Taken Too Soon by Edith Maxwell

Quaker midwife Rose Carroll must turn her investigative skills on her own family when a young woman’s murder stuns a New England community . . .

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 own family and faith

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About The Author

Edith Maxwell is an Agatha- and Macavity-nominated mystery author who writes the Local Foods Foods Mysteries. Maxwell also writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries, featuring a Quaker midwife sleuth in 1888.

As Maddie Day, she writes the Country Store Mysteries set in southern Indiana, and the Cozy
Capers Book Group Mysteries.

Her short stories have appeared in more than a dozen juried anthologies and magazines. She is active in Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime and is outgoing President of SINC New England.

Edith, a fourth-generation Californian, has two grown sons and lives in an antique house north of Boston with her beau, their two elderly cats, a small organic garden, and some impressive garden statuary. She worked as a software technical writer for almost two decades but now writes fiction full time.

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My Review

As this book opens our beloved Rose is finally married to David and we are enjoying the reception. Yes, David's mother is here and we meet more of his family, a brother.
Of course, being with Rose you know a body will appear, and sadly this time it is family. So we journey with this new, finally married, couple down to the coast. Falmouth Massachusetts, and are honeymooning and now helping solve the murder of her sixteen year old cousin.
We meet new Friends, member's of her Aunt's church, and all the while we are wondering whom is responsible. A sweet sharing midwife and her family, whom are Indians, a wayward brother and burlesque, an older Quaker, a former girlfriend and liar, the list grows and there are more, but a young woman lies dead, and we are with Rose to find the culprit!
I have enjoyed this series of books, and this one is no exception.

I received this book through Net Galley and Beyond the Page Publishers, and was not required to give a positive review