In a new mystery from Agatha Award-winning author Edith Maxwell, midwife Rose Carroll confronts a killer on the cusp of a new age . . . As the nineteenth century nears an end, midwife Rose Carroll can see signs of progress and change everywhere in her Amesbury community. Adding to the excitement is the annual Spring Opening, when the town's world-famous carriage manufacturers throw open their doors to visitors from all over the globe. This year's festivities are tainted, however, when a representative from a prominent Canadian carriage company is murdered. Driven by her strong sense of justice, Rose is determined to track down the killer. She has only just begun her investigation when she learns that the plans for a radical new horseless carriage have gone missing. Faced with the question of whether the two crimes are connected—and a list of suspects that includes some of Amesbury's own residents and any number of foreign...

No stranger to judgmental attitudes in her small town of Amesbury, Quaker midwife Rose Carroll is nonetheless stunned when society matron Mayme Settle publicly snubs her good friend Bertie for her nontraditional lifestyle. When Mrs. Settle is later found murdered—and a supposed witness insists Bertie was spotted near the scene of the crime—the police have no choice but to set their sights on the slighted woman as their main suspect.Rose is certain her friend is innocent of the heinous deed, and when Rose isn't busy tending to her duties as midwife, she enlists the help of a blind pregnant client—who's endured her own share of prejudice—to help her sift through the clues. As the two uncover a slew of suspects tied to financial intrigues, illicit love, and an age-old grudge over perceived wrongs, Rose knows she'll have to bring all her formidable intelligence to bear on solving the crime. Because circumstantial evidence can loom large in small...

In the second Lauren Rousseau Mystery by Agatha Award-winning author Edith Maxwell, a grisly murder stirs up long-buried secrets surrounding the disappearance and death of Lauren's father . . . As a bitter controversy rages over a secretive local land trust in her small New England town, linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau is not wholly surprised when she stumbles upon the dead body of one of the trust's key members, his throat neatly slit from ear to ear. The only question is which of the many potential suspects is capable of so violent an act. But then the bluffs where she discovered the victim yield a shocking clue, one that may lead to the killer—and may be tied to her own father's mysterious disappearance more than a decade before. As Lauren begins looking for answers to both mysteries among her fellow townspeople and even members of her own family, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge about the victim's volatile...

Quaker midwife Rose Carroll seeks the true cause of a young mother's death The winter of 1889 is harsh in Amesbury, Massachusetts, but it doesn't stop Quaker midwife Rose Carroll from making the rounds to her pregnant and postpartum mothers. When Charity Skells dies from an apparent early miscarriage, Rose wonders about the symptoms that don't match the diagnosis. She learns that Charity's husband may be up to no good with a young woman whose mother appears to offer illegal abortions. A disgraced physician in town does the same, and Charity's cousin seems to have a nefarious agenda. With several suspects emerging, each with their own possible motives, Rose and police detective Kevin Donovan race against time to solve the case before another innocent life is taken. Praise for the Quaker Midwife Mysteries: "Engaging."—Publishers Weekly "First of hopefully many more to come, I believe that everyone will definitely enjoy...

Following a long betrothal, midwife Rose Carroll and her beloved David are finally celebrating their marriage with friends and relatives, when a most disturbing telegram interrupts the festivities: the young ward of Rose's aunt has suffered a mysterious death, and Rose's help is needed urgently on Cape Cod. Reluctantly agreeing to mix her honeymoon plans with murder, Rose embarks on an investigation that will expose family secrets and a community's bigotry.As Rose does her best to comfort her aunt in her loss and also learn as much as possible about the poor young victim's death, she discovers that each new clue points to a confounding list of suspects: a close friend of the victim who may have harbored secret resentments, an estranged brother of David's with an unsavory reputation, and the son of a Native American midwife who supposedly led the young woman astray. And as Rose grows closer to identifying the perpetrator, the solution will rattle her assumptions about her...

It's harvest time in Westbury, Massachusetts, and novice farmer Cameron Flaherty hopes to make a killing selling organic produce. But when a killer strikes on her property, her first foray into the world of organic farming yields a bumper crop of locally sourced murder. . .Cam's first growing season has gotten off to a slow start, but her CSA is flourishing thanks to a colorful group of subscribers led by Lucinda DaSilva, an enthusiastic Brazilian volunteer who's vowed to eat nothing but locally produced food for one year. When Cam fires her only employee, local handyman Mike Montgomery, because he won't follow organic growing practices, it seems like just another day at the office—until she finds him with a pitchfork sticking out of his neck.The police suspect Cam of Mike's murder, but when their investigation goes nowhere, Lucinda joins Cam in the hunt for the real killer. In a small New England town full of eccentric locavores, there's no shortage of...

Snow is piling up in Westbury, Massachusetts, and Cam Flaherty's organic farm has managed to survive the harsh New England winter. Unfortunately murder seems to be the crop in season...Cam is finding the New Year just as hectic as the old one. Her sometimes rocky relationship with Chef Jake Ericsson is in a deep freeze, she's struggling to provide the promised amount of food to the subscribers in her first winter CSA, and her new greenhouse might just collapse from the weight of the snow. Supplying fresh ingredients for a dinner at the local assisted living facility seems like the least of her worries--until one of the elderly residents dies after eating some of her produce.Cantankerous Bev Montgomery had a lot of enemies, from an unscrupulous real estate developer who coveted her land to an aggrieved care provider fed up with her verbal abuse. But while the motives in this case may be plentiful, the trail of poisoned produce leads straight back to Cam. Not...

Quaker midwife Rose Carroll is enjoying the 1888 Independence Day evening fireworks with her beau when a teenaged Quaker mill girl is found shot dead. After a former slave and fellow Quaker is accused of the murder, Rose delves into the crime, convinced of the man's innocence. An ill-mannered mill manager, an Irish immigrant, and the victim's young boyfriend come under suspicion even as Rose's future with her handsome doctor suitor becomes unsure. Rose continues to deliver babies and listen to secrets, finally figuring out one criminal—only to be threatened by the murderer, with three lives at stake. Can she rescue herself, a baby, and her elderly midwifery teacher in time?

Praise for the Quaker Midwife Mysteries:
"[A] smart new series from the prolific Maxwell."—Booklist

"Maxwell . . . introduces a series heroine whose struggles with the tenets of her Quaker faith make her strong and appealing. The author also imparts authentic historical detail to depict life in a 19th century New England factory town."—Library Journal

"A highly competent mystery."—Kirkus Reviews

Quaker midwife Rose Carroll hears secrets and keeps confidences as she attends births of the rich and poor alike in an 1888 Massachusetts mill town. When the town's world-famed carriage industry is threatened by the work of an arsonist, and a carriage factory owner's adult son is stabbed to death with Rose's own knitting needle, she is drawn into solving the mystery. Things get dicey after the same owner's mistress is also murdered, leaving her one-week-old baby without a mother. The Quaker poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier helps Rose by lending words of advice and support. While struggling with being less than the perfect Friend, Rose draws on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver to bring two murderers to justice before they destroy the town's carriage industry and the people who run it. Praise: "Edith Maxwell makes 1880s New England come alive through her own familiarity with the Quaker life and her home town. Rose Carroll...

It's been a hot, dry spring in Westbury, Massachusetts. As organic farmer Cam Flaherty waits for much-needed rain, storm clouds of mystery begin to gather. Once again, it's time to put away her sun hat and put on her sleuthing cap . . .May has been anything but merry for Cam so far. Her parents have arrived unexpectedly and her crops are in danger of withering away. But all of that's nothing compared to the grim fate that lies in store for one of her neighbors. Nicole Kingsbury is the proud owner of the town's new hydroponic greenhouse. She claims the process will be 100% organic, but she uses chemicals to feed her crops. To Cam's surprise, her mother embarrasses her by organizing a series of loud public protests against Nicole's operation.When Nicole is found dead in a vat of hydroponic slurry—clutching another set of rosary beads—Detective Pete Pappas has a new murder to solve. Showers may be scarce this spring, but there's no shortage of suspects,...

Spring may be just around the corner, but a cold-blooded killer has put the big chill on the residents of Westbury, Massachusetts. It looks like organic farmer-turned-sleuth Cam Flaherty will have to set aside her seedlings for the time being as she tills the soil for clues in the mysterious death of a local poultry maven.With the weather getting warmer, Cam should be spending her days pruning blueberry bushes and taking care of the new batch of chicks that just hatched. But murder knows no season. So when her fellow fowl-raiser Wayne Laitinen is found dead at his breakfast table one morning, Cam must put down her trimming shears and put on her crime-solving hat. The kind-hearted chicken farmer didn't have any enemies--or did he? A wealthy financier has been working hard to convince him to sell her his land, while a group of animal rights activists recently vandalized his property. Money troubles were threatening to sink his marriage. And a thirty-year-old scandal...

A suffragist is murdered in Quaker midwife Rose Carroll's Massachusetts town Excitement runs high during Presidential election week in 1888. The Woman Suffrage Association plans a demonstration and movement leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton comes to town to rally the troops. When Quaker midwife Rose Carroll finds the body of the group's local organizer the next morning, she can't help but wonder who could have committed the murder. Rose quickly discovers several people who have motives. The victim had planned to leave her controlling husband, and a recent promotion had cost a male colleague his job. She had also recently spurned a fellow suffragist's affections. After Rose's own life is threatened, identifying the killer takes on a personal sense of urgency. Praise for the Quaker Midwife Mysteries: "An intriguing look at life in 19th-century New England, a heroine whose goodness guides all her decisions, and a mystery...