Book record · Former Barking Rain Press title
Speaking of Murder
by Edith Maxwell (writing as Tace Baker)
A Quaker linguistics professor at a small Massachusetts college looks into the murder of a gifted student. First published by Barking Rain Press in 2012 under the pen name Tace Baker, and reissued under Edith Maxwell's name by Beyond the Page in 2020.
This book was once published by Barking Rain Press, which announced its closure in 2019. This site is not that publisher and does not sell books. See “Finding the book today” below.
Premise
Lauren Rousseau teaches linguistics at a small college in Ashford, a coastal Massachusetts town, and is a practising Quaker with a good ear for accents. The 2020 publisher description says a gifted student asks her to back his thesis on race and language, which is likely to be controversial. She agrees, on the condition that nobody at the college learns about the romantic bond between them. A few days later, after a tense meeting with the department chair, the student is murdered, and Lauren starts asking her own questions.
According to the author’s series page, the inquiry turns up small-town intrigue and academic blackmail, and leads to a drug cartel that comes after Lauren herself. The publisher’s summary adds that the clues point toward a community center for underserved young people.
Publication history
Speaking of Murder was first published in September 2012 under the pen name Tace Baker. The author’s 2019 book list gives this date and names the book as the first Lauren Rousseau mystery. An Open Library record gives the first edition as ISBN 9781935460473 from BRP Publishing Group in 2012. A 2014 author bio on Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen confirms that Tace Baker is Edith Maxwell’s pseudonym and that the series featuring Lauren Rousseau was published by Barking Rain Press. In a 2017 post on The Wickeds, Maxwell said the book had just come out in September 2012 when she held her first launch party. We could not open archived copies of the Barking Rain Press product page, so the first edition’s format and page count are unconfirmed.
The second book in the series, Bluffing Is Murder, followed from Barking Rain Press in November 2014.
In 2020 both novels were reissued under Edith Maxwell’s own name, with new editing and new covers. Speaking of Murder came out from Beyond the Page Publishing in July 2020. NetGalley gives the date as July 21, 2020, with ebook ISBN 9781950461622, and mentions a trade paperback released the same day. The author’s 2025 book list gives ISBN 9781950461639 for the re-release, which Open Library records as a 220-page Beyond the Page edition. The author’s site lists the book as first runner-up for the Linda Howard Award for Excellence in 2012.
Reading notes
These notes come from desk research of published descriptions. They are not a reading report.
The book’s sources describe a traditional amateur-sleuth mystery with a professional twist. The detective is an academic whose expertise is language itself. Edith Maxwell has a PhD in linguistics and has long been a Quaker, according to her 2014 bio, and both of those interests are built into her protagonist. Readers who like mysteries driven by specialist knowledge may want to watch how the premise uses Lauren’s ear for speech.
The campus is also central. The described plot involves a thesis, a department chair and blackmail inside the college, so the familiar pleasures of the academic mystery apply: closed hierarchies, reputations at stake and rivalries out of public view. The series page also stresses the town around the college, which suggests that the story keeps moving between campus and community. The 2020 description raises race, language and the needs of underserved young people, so the book is concerned with more than solving a puzzle.
The series page’s mention of a drug cartel targeting Lauren suggests more danger than a typical cozy mystery. That fits the “thrillers, suspense” subject heading in the Open Library record for the first edition.
Finding the book today
The current edition is the 2020 Beyond the Page release credited to Edith Maxwell. Her Lauren Rousseau page lists it alongside the second book, now titled Murder on the Bluffs. Public libraries that lend ebooks may carry the 2020 edition. When searching library catalogs or WorldCat, try both “Edith Maxwell” and “Tace Baker”, and use the ISBNs above to tell the 2012 Barking Rain Press printing apart from the 2020 reissue. The Barking Rain Press edition is out of print. This site does not sell the book.
Finding the book today
The 2020 Beyond the Page edition, credited to Edith Maxwell, is the current one; the author's Lauren Rousseau page lists it. Libraries can be searched by title or by either author name (Edith Maxwell or Tace Baker). The 2012 Barking Rain Press edition is out of print.
Discussion questions
- Lauren is a linguist with an ear for accents. How might a specialist's training in language change the way an amateur detective notices clues?
- The student's thesis concerns race and language. Why might that subject be controversial on a small college campus, and how could it create suspects?
- Lauren agrees to help the student while keeping their personal bond hidden from the college. What risks does secrecy create for an investigator?
- The author's site describes the series as mixing small-town intrigue with conflicts at the college. How do town and campus tensions differ in a mystery?
- Lauren is a Quaker. How might a faith tradition associated with nonviolence and plain speaking shape a sleuth facing violent crime?
- Academic blackmail is part of the premise. What makes a university a fitting setting for hidden pressure and power?
- A community center for underserved youth enters the story. What does linking a campus mystery to the wider town suggest about the book's concerns?
Open printable prompts for this book · Add to a reading list
Sources
- Lauren Rousseau Mysteries, Edith Maxwell (author website). Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Published/Contracted Book List for Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day/Tace Baker (Oct 2019), Edith Maxwell (author website). Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Published/Contracted Book List for Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day (September 2025), Edith Maxwell (author website). Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Speaking of Murder, NetGalley. Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Welcome author Edith Maxwell with a Guest Post and Giveaway, Mystery Lovers' Kitchen. Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Wicked Wednesday - Author Events, The Wickeds. Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Open Library edition record OL35494264M, Open Library. Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Open Library: Speaking of Murder, ISBN 9781950461639, Open Library. Accessed 2026-11-12.