Hi, Linda Rodriguez here! Today, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Edith Maxwell, who writes three wonderful mystery series, the Speaking of Mystery series (as Tace Baker), the Carriagetown Mysteries, and the great Local Foods Mystery series. Her newest book in that last series, 'Til Dirt Do Us Part, is out right now.
"The
produce is local--and so is the crime--when long-simmering tensions
lead to murder following a festive dinner on Cam Flaherty's farm.
It'll take a sleuth who knows the lay of the land to catch this
killer. But no one ever said Cam wasn't willing to get her hands
dirty.
..
Even
an amateur detective like Cam can figure out that one of the resident
locavores went loco--at least temporarily--and settled a score with
Irene. But which one? With the fall harvest upon her, Cam must sift
through a bushelful of possible killers that includes Irene's
estranged stepson, her disgruntled auto mechanic, and a fellow CSA
subscriber who seems suspiciously happy to have the dead woman out of
the way. The
closer she gets to weeding out the culprit, the more Cam feels like
someone is out to cut her harvest short. But to keep her own body out
of the compost pile, she'll have to wrap this case up quickly."
No
High Heels!
I’m
coming out, right here, right now. Get ready for it: I do not wear stiletto
heels. I do not wear high heels. I do my best to avoid wearing any heels at all
if they aren’t
flat!
I hope this won’t disqualify me from
writing a guest post here, on this blog with so many authors I respect and call
friends (waving to my buds Debra, Linda, Dru Ann, Marilyn, the Sparkles!). I
love you guys.
But it became clear to me many decades ago that,
despite being less than five feet, two inches tall, heels were not for me. One
reason was comfort. I have wide little feet and hate having my toes pinched.
Another was safety. I want to be able to run if I need to, whether it’s from threat of
tornado or attacker, whether I’m running toward an approaching train or
sprinting away from a falling tree.
Probably the most important reason was my natural
trend toward things, well, natural. We have bodies with feet that rest on the
ground. We are meant to walk heel-toe-heel-toe. Of course I do wear shoes – kinda have to for half
of the year in New England (even though I’m a native southern
California) –and I drive a car, and so on. But I just don’t believe in high
heels. For me.
I’m also a long-time Quaker, and we have this
thing called the Testimony of Simplicity, which totally suits my personality.
My path of least resistance is to own one pair of Birkenstock sandals, one pair
of tennies, and one pair of lace-up black suede shoes. Okay, and a pair of fun
knee-high leather boots. Flat-soled boots. And then replace with exactly the same
model every couple of years when a pair wears out.
Now that I’m a published author,
though –yikes. I have author events at libraries and
bookstores. I’m on panels at conferences. I haven’t snagged a major award
nomination yet, but hope to, and then I’ll be visible at an
awards banquet. And I want to look nice. Respectable. My professional
compromise to date is pair of black clogs, which boost me a hair higher off the
ground but are still almost flat. And I’ll confess to ordering
a pair of nearly flat silver sandals for my
niece’s fancy wedding today. But Hank Phillippi
Ryan I’m not!
All this non-stilettoing, though? It leaves me more
time to write, which is what makes me happy.
Readers: Are any of you all non-heel wearers? Or do
you prefer to go shoe shopping for the latest stilettos?
Edith Maxwell writes the Local Foods Mystery series (Kensington
Publishing), the Speaking of Mystery series under the pseudonym Tace Baker, featuring Quaker linguistics professor
Lauren Rousseau (Barking Rain Press), and the historical Carriagetown
Mysteries, as well as award-winning short crime fiction.
A mother, world traveler, and former technical
writer, Edith lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and three
cats. She blogs every weekday with the Wicked Cozy Authors. You can find her
here:
@edithmaxwell
I'm with you 100%. If heels were "all that" men would have kept wearing them. When my shoe size changed, I did not buy any replacements for the seldom-worn heels in my closet. When latex allergy required all-new shoes, my shoe mavin, Margie at Gene's Shoes, found latex-free options . . . including some lady-like dressy flats, which I also seldom wear. I want comfortable, happy feet, so sturdy walking shoes, sandals, and clogs . . . functional . . . (a few storytelling friends tell in their stocking feet . . .connection with the Earth. I may try that sometime ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary.
ReplyDeleteA kindred spirit!!! My closet boasts one pair of sandals, one pair of black shoes, one pair of brown shoes, two pairs of tennies (one pair suitable for going out in public and one ratty pair for working in the yard, and one pair of snow boots. All FLAT.
ReplyDeleteI knew it, LD! My current tennies also graduate down to being the garden shoes.
DeleteNo stilettos for me either, though I did gradually move up to heels of 2.5 inches and a tiny bit more. Then I noticed I was tripping over my feet and falling more...and noticed that at my age even the short women eschewed 2.5 inch heels. Since I've moved down to less than two inches, I've not fallen. IMAGINE THAT. And since I am 5'10" I don't need the additional height anyway. WHEN you win a book for your mysteries, I will advise you on what shoes to wear to be fancy, and they will be low. Check out Zappos.com for thousands of wonderful choices. OH I could write chapters on the joys of Zappos. I once ordered five pair and returned four. No shipping ever. Then a woman told me she ordered 23 and returned 22. No charge. Zappos does not care. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteKK, good choice! I also love Zappos, although the silver sandals I ordered from them in a six wide were NOT wide. And I didn't have enough time to shop further from them, so I found a compromise pair at Marshall's.
ReplyDelete