Murder on Cape Cod by Maddie Day Excerpt

Murder on Cape Cod by Maddie Day Excerpt

The lowdown from Goodreads

Publication Date December 18, 2018

A Cape Cod shop owner and her book club must find a crafty killer in this charming new series from the Agatha-nominated author of the Country Store Mystery series.

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…

Murder on Cape Cod by Maddie Day Excerpt

TIME OF DEATH

I hoped all this damp didn’t seep through my roof. I’d called out Jake Lacey, a down-on-his-luck handyman, about his shoddy repair job earlier. I volunteered serving dinner on Tuesdays in the late afternoon at Our Neighbor’s Table, a food pantry and soup kitchen where Jake was a regular customer.

“Got my check?” he’d asked today as he handed me his plate.

“I’m sorry, Jake, but you did a terrible job on my roof.” It was true. I’d hired him to replace some of the shingles on my micro-house after they’d blown off in a storm. He’d left gaps, some of the replacement shingles were poorly nailed on, and he hadn’t even cleaned up the scraps and debris when he left. I gave him my sternest look. “I’ll pay you after you’ve fixed the shingles and not before.”

The woman behind him in line had raised her eyebrows at my criticism but didn’t say anything. Norland Gifford, the volunteer on my right, who was our newly retired Westham police chief, cleared his throat. I guess I should have saved my comment for a more private setting.

Except Jake hadn’t gotten his back up like he had in the past when anyone criticized him. Instead he’d lifted his pointed chin and waggled his head, wearing a smug expression on his worn face.

“I ain’t gonna even need your money soon, Mac. You wait and see.”

I’d peered at him for a second, having no idea what he meant. “Did you get full-time work?” He was known around town for not being able to hold down a job, which was the reason he was here getting free food, of course.

“Nah. This is better than no stinking job. It’s good, wicked good.” He’d grabbed the plate of pasta and sauce I’d dished up and moved down to the salad section.

“That’s great,” I’d called after him. There went my chance at a decent repair job from Jake. I guess I’d have to find somebody else since I wasn’t going to do it myself. I could tune up a bicycle like nobody’s business, but when it came to hammers and nails, I was all thumbs – and usually both of them got a good self-delivered whack within minutes of attempting anything in the field of carpentry.

Now I found the turn from the bike trail to the pathway that cut up to Main Street. Near the end of the path a hedge of scrubby coastal Rosa Rugosa separated the walkway from my postage stamp of a yard. The fragrant scent from the just-blooming native shrub mixed with the salt air and reminded me of my childhood here on the Cape. I slowed as I rounded a bend. I was scanning through the mist for the opening that would let me through the wall of roses when I tripped.

The obstacle in my path, oddly both soft and solid, was a sizeable one. I yelled, arms windmilling like in a vintage cartoon. The air gave me nothing to grab hold of and I landed on my hands and elbows. I glanced down and back to see my knees resting on…Jake.

Special thanks to Maddie Day/Edith Maxwell & Kensington Books for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

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Murder on Cape Cod is releasing on December 18! This series debut is part of an exciting new exclusive deal with Barnes & Noble for the first year. Kensington will re-release it on all platforms in 2020. Preorder now at Barnes & Noble. You can purchase it from the link below.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-on-cape-cod-maddie-day/1128639118#/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: MADDIE DAY / EDITH MAXWELL

Macavity and Agatha-nominated author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and the Local Foods Mysteries, as well as award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she authors the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. She also wrote two Lauren Rousseau Mysteries (as Tace Baker). Maxwell lives north of Boston with her beau and three cats, and blogs with the other Wicked Cozy Authors. You can find her at www.edithmaxwell.com, @edithmaxwell, and on Facebook.