Thursday, March 10, 2016

"A Questionable Death" - Agatha Nominated!

Edith here. I've been enjoying writing short stories set in the time and place of my Quaker Midwife
Mysteries: Amesbury, Massachusetts in 1888. [NOTE: Giveaway details at the end.]

A year and a half ago I crafted a story about one of midwife Rose Carroll's clients, a young pregnant wife named Helen. Rose discovers that Helen's husband has been physically abusing her. Rose asks her police detective friend for help, but the police wouldn't touch domestic violence in those days. Rose enlists her quirky postmistress friend Bertie Winslow to help her find a solution to the problem.

I polished "A Questionable Death" and submitted it to an anthology of historical mystery called History and Mystery, Oh My! and to my delight it was accepted for publication. The anthology came out in January 2015. To my further delight, after the rights reverted to me, Kings River Life Magazine reissued the story in January of this year, this time with pictures.

Hank Phillippi Ryan with her
Agatha Award teapot
a few years ago. 
And to my extreme delight, the story was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Short Story! Icing on the cake? Delivering the Truth, the first Quaker Midwife Mystery, will be published on April 8, a few weeks before the Malice Domestic conference where attendees will decide the Agatha winners. Talk about worlds converging. I'm really over the moon about that.

I suspect the story was nominated in part because of the twist at the end. You can read it and decide for yourself!

And to celebrate, I'm giving away an ARC of Delivering the Truth to one commenter today! Make sure you include your email address so I know where to find you.

So tell, me dear reader, what's your favorite thing about reading historical fiction? What's your pet peeve about same? Or do you never touch the stuff?

6 comments:

Vida Antolin-Jenkins said...

Edith, I loved the short story, so have been awaiting the release of this book to see more of your mid-wife!

Anonymous said...

I am just beginning to read historical fiction and love how it transports me to a different time and place. Since my grandparents were Quaker this book has a lot of appeal to me.
Becky Prazak
rjprazak6@gmail.com

KB Inglee said...

Best of all in reading historicals is if the author gets it just right, so you feel you are there.
Conversely my pet peeve is if the author gets it wrong, especially if its is a sloppy mistake. People didn't have living rooms in 1864, they had parlors. No one referred to the plot of a story as a scenario in 1850.

Kristie D said...

Historical mystery is my fave genre! Congrats on your new book!

Celia Fowler said...

I enjoy reading historical mysteries and finding myself immersed in that era. My only pet peeve would be if there were glaring anachronisms in the story, either in speech or setting. Congratulations on your Agatha nomination, and I can't wait to read Delivering the Truth!

Edith Maxwell said...

Celia, you are the winner of yesterday's giveaway of DELIVERING THE TRUTH! Message me your snail mail address. Congratulations, and thanks so much for your interest in my book.