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Maddie Day is the pen name of bestselling author Edith Maxwell.

She uses the pen name when writing mystery novels.

Passionate about writing from quite an early age, Edith’s fiction-writing ability was first recognized at the age of nine when she won the Pasadena Star News contest for her short story, “Viking Girl”, winning a munificent prize money of $2.00!

Many years later, she earned her bread and butter from writing technical documentation in the software industry.

Edith also wrote features and essays as a free-lance journalist, edited medical texts, published several articles, and wrote a dissertation to earn her doctorate in the field of linguistics.

She is a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, and a long-serving member of the Society of Friends (Quaker).

Edith, who has two grown sons, currently lives in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

More about Maddie Day

Genre: Mystery

United States

Pseudonym: Maddie Day

Website: https://edithmaxwell.com/maddie-day/

Cece Barton Mystery

  1. Murder Uncorked (2023)

Novellas

  1. Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse (2022)

Country Store Mystery

  1. Flipped For Murder (2015)
  2. Grilled For Murder (2016)
  3. When the Grits Hit the Fan (2017)
  4. Biscuits and Slashed Browns (2018)
  5. Death Over Easy (2018)
  6. Strangled Eggs and Ham (2019)
  7. Nacho Average Murder (2020)
  8. Candy Slain Murder (2020)
  9. No Grater Crime (2021)
  10. Batter Off Dead (2022)
  11. Four Leaf Cleaver (2023)
  12. Deep Fried Death (2023)

Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery

  1. Murder on Cape Cod (2019)
  2. Murder at the Taffy Shop (2021)
  3. Murder at the Lobstah Shack (2021)
  4. Murder in a Cape Cottage (2022)
  5. Murder at a Cape Bookstore (2023)
  6. Murder at the Rusty Anchor (2024)

Omnibus Books

  1. Christmas Cocoa Murder (2019)
  2. Christmas Scarf Murder (2022)
Cece Barton Mystery

Detailed book overview

Cece Barton Mystery

Murder Uncorked

Raise a glass to Cece Barton, a widowed single mom and recent L.A. transplant to California wine country, who suddenly finds herself at the center of a murder investigation.

As the manager of Vino y Vida Wine Bar in Colinas, Cecelia “Cece” Barton’s first Alexander Valley harvest is a whirlwind of activity. Her twin sister, Allie Halstead, who owns a nearby Victorian bed & breakfast, is accustomed to the hustle and bustle of peak tourist season. 

But Cece barely has a moment to enjoy her new home in between worrying about her estranged college-age daughter, juggling her responsibilities at the bar, and navigating the sticky politics of the local wine association. Just when it seems things can’t grow any more intense, Colinas is rocked by a murder within the wine community . . . and Cece is identified as a possible suspect! 

With her reputation and her livelihood on the line—and the Sonoma County deputy sheriff breathing down her neck—Cece has no choice but to open up her own murder investigation. Tensions are already high in the valley, as a massive wildfire creeps toward Colinas, threatening homes, vineyards, and the vital tourist trade. 

And now, with a murderer on the loose, and Cece’s sleuthing exposing the valley’s bitterest old rivalries and secret new alliances, Colinas feels ready to pop! But with Allie’s help, Cece is determined to catch the killer and clear her name before everything she’s worked so hard for goes up in flames . . .

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2023
ISBN: 979-8885795609
Publisher: Thorndike Press Large Print

Novellas

Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse

ʼTis the season to indulge in hot chocolate and irresistible holiday treats—until too much of a good thing turns downright deadly...

When local businessman Jed Greenberg is found dead with a Chocolate lab whimpering over his body, the police start sniffing around Robbie Jordan’s country restaurant for answers. Was it something in Robbie’s hot cocoa that killed Jed, or was it Cocoa, the dog...?

As the suspects pile as high as her holiday tree, Robbie attempts to get to the bottom of the sickly-sweet murder . . .

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2022
Ebook: B09PJ2T9Y9
Publisher: Kensington Cozies

Country Store Mystery

Flipped For Murder

"In this freshly baked series, author Maddie Day lifts the lid on a small town in southern Indiana, where a newcomer is cooking up a new start--until a murderer muddles the recipe..."

Nursing a broken heart, Robbie Jordan is trading in her life on the West Coast for the rolling hills of southern Indiana. After paying a visit to her Aunt Adele, she fell in love with the tiny town of South Lick. And when she spots a For Sale sign on a rundown country store, she decides to snap it up and put her skills as a cook and a carpenter to use.

Everyone in town shows up for the grand re-opening of Pans ‘n Pancakes, but when the mayor's disagreeable assistant is found dead, Robbie realizes that not all press is good press.

With all eyes on her, she'll have to summon her puzzle-solving skills to clear her name, unscramble the town's darkest secrets, and track down a cold-blooded killer--before she's the next to die...

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2015
Ebook: B00TE7O9HK
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Grilled For Murder

Robbie Jordan may have had reservations about the murder victim, but she still needs to turn up the heat on a killer if she wants to keep her new restaurant open for business…

In the charming small town of South Lick, Indiana, Robbie has transformed a rundown country store into the runaway hit Pans 'N Pancakes. But the most popular destination for miles around can also invite trouble.

Erica Shermer may be the widow of handsome local lawyer Jim Shermer's brother, but she doesn't appear to be in mourning. At a homecoming party held in Robbie's store, Erica is alternately obnoxious and flirtatious--even batting her eyelashes at Jim.

When Erica turns up dead in the store the next morning, apparently clobbered with cookware, the police suspect Robbie's friend Phil, who closed up after the party. To clear Phil and calm her customers, Robbie needs to step out from behind the counter and find the real killer in short order…

Includes Recipes for You to Try!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2016
Ebook: B01501H4MK
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
When the Grits Hit the Fan

"Despite the bitter winter in South Lick, Indiana, business is still hot at Robbie Jordan’s restaurant. But when another murder rattles the small town, can Robbie defrost the motives of a cold-blooded killer?" 

Before she started hosting dinners for Indiana University’s Sociology Department at Pans ’N Pancakes, Robbie never imagined scholarly meetings could be so hostile. It’s all due to Professor Charles Stilton, who seems to thrive on heated exchanges with his peers and underlings, and tensions flare one night after he disrespects Robbie’s friend, graduate student Lou.

So when Robbie and Lou go snowshoeing the next morning and find the contentious academic frozen under ice, police suspect Lou might have killed him after their public tiff. To prove her friend’s innocence, Robbie is absorbing local gossip about Professor Stilton’s past and developing her own thesis on the homicide—even if that means stirring up terrible danger for herself along the way...

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2017
Ebook: B01GBAIXGK
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Biscuits and Slashed Browns

"For country-store owner Robbie Jordan, the National Maple Syrup Festival is a sweet escape from late-winter in South Lick, Indiana—until murder saps the life out of the celebration..."

As Robbie arranges a breakfast-themed cookoff at Pans ’N Pancakes, visitors pour into Brown County for the annual maple extravaganza. Unfortunately, that includes Professor Connolly, a know-it-all academic from Boston who makes enemies everywhere he goes—and this time, bad manners prove deadly.

Soon after clashing with several scientists at a maple tree panel, the professor is found dead outside a sugar shack, stabbed to death by a local restaurateur’s knife.

When an innocent woman gets dragged into the investigation and a biologist mysteriously disappears, Robbie drops her winning maple biscuits to search for answers. But can she help police crack the case before another victim is caught in a sticky situation with a killer?

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2018
Ebook: B071DZ1K5W
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Death Over Easy

"Restaurateur Robbie Jordan is ready for the boost in business a local music festival brings to South Lick, Indiana, but the beloved event strikes a sour note when one of the musicians is murdered..."

June’s annual Brown County Bluegrass Festival at the Bill Monroe Music Park in neighboring Beanblossom is always a hit for Robbie’s country store and café, Pans ’N Pancakes. This year, Robbie is even more excited, because she’s launching a new bed and breakfast above her shop.

A few festival musicians will be among Robbie’s first guests, along with her father, Roberto, and his wife, Maria. But the celebration is cut short when a performer is found choked to death by a banjo string.

Now all the banjo players are featured in a different kind of lineup. To clear their names, Robbie must pair up with an unexpected partner to pick at the clues and find the plucky killer before he can conduct an encore performance...

Includes Recipes!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2018
Ebook: B0776H5T7B
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Strangled Eggs and Ham

"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!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2019
Ebook: B07HW1D15K
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Nacho Average Murder

"Robbie Jordan is temporarily leaving Pans ’N Pancakes, her country store in South Lick, Indiana, to visit Santa Barbara, California—where wildfire smoke tinges the air, but a more immediate danger may lie in wait..."

While looking forward to her high school reunion back in California, Robbie’s anticipation is complicated by memories of her mother’s untimely death. At first, she has fun hanging out with her old classmates and reuniting with the local flavors—avocados, citrus, fish, and spicy Cali-Mex dishes.

But then she gets wind of rumors that her mother, an environmental activist, may not have died of natural causes. With the help of friends, Robbie starts clearing the smoke surrounding the mystery—but what she finds could make it hard to get back to Indiana alive...

Includes Recipes for You to Try!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2020
Ebook: B07R4Q5GBQ
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Candy Slain Murder

"Christmas cheer has sent the griddle into overdrive at Robbie Jordan’s popular country store and café. And this year, there’s a new seasonal special to feast on: murder..."

As December sweeps through South Lick, Indiana, Robbie’s life seems merry and bright like the string lights glistening around town. But strange happenings signal a bumpy ride into the holidays.

First a man raises eyebrows at Pans ‘N Pancakes when he claiming to be the long-lost half-brother of Robbie’s assistant. Then a fire destroys the home of a controversial anesthesiologist, exposing skeletal remains in his attic.

Helplessly intrigued, all Robbie wants for Christmas is to stop her winter wonderland from becoming a real nightmare.

With a decades-old mystery taking shape, can she run as fast as she can in pursuit of a killer who’s harder to crack than a stale gingerbread man?

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2020
Ebook: B082WQXBG9
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
No Grater Crime

"Robbie Jordan’s Pans ’N Pancakes boasts delicious eats and the best vintage cookware finds in South Lick, Indiana. And now, for a limited time, there’s a new special featured on the menu—murder!"

Ever since meeting the wary owners of an antique shop opening across the street, Robbie has been scrambling to manage weird incidences plaguing her café and country store.

Pricey items vanish from shelves without explanation, a fully equipped breakfast food truck starts lingering around the area each morning, and loyal diners mysteriously fall ill.

When an elderly man dies after devouring an omelet packed with poisonous mushrooms, Robbie must temporarily close down Pans ’N Pancakes and search for the killer with a real zest for running her out of business—or else. 

Includes Recipes for You to Try!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2021
Ebook: B08P81Z7MF
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Batter Off Dead

"In South Lick, Indiana, fine foods and classic cookware can be found at Robbie Jordan’s Pans ’N Pancakes. Unfortunately, her country store also seems to stock up on murder..."

Robbie and her new husband Abe O’Neill are enjoying a summer evening in the park with fellow townsfolk excited for some Friday night fireworks.

In attendance are senior residents from Jupiter Springs Assisted Living including Roy Bird, father to South Lick’s very own Police Lieutenant Buck Bird. Despite his blindness, Roy is a member of his group home’s knitting circle, spending quality time with some lovely ladies.

But when the lightshow ends, one of the knitters who sat with Roy is found dead, a puncture wound in her neck. The poor woman’s death echoes that of Buck’s mother and Roy’s wife—an unsolved homicide. To help find the killer, Robbie’s going to have to untangle the knotty relationships deep in the victim’s past...

Includes Recipes for You to Try!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2022
Ebook: B0964F6KXW
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Four Leaf Cleaver

There’s no mistaking Saint Patrick’s Day at Pans ’N Pancakes. Robbie may only be Irish by marriage to Abe O’Neill, but the shelves of vintage cookware in her southern Indiana store are draped with glittery shamrocks and Kelly-green garlands and her restaurant is serving shepherd’s pie and Guinness Beer brownies. The big event, however, is a televised cooking competition to be filmed on site.

Unfortunately, someone’s luck has run out. Before the cameras start rolling, tough-as-nails producer Tara O’Hara Moore is found upstairs in her B&B room, bludgeoned apparently by the heavy hilt of a cleaver left by her side. Now, not only does Robbie have a store full of festive decorations, she’s got a store full of suspects...

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2023
Ebook: B0B17HL15D
Publisher: Kensington
Deep Fried Death

A killer strikes - with a cast iron skillet - during South Lick, Indiana's annual Outhouse Race festivities, landing Pans 'N Pancakes-owner Robbie Jordan on the suspect list...

Many residents of South Lick, Indiana, claim the Outhouse Race, in which competitors push old-timey outhouse replicas on wheels at the annual Abe Martin Festival on Memorial Day, is the best thing since indoor plumbing. Just because country store and restaurant owner Robbie Jordan has too much to do managing her new deep fryer as well as an old lover reappearing, she’s not going to miss out on the fun. Plus, it’s good for business.

But when a dead body and a cast-iron skillet tumble out of the Pans ’N Pancakes outhouse entry on the race route, it seems someone is trying to frame Robbie—in a most unconventional way. Now she’ll need to be privy to the townsfolks’ secrets as she races to flush out a killer . . .

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2023
Ebook: B0C15XPJLV
Publisher: Kensington Cozies

Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery

Murder on Cape Cod

Summer is busy season for Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida’s bicycle shop, nestled in the quaint, seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts. She’s expecting an influx of tourists at Mac’s Bikes; instead she discovers the body of Jake Lacey. Mac can’t imagine anyone stabbing the down-on-his-luck handyman.

However, the authorities seem to think Mac is a strong suspect after she was spotted arguing with Jake just hours before his death. Mac knows she didn’t do it, but she does recognize the weapon—her brother Derrick’s fishing knife.

Mac’s only experience with murder investigations is limited to the cozy mysteries she reads with her local book group, the Cozy Capers. So to clear her name—and maybe her brother’s too—Mac will have to summon help from her Cozy Capers co-investigators and a library’s worth of detectives’ tips and tricks.

For a small town, Westham is teeming with possible killers, and this is one mystery where Mac is hoping for anything but a surprise ending…

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2019
Ebook: B07R5KCG9V
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Murder at the Taffy Shop

"Cape Cod bicycle shop owner Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida and her mystery book club find a certain accusation of murder quite the stretch..."

When your mother is an astrologist and your dad is a minister, you learn to keep an open mind. Which is just what Mac loves to do—exercise her mind by puzzling out fictional clues in the mystery novels she reads and discusses with her Cozy Capers Book Group. 

But now Mac’s friend Gin has found herself in a sticky situation. After wealthy genealogist Beverly Ruchart is found dead outside Gin’s taffy shop, the candy maker becomes a person of interest. 

When it’s revealed that Beverly was poisoned the night Gin brought a box of taffy to a dinner party at Beverly’s house, she’s bumped to the top of the suspects list. It’s up to Mac and her Cozy Capers crime solvers to unwrap this real-life mystery. But this time they might have bitten off more than they can chew...

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2021
Ebook: B08CBNFD2M
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Murder at the Lobstah Shack

"When murder turns out to be the special of the day at her friend’s seafood restaurant, bicycle shop owner Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida and her fellow book club sleuths have to net a killer..."

From clam chowdahs to oysters on the half-shell, Tulia Peters’ Lobstah Shack offers locals and tourists in Westham, Massachusetts, some of Cape Cod’s most amazing cuisine.

But when the body of Annette DiCicero is discovered in the kitchen’s walk-in freezer—with a custom-made claw-handled lobster pick lodged in her neck—spoiled appetites are the least of Tulia’s worries. 

After a heated public argument with Annette, Tulia is a person of interest in the police’s homicide investigation. To clear Tulia’s name, Mac and the Cozy Capers Book Group snoop into Annette’s personal life.

Between her temperamental husband, his shady business partner, and two women tied to Annette’s past life as “Miss New Bedford”, there are now several suspects and multiple motives. And they’re getting crabby about Mac intruding on their affairs...

Includes Recipes!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2021
ISBN: 978-1496715104
Publisher: Kensington
Murder in a Cape Cottage

ʼTis the week before Christmas, a wicked-busy time of year for Mac’s bike shop. It’s just as well her Cozy Capers Book Group’s new pick is a nerve-soothing coloring book mystery, especially when she has last-minute wedding planning to do. But all pre-wedding jitters fade into the background when Mac’s fiancé, Tim, begins a cottage renovation project and opens up a wall to find a skeleton—sitting on a stool, dressed in an old-fashioned bridal gown...

As Mac delves into the decades-old mystery with the help of librarian Flo and her book group, she discovers a story of star-crossed lovers and feuding families worthy of the bard himself. Yet this tale has a modern-day villain still lurking in Mac’s quaint seaside town, ready to make this a murderous Christmas...

Includes Recipes!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2022
Ebook: B09PJ1JFL8
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Murder at a Cape Bookstore

It’s mud season in Cape Cod, and when an ill wind blows in a murder with a twist in the tale, bicycle shop owner Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida and her crime-solving book group are ready to leaf through the clues . . .

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. It’s an irresistible case for Mac’s book group. She and the rest of the Cozy Capers will have to use all their sleuthing skills to bring the killer’s story to an end . . .

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2023
Ebook: B0BNCKYKNK
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Murder at the Rusty Anchor

There’s deadweight behind the bar at the Rusty Anchor and it’s up to Cape Cod bike shop owner Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida to solve the murder in Agatha Award–winner Maddie Day’s latest Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery . . .

A rainy July weekend in Westham means the beaches are empty and business is dead at Mac’s Bikes but couldn’t be livelier inside the Rusty Anchor Pub. But come Monday morning one patron is not so lively when the chef opens up and finds a body behind the bar. It’s last call for Bruce Byrne, an elderly high school teacher who’s been around so long it seems like he taught everybody.

When Mac’s friend Flo, the librarian, makes the list of suspects, Mac gathers the Cozy Capers Book Group to clear her name. With no end in sight to the rain, the group has plenty of time to study the clues and sort through a roll call of suspects to determine who decided to teach Mr. Bryne a lesson. But with a killer desperate to cover their tracks, Mac and the group will be tested as never before . . .

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2024
Ebook: B0CFGGD38K
Publisher: Kensington Cozies

Omnibus Books

Christmas Cocoa Murder

'Tis the season for hot chocolate and mouthwatering treats. But sometimes too much of a good thing can be downright deadly... 

CHRISTMAS COCOA MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR

Siobhán O’Sullivan’s hopes for a quiet Irish Christmas are dashed when the local Santa turns up dead in a carnival dunk tank of hot cocoa. Now instead of hunting down holiday gifts, she’s pursuing a heartless killer. Seems the dead Santa was no angel either, stealing neighborhood dogs to guide his sleigh. But was it his holiday antics—or worse—that led to his death by chocolate? 

CHRISTMAS COCOA AND A CORPSE by MADDIE DAY

When local businessman Jed Greenberg is found dead with a Chocolate lab whimpering over his body, the police start sniffing around Robbie Jordan’s country restaurant for answers. Was it something in Robbie’s hot cocoa that killed Jed, or was it Cocoa the dog? As the suspects pile as high as her holiday tree, Robbie attempts to get to the bottom of the sickly-sweet murder... 

DEATH BY HOT COCOA by Alex Erickson

A Christmas-themed escape game seems like the perfect pre-holiday treat for bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock and her best friend. But when the host is found dead in a pool of hot cocoa, it’s up to Krissy and her team to catch the killer—or escape before getting killed.

There’s nothing like a hot cup of murder to warm up the holiday season!

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2019
Ebook: B07MDQ574F
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Christmas Scarf Murder

Stocking stuffers like handknit scarves make the coziest of Christmas gifts—unless they’re used as accessories for murder!

CHRISTMAS SCARF MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR

When grinchy thefts steal the good cheer at a local nursing home, Siobhan O’Sullivan manages to identify one missing item before Kilbane, Ireland’s Christmas tractor parade—a hideous shamrock scarf wrapped around a very dead body. Now, with her holiday farmhouse bash approaching, Siobhan must dash to stop a deadly Secret Santa from gifting another unwanted surprise.

SCARFED DOWN by MADDIE DAY

It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas at Pans ‘N Pancakes, as twelve days of menu specials dazzle hungry locals. But the festivities go cold the instant a diner dies while knitting a brilliant green scarf. With Aunt Adele tied into a murder investigation, it’s all on Robbie Jordan to find out who’s really been naughty or nice in South Lick, Indiana. 

DEATH BY CHRISTMAS SCARF by PEGGY EHRHART

Suspects pile up faster than New Jersey snow when frosty-tempered Carys Walnutt is found strangled by a handmade scarf auctioned at Arborville’s tree-lighting ceremony. Between a winning bidder hiding behind the alias “S. Claws” and a victim who deserved coal in her stocking, can Pamela Paterson and the crafty Knit and Nibble ladies freeze a killer’s merry murder plot?

Author: Maddie Day
First Release: 2022
Ebook: B09PJ228LB
Publisher: Kensington