Hey. I’m Ellie. Cam asked me to, like, come over here and tell you about my day. But maybe I ought to tell you how I met her, first, right? Last year I was so, so excited to graduate eighth grade and be able to enter Senior Scouting. That’s Girl Scouts, in case you don’t know. I’ve been a Scout since I was a Daisy, and I really wanted to keep going through high school. The first Senior badge I chose to work on was one of the new ones, the Locavore badge. Locavores are people who want to eat mostly locally grown food. Isn’t that awesome?
My dad told me about this organic farmer in our town of Westbury. You can’t get much more local than that, so I called her and asked if I could learn about farming and local foods from her. She said yeah, so he drove me over one day after school. It was so, so cool. I think maybe she wasn’t that comfortable around me at first – you know, she’s not a mom yet or anything. But then I kept volunteering and we got to be friends. She’s really nice, and wicked smart. She even told me she used to run cross country in high school, just like I do.
In the winter, of course, there’s not that much to do on the farm, plus we’ve had huge, huge snows this year. Cam said she was lucky the hoophouse didn’t collapse, the one where’s she’s growing greens. She even has worm boxes in there, which kind of creeps me out, even though they’re really good for the soil.
So I work over at the assisted living place where Cam’s great uncle lives, Mr. St. Pierre. He’s super nice. I help with the activities, and sometimes I pick up dishes from residents who eat in their rooms, and stuff like that. But last week a lady at the place died after eating Cam’s vegetables and they said she was poisoned. Ms. Montgomery was kind of not a very nice lady, but she sure didn’t deserve to die. And Cam had had arguments with her before, so the detective (who I think Cam likes, like, a lot) had to suspect her for a while. Which was just crazy, because Cam wouldn’t hurt anybody.
I think I might have seen the murderer, too. It’s so, so scary, and I didn’t want to tell anybody. But because of Girl Scout’s honor and stuff I promised Cam I’d tell her what I saw.
In the third Local Foods mystery, Farmed and Dangerous (May, 2015), snow is piling up in Westbury, Massachusetts. Unfortunately murder seems to be the crop in season. Supplying fresh ingredients for a dinner at an assisted living facility seems like the least of Cam’s worries—until one of the elderly residents dies after eating some of her produce. As the suspects gather, a blizzard buries the scene of the crime under a blanket of snow, leaving Cam stranded in the dark with a killer who gives new meaning to the phrase “dead of winter.”
You can read more about Ellie in Farmed and Dangerous, the third book in the “Local Foods” mystery series, published by Kensington. The first two books in the series are A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die and ‘Til Dirt Do Us Part.
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 p.m. eastern on June 3 for the chance to win a copy of Farmed and Dangerous. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected. Make sure to check your SPAM folder.
About the author
Amazon-bestselling Amesbury author Edith Maxwell writes four murder mystery series, as well as award-winning short stories.
Farmed and Dangerous is the latest in Maxwell’s Local Foods Mysteries series (Kensington Publishing) with organic farmer Cam Flaherty and locally sourced murder set in a town much like West Newbury. The latest book in the Lauren Rousseau mysteries, under the pseudonym Tace Baker (Barking Rain Press), is Bluffing is Murder. Maxwell’s Country Store Mysteries, written as Maddie Day (also from Kensington), will debut with Flipped for Murder in November, 2015. Her Carriagetown Mysteries series features Quaker midwife Rose Carroll solving mysteries in 1888 Amesbury, with John Greenleaf Whittier’s help. Delivering the Truth will debut in March, 2016.
A fourth-generation Californian and former organic farmer, Maxwell lives in an antique house with her beau and three cats. She blogs every weekday with the other Wicked Cozy Authors (wickedcozyauthors.com), and you can find her at www.edithmaxwell.com, @edithmaxwell, on Pinterest, and on Facebook.
Farmed and Dangerous sounds exciting! I will have to check out the books in the Maxwell’s Local Foods Mysteries series. Thank you for the giveaway.
myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com
Sounds like a great book from a former Girl Scout lol 🙂
Sounds interesting. Will have to check out this serie.
Sounds like a good series to start up. Thank you for the chance.
Sounds like a fun series to read, thanks for the chance.
Looks like a winner!!
Would love to read this! Thanks for the contest!
I haven’t heard of this series. It sounds great. Thank you for the chance.
Thanks for the chance to win!
Debbie Barnes, I was a girl scout all the way from Brownies through the end of high school, and then as an exchange student in Brazil for a year! When I heard about the new Locavore badge, I had to put a scout in the series. ;^)
This looks like a good book – thank you for the chance to win
Yes please Dru, I’d love to enter this giveaway so I can continue following this series.
This looks like another great book I would love the chance to win this. Thank you!!
Sounds wonderful. Love the word play.
I was a girl scout as well. Can’t wait to read the rest.
This sounds like a great book. Thanks for the giveaway!!! 🙂
This sounds like a great book. Thanks for the giveaway!!!
Sounds like yet another great cozy! Thank you for the chance to win a copy.
wfnren at aol dot com
Sounds like a good read. Looking forward to reading it.
thanks.
Worm boxes, cool!! Thanks for the chance to win.
This is a new one to me. I appreciate your review/interview. Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of the book. robeader53@yahoo.com
I like local buying though they told me at Walmart that local could be 500 miles away. This does look like an interesting book.
Great series, I can’t wait to read the book.
Sounds great!! I was a Girl Scout leader and loved it!!
Looks like great new cozy mystery.
A delightful cozy. Thanks.
Thanks for the giveaway! It sounds like a great cozy!
Another winner read.
I want this one, and I Need to read the others, too.
I still have my Girl Scout Sash with all my badges from the 50s! I hate to toss it but my kids – all adult men – aren’t interested. Book sounds terrific!
Wow, farming and Girls Scouts in one book together, I can’t wait to read about Cam. Thanks for the giveaway.
This sounds like a fantastic book! I am the mom of 2 Girl Scouts (a Cadette and a Junior). Thanks for the opportunity!
sharonbabyme@yahoo.com
This sounds great. Love these kinds of cozies.
Just love the title. I still have my daughters girl scout sash with all the badges on that and on a dark blue shirt she wore to everything when it was cold camping etc. Thanks for the giveaway and wait till I tell my daughter who is in Calif that there is a book out with farming (I moved to iowa 13 years ago) and scouts !
My grandfather had a farm sounds so interesting.
Sounds great! I will now have a new series to read. Thank you
I would love to read this book , the cover is so pleasing to the eye. It reminds me of my Granny’s kitchen all cozy with a cat.
Another great book to read! Sign me up for this series.
I love this series and can’t wait to start Ms. Maxwell’s other series.
The cover is so pleasing to the eye. It reminds me of my Granny’s kitchen all cozy with a cat. I’m sure it would be a wonderful read.
I so love this series!
i lived on a farm as a child and have many happy memories. Love your cover!
Love the combination of organic farming and a mystery.
Looking forward to starting this series. Thanks for the chance to get to know a new author to me:) Thanks for chance to win this one.
I had not heard of this series before, thank you for the tip off on it. I was a Girl Scout for over ten years so this is a must read.
I do love Ellie . . . she’d have been a favorite student (if teachers had favorites) so bright and caring and open-minded. Great series; I love useful information slipped seamlessly into a riveting storyline.
Sounds lie a very interesting series.
Wicked cool book! Can’t wait to read. Thanks for the chance.
I have been wanting to try this series. Thank you for a chance to win a copy of Farmed and Dangerous.
This sounds so good! A murderer loose in an assisted care facility of all places…would love to read this. Thanks for the chance to win!
Sounds like a great book and I do love cozies…
Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
A series I need to start!!!
Thank you for the giveaway…..
It sounds like there is lots to like about this series.
I have not read any books by this author, but this one looks like an awesome book and I am always excited to read new books from new authors. I love, love, love the cover…it is so cozy! Can’t wait to read this. Thanks for the chance to win!! God bless!!!!
I want to know who the suspect is.
I enjoy Edith’s Local Foods Mysteries series. I look forward to reading this latest one! Thank you for the giveaway chance.
I have the first in my tbr pile, I can’t wait to get started, I’ve read so many good things about this series. Thanks for the chance to win.
I’m a real fan of locally grown foods—and cats so I think I’ll really like this book. Thanks for the contest.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Haven’t read any books by this author. I like the cover with the cat and the squashes.
I want to start reading this series
i haven’t read your books before, Edith, because they sounded like young adult works. After reading the above, though, I would like to give this one a looksee. Thanks for the giveaway. Judy D.
I love the sound of this Book and all of Edith’s covers are really beautiful.
Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
Big fan of the Wicked Cozy authors and Edith Maxwell. Great giveaway. Thanks for the chance to win.
scarletbegonia5858@gmail.com
Thank you.
This series is new to me…sounds good. Thanks for the giveaway!
Always “support” locally grown. It’s the best! Glad it’s found a way into the stories of the series. Thanks for the chance to win!
Thanks for the chance to win Dru!!
Sounds like a good book would love to win it.
Cannot wait to read if I win…Love my mysteries..Support my local farmers and growers. thanks.
I really like the cover of this book. Thank you for this giveaway.
contest is closed.