collection.