Debra H. Goldstein's Blog, page 4

Murder on the Menu – February 2, 2025

On February, 2, 2025, in Wetumpka, Alabama, Debra will be a Murder on the Menu panelist. Murder on the Menu is sponsored by the Friends of the Wetumpka library. For more details: https://www.wetumpkaal.gov/221/Upcoming-Murder-on-the-Menu .

The post Murder on the Menu – February 2, 2025 first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post Murder on the Menu – February 2, 2025 appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

Murder in the Magic City – February 1, 2025

Debra will be a panelist at Murder in the Magic City on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at 9:50 a.m, at the Homewood Library. Tickets and more information can be obtained from http://www.mmcmysteryconference.com/

The post Murder in the Magic City – February 1, 2025 first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post Murder in the Magic City – February 1, 2025 appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying – NOW Available for pre-order

With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying, a collection of eighteen of Debra’s award-winning short mysteries, from cozy to dark, centering around family and friends, their sins and their sometimes redemption, is available for pre-order. It releases in print and e-book from White City Press on February 4.

The post With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying – NOW Available for pre-order first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying – NOW Available for pre-order appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

It’s Not Always a Mystery: Following a Series Protagonist’s Journey by Erica Miner

 It’s been said that San Francisco considers its opera only slightly less sacred than the Holy Grail. The city is totally an opera town. That’s one major reason why I chose to set Overture to Murder, Book 3 in my Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series, at San Francisco Opera. The City by the Bay and its opera are the perfect milieu for this new episode in the investigative journey of Julia, young violinist turned amateur sleuth and protagonist in my Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series.

Not only is San Francisco Opera the second most prestigious company in the US after the Met Opera,  which makes for a high-stakes environment for our protagonist, but as the writer I have a deep personal connection with the company. Numerous family members and close friends have lived in the city and worked at the famed War Memorial Opera House, whose history forms a key part of the book’s plot. I’ve spent immense amounts of time in the city and its opera house over the decades.

San Francisco is also home to some of the most iconic landmarks in the world. Nob Hill, the legendary crooked Lombard Street, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, Ghirardelli Square, the Presidio, Lands End, Golden Gate Park, the Golden Gate Bridge, and many others come to mind. Julia explores all of these in great detail, and they figure prominently in the mystery she attempts to solve. 

In the world of opera, aficionados who are hooked on the works of 19th century German operatic giant Richard Wagner have been known to travel the world in search of the next best production of his famous 4-opera Ring of the Nibelungen. Two zealous members of the New York Wagner Society recently admitted to having witnessed more than 35 productions of the cycle. As a former violinist with the Met, and a frequent lecturer on opera, I’m exceedingly familiar with this special breed of fanaticism.

Wagner’s Ring forms the core of the mystery in Overture to Murder. This ups the ante for Julia. Having survived murder investigations and subsequent targeting by ruthless killers in Books 1 and 2 of the series, Aria for Murder and Prelude to Murder, in Book 3 Julia finds herself in a new type of high-pressure situation when she is called upon by San Francisco Opera to fill in for Ben, their all-important concertmaster (first of the first violinists), in the fiendishly difficult Ring. Ben has been seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident, which Julia senses was anything but accidental. And we’re off and running.  

Opera stories are among the most violent ever written. All the books in my series have one or more of these bloody tales woven into their mystery plots. Each opera in the challenging 4-part Ring contains at least one murder if not more, creating the perfect background for the grisly homicides that take place onstage and off in Overture to Murder. 

The pressure mounts as Julia becomes entangled in the investigations. As one reader wrote, “There is nothing like a heroine violinist capable of practicing a tricky passage from a Wagnerian opera score while simultaneously pondering the clues she has collected during a murder investigation.” 

That’s exactly how I envision Julia. She has evolved immensely since Book 1, in which she was a starry-eyed, unsuspecting neophyte excited to make her debut in the orchestra of the world’s most prestigious opera house. By the time we catch up with her in Overture to Murder, her experiences have transformed her into a savvy, keenly intuitive amateur sleuth who manages to solve operatic murders the Police can’t unravel. This is the kind of character journey that hopefully will keep readers eager to follow Julia into whatever series adventure might follow. 

What will she be up to next? Stay tuned.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Award-winning Seattle-based author, lecturer screenwriter and arts journalist Erica Miner believes opera theatres are perfect places for creating fictional mischief! Drawing on her 21 years as a violinist at the famed Metropolitan Opera, Erica’s fanciful plot fabrications reveal the dark side of the fascinating world of opera in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series (Level Best Books): Aria for Murder (2022), finalist in the 2023 CIBA and Eric Hoffer Book Awards; Prelude to Murder (2023), a Distinguished Favorite in the NYC Big Book Awards (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/erica-miner/prelude-to-murder/ -‘A skillfully written whodunit of operatic proportions’--Kirkus Reviews); and Book 3, Overture to Murder, released in Oct. 2024. 

 

Erica’s debut novel, Travels with My Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. https://www.ericaminer.com. Her screenplays have won awards in the Writer’s Digest, Santa Fe, and WinFemme competitions. When she isn't plumbing the depths of opera houses for murderous mayhem, Erica frequently contributes reviews and interviews for the well-known arts websites www.BroadwayWorld.com, www.bachtrack.com, and www.LAOpus.com.

 

AUTHOR WEBSITE:
https://www.ericaminer.com

 

SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
https://www.facebook.com/erica.miner1   

https://twitter.com/EmwrtrErica          

https://www.instagram.com/emwriter3/

 

BUY LINKS:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Overture-Murder-Julia-Kogan-Mystery/dp/1685127819/ 

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overture-to-murder-erica-miner/1146432661?ean=9781685127817 

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/overture-to-murder-a-julia-kogan-opera-mystery-erica-miner/21899693?ean=9781685127817

The post It’s Not Always a Mystery: Following a Series Protagonist’s Journey by Erica Miner first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post It’s Not Always a Mystery: Following a Series Protagonist’s Journey by Erica Miner appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

Farewell to a Decidedly Eventful 2024 and a Wish for All for 2025 by Debra H. Goldstein

When 2024 began, it appeared that all but one thing would be status quo. The only change would be the birth of a new grandchild in April. That child, a boy, arrived as planned and immediately charmed everyone by being easy going.  

For me, writing became complicated when my Sarah Blair series ended and a new book I wrote didn’t sell. But things worked out in the end. Because of time constraints, I concentrated on short stories. As of today, nine new ones are slated to appear in anthologies and periodicals in 2025, but that count will probably go up. A traditional publisher is also bringing out a collection of some of my older short stories. It should be available in February.

So, it appeared that 2024 would be an uneventful year, but things changed at the end of October. Out of the clear blue, my husband developed significant health problems beyond the movement issues associated the Parkinson’s that necessitated him using a walker for the past few years. He was in and out of the hospital and skilled rehab three times within five weeks. On November 5, with our four children and me with him, he peacefully passed away. Consequently, 2024 became the year that for any of us, things will never be the same in the future. Happily, we treasure the years we had with him and appreciate how we pulled together during those last few weeks (our kids flew or drove in and out of Birmingham constantly), so he knew how much he was loved.

Our road in 2024 ended in a manner none of us could have predicted last January, but now, as our family looks forward, they all join me in wishing you and yours a healthy, happy, prosperous, and uneventful 2025.

The post Farewell to a Decidedly Eventful 2024 and a Wish for All for 2025 by Debra H. Goldstein first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post Farewell to a Decidedly Eventful 2024 and a Wish for All for 2025 by Debra H. Goldstein appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

Lifelong Learner by Mary Seifert

From Lord Byron’s Don Juan (1823)

“Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction.”

In our quest to ‘get it right,’ authors are natural researchers and lifelong learners with a penchant for discovery, and as we satisfy our curiosity, the quest for truth builds and enhances our tales. 

When I began writing my Katie and Maverick Cozy Mysteries, I walked, drove, and biked paths my characters might take because the contemporary town I use once existed in Minnesota. Checking out tomes of information on forensics, pathology, and poisons baffled my local librarians. I learned about weapons from the educator/teacher at our local gun club, visited hospitals and police stations, and even scoured the internet. Unfortunately, I discovered not everything in cyberspace comes from a reputable source, so I sought out professionals in the fields I needed for accuracy: pharmacy, medicine, law, music, art, cryptology, and mathematics.

My amateur sleuth, Katie Wilk, attended the Royal Holloway for cryptanalysis, a career decrypting and encrypting codes. Life took a wrong turn and though her path changed, I still felt the need to share stories of her unsung heroes—the female cryptographers of WWW I and WWW II—who are only now being heralded for their keen intelligence and profound contributions to the war efforts. Instead, Katie accepted a job teaching high school mathematics, and numbers turn up in strange places. The varied enigmas in my stories aren’t just for show; the calculated conundrums lead Katie in and out of trouble and exist for the reader to work out as well. If you want to hone your skills, there are similar puzzles in my newsletters. 

Katie teaches her students the art of problem solving—mathematical and personal. As teachers in the real world often do, she supervises students in extra-curricular activities. Fortunately, in my distant past, I taught high school and college math, guiding participants in similar undertakings. Many incidents are based on real events.

Advising science club, Katie provides opportunities for investigation. To validate the electronic experiment for Maverick, Movies & Murder, I built the requisite telegraph with a switch, wires, batteries, and a light bulb. Rescue, Rogues & Renegade used DNA so I administered a blood typing kit. I created my own periodic table with bits of elements I could locate. When my knowledge base needed a lift, I learned how to use a blow torch, fly a drone, and tune a piano. The patient instructors gave practical advice I could use for my stories. My latest, untitled Book 9 references the Kentucky Derby. I’ve not yet attended, but my mother-in-law gave a detailed first-hand account of her dream-come-true. The closest I could get was attending the races at Canterbury Downs in Minnesota where I could see, hear, taste, smell, and feel the excitement. 

The mock trial Katie’s students study is a civil case—the wife of a victim of the Titanic sinking is suing the White Star Line for loss of life. With museums full of material, I’ve barely scratched the surface of the information existing on the tragedy.

And then there is the dog. Maverick embodies all the astonishing traits of our local hospice therapy dogs: canines who bring joy to their patients, dogs who can rouse the lethargic, relax the nervous, gently touch someone repeatedly prodded and painfully poked, or just provide an opportunity to make a choice because sometimes that possibility has been taken out of their hands. I’ve met search-and-rescue dogs with other special gifts and have been able to share similar extraordinary stories of the work those animals undertake. 

Never knowing exactly what a dog may decide, I have vignettes from the flip-side—the mischievous, fun, loud, slobbery moments, reflecting actions of my own pooch.

The fount of knowledge is bottomless. We can learn something new every day. I write fiction, but there is an abundance of wonder and mystery in real life—some of it, I just can’t make up. 

Did you know, as of August 31, 2024, the grandson of John Tyler, the tenth POTUS, is still alive?

~~~~~~~

Mary Seifert’s Impact Award winning Katie and Maverick cozy mystery series delineates Katie’s first year teaching. The mysteries include the 2023 American Fiction Award finalist Maverick, Movies & Murder, the 2024 Chanticleer Murder and Mayhem finalist Santa, Snowflakes & Strychnine, and a Top Pick for the 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award with Fishing, Festivities & Fatalities. In the eighth book, Pranks, Payback & Poison, Katie balances care for the ones she loves with a murder investigation she shouldn’t be part of.

Mary is a member of Sisters in Crime and loves talking about books in libraries, bookstores, book clubs, coffee shops, anywhere someone will converse. With her terrifichusband and canine companion, she calls Minnesota home, but loves to travel to far-flung places around the United States and beyond. She is also a member of Mystery Writers of America, American Cryptogram Association, and PEO.

This link will take you to Mary’s website with connections to many online retailers where you can find out more about Mary.

https://maryseifertauthor.com 

Amazon buy link to Katie and Maverick Cozy Mysteries

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2N876FZ 

Social Media:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mary.seifert.144 

Instagram: @maryseifertauthor 

The post Lifelong Learner by Mary Seifert first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post Lifelong Learner by Mary Seifert appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

Spycraft 101 by Terry Ambrose

Have you ever wondered what, exactly, cracking a secret code involves? Wonder no more. We're going to dive into the world of spycraft. Sorry, I won't be giving away any secret code books or nifty decoder rings. But I am extending an invitation to dive into the intriguing world of spycraft, a subject that takes center stage in my latest Beachtown Detective Agency mystery, "The Case of the Beguiling Brooch."

 

 

The Caesar Cipher

Codes have fascinated humanity for centuries, serving as the language of secrets. Used by governments, lovers, and those who want to keep a secret, they create a veil of intrigue and protection over vital information. The Caesar cipher gets its name from none other than Julius Caesar, who created a way to send encrypted military messages. The Caesar cipher works by shifting each letter of the alphabet a certain number of places to create a new code. For example, if you shift each letter three places, "A" becomes "D," "B" becomes "E," and so on. The receiver of the message would then know to reverse the process by shifting each letter back three places to reveal the original message.

The Vigenère Cipher

Another popular cipher is the Vigenère cipher, which takes the Caesar cipher to a whole new level. Instead of shifting each letter by a set number, the Vigenère cipher uses a keyword to determine the shift for each letter in the message. This makes it much more difficult to crack, as there are countless combinations that can be used with different keywords.

The Enigma Machine

During World War II, the Enigma machine encrypted Nazi communications. It was a puzzle that eluded many until Alan Turing came along. Turing was a mathematician and codebreaker whose work on the Enigma machine is credited with shortening the war by two years. The Enigma machine operated similarly to the Caesar cipher but used multiple rotors to create an even more complex code.

Modern Encryption

Today, encryption techniques have become even more sophisticated. You've probably heard the phrase, "We use military-grade encryption." The thing is, military-grade encryption isn't a technical standard or method. The term is actually marketing jargon meant to ensure customers that the company uses complex encryption methods. The good news is that those methods are almost impossible for a human to decipher and can even take a supercomputer years to solve.

The Vigenère Cipher and "The Case of the Beguiling Brooch"

"The Case of the Beguiling Brooch" begins at the funeral of Benji Thompson. I never started writing the second Beachtown Detective Agency intending to dive into codebreaking, but as the character of Benji took form, I soon realized he might well have had those skills. He was, after all, a world-class art thief who had settled down and now ran an art gallery. A Vigenère Cipher became the perfect tool for the catalyst in this story when Jade is hired to find an antique brooch that was stolen during World War II. Jade's only clue is a seemingly indecipherable jumble of letters—a cryptogram created using a Vigenère Cipher. In the book, she combines forces with an art restoration specialist to decipher Benji's message.

Spycraft 101: Final Thoughts

From the ancient Caesar Cipher to the complex Vigenère, codes invite us into a universe where every letter harbors a mystery. They spark our imagination, urging us to explore the hidden and the unknown. I hope you enjoyed this look at the world of codes and that you check out "The Case of the Beguiling Brooch."

Buy Link: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJ8MDHCM/

About “The Case of the Beguiling Brooch”

While attending the funeral of family friend Benji Thompson, Private Eye Jade Cavendish is handed a check for $10,000 by an elegant woman. The assignment? Solve a cryptogram and find a family heirloom that has been missing since World War II.

As Jade delves into the puzzle, she learns that Benji’s death was no accident—it was murder. And it’s somehow tied to the cryptogram.

Determined to solve both Benji’s murder and find the brooch, Jade dives into the enigmatic art world where she unearths Benji’s link to an international art theft ring. Each clue brings Jade closer to the truth but also deeper into danger. With every step forward, a shadowy figure known only as Valkyrie looms larger.

With time running out, Jade must crack the cryptogram to recover the brooch and unmask the mysterious Valkyrie—or become the next victim.

Terry Ambrose has written more than two dozen books, several of which have been award finalists. In 2014, his thriller, “Con Game,” won the San Diego Book Awards for Best Action-Thriller. His other series include the Trouble in Paradise McKenna Mysteries, the Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mysteries, and the License to Lie thriller series.

You can learn more about Terry and his writing at terryambrose.com.

The post Spycraft 101 by Terry Ambrose first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post Spycraft 101 by Terry Ambrose appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

TRAVEL INSPIRATION by Anne Louise Bannon

The classic answer to the perennial “Where do you get your ideas?” question is that ideas are everywhere. They truly are. The fun part is when the idea pops up when you least expect it and you know it’s good, and because of some very special event, the result of that idea is going to be inextricably linked to that special event.

To wit – I have just returned from fifteen days in Italy, a trip my husband and I have been actively planning for over two years, and have been longing to take for much, much longer. My husband and I love to travel, but for a lot of years, we just didn’t have the money for more than a quick trip here and there. When our fortunes changed for the better, work concerns and other priorities left little time for extended time away. In other words, this trip really meant a lot to us.

One of several things on my must-do list was to spend some time in a trattoria typing away on my current work in progress. So what if said book takes place in Boston in 1873? Hanging out at an outside table on the Piazza San Marco in Venice was sure to fill me with enough joy that the words would flow. Okay. It just sounded like a really cool thing to do.

That the rainy weather made the experience literally cool, and that the waiter was a bit of a jerk. That’s part of life. The bigger obstacle? I’d scored a truly awesome idea the day before and it was hard thinking about anything else.

I’m not going to go into the details, but, yeah, it involves the history of Venice and the Doges that ruled it for centuries, and gondolas, and maybe one or two other medieval cities that we visited later in the trip. It might involve a dual time-line that might set up a whole similar series, thanks to another idea I had years ago based on some finds under the Louvre Museum in Paris. (Note to Self – need to find out more about that dig and was it a bashed-in helmet that triggered me?)

There are those who would suggest, justifiably, that I am already swimming in ideas and that the last thing I need is another one to develop. Then again, I am swimming in fabric and patterns. That didn’t stop me from picking up two gorgeous pieces of fabric – a lovely lightweight wool and a gorgeous paisley viscose knit, not to mention a Burda magazine (which contains patterns) in Italian.

Ideas really are everywhere. Some will blossom. Some won’t. The one from the Louvre went nowhere, but I still remember that part of the trip with joy. If this new one goes someplace, great. I’m looking forward to another deep dive into the research deep end. It’s the joy of it that counts right now, like the joy of a long-awaited trip to Italy. It’s even better that the idea and the trip are two parts of a perfectly lovely whole experience.

Speaking of ideas, one of my earlier ones was Paths Not Taken, the thirteenth Operation Quickline story which just had its debut on my blog at annelouisebannon.com/blogs. Or you can sign up for my Substack newsletter and get a new chapter in your email inbox each week, annelouisebannon.substack.com/subscribe. And be sure to check out all my books on my Fiction page, annelouisebannon.com.

Author Anne Louise Bannon’s husband says that his wife kills people for a living. Bannon does mostly write mysteries, including the Old Los Angeles Series, the Freddie and Kathy series, and the Operation Quickline series. She has worked as a freelance journalist for magazines and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times. She and her husband, Michael Holland, created the OddBallGrape.com wine education blog, and she co-wrote a book on poisons. She and her husband live in Southern California with an assortment of critters. Visit her website at AnneLouiseBannon.com.

The post TRAVEL INSPIRATION by Anne Louise Bannon first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post TRAVEL INSPIRATION by Anne Louise Bannon appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

WRITING SATISFYING ANTAGONISTS IN COZY MYSTERIES by Korina Moss

My number one reminder when writing a cozy? Keep it cozy. It must have a comforting feeling, much like a cup of tea, a warm blanket, a good book, or a relaxing dinner with friends. In fact, one of the main reasons readers say they return to a series is because the characters feel like old friends. The town should be almost idyllic… except for those pesky murders, and there should be just enough tension to keep the pages turning, without overly dark themes. In other words, keep it cozy. 

But it wouldn’t be a mystery without a murder, and there isn’t a murder without an antagonist. A cozy should have at least five suspects, one of them being the culprit. So how do I write realistic suspects and antagonists without straying too far from my number one reminder? I dismiss the idea of a villain. 

Every suspect does not have to be mean, unlikable, or argumentative. In fact, it’s better (read: cozier) if they’re not. Who wants to read a cozy mystery with a bunch of characters they don’t like? Besides, in a cozy, you don’t know a bad guy is the bad guy until the final reveal. Which means you’re forced to make your bad guy three-dimensional, just like your likable main characters. The best way to do this is to do an exercise I call, Let Me Tell You My Story.

To do this, you free write as your antagonist (from his point of view) for five to ten minutes. This is after you’ve done his backstory and know something about him. In this exercise, put him in a situation where he must react to something, and dig into how he feels. Remember, this is only for you, not intended to be polished or witty or grammatically correct. This is not just an exercise in writing first person. You must get out of your narrator’s head and into your antagonist’s heart.

Because the thing is, nobody sees themselves as the bad guy (except for maybe a Marvel villain). Even negative emotions—anger, jealousy, greed—come from a vulnerable place—hurt, fear, or scarcity. Conversely, your antagonist can also have a positive trait, that when magnified, becomes negative. 

Once you dig deeper to find the emotion that’s the driving force of your antagonist, you reveal it in subtle ways throughout the book. For example, you can show your culprit as a loyal friend, and then incorporate subtle signs throughout the book that speak to their loyalty, which cause no red flags for the reader. However, that loyalty, magnified, is the driving force that leads them to protect or avenge through murder the person they were loyal to. Therefore, when your loyal antagonist is revealed as the murderer, it's a believable surprise, because their personality tracked with their motivation as the killer. Thus, writing a three-dimensional antagonist can make for an equally satisfying conclusion for the reader. 

KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series set in the Sonoma Valley, including the Agatha Award winner for Best First Novel, Cheddar Off Dead and the Agatha Award finalist for Best Contemporary Novel, Case of the Bleus. Her books have been featured in USA Today, PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, AARP, and Fresh Fiction. To learn more or subscribe to her free monthly #teamcheese newsletter, visit her website, and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

 

 

Website: korinamossauthor.com  

Facebook: facebook.com/korinamossauthor/ 

Instagram: instagram.com/korinamossauthor/

The post WRITING SATISFYING ANTAGONISTS IN COZY MYSTERIES by Korina Moss first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post WRITING SATISFYING ANTAGONISTS IN COZY MYSTERIES by Korina Moss appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.

Falling into…Everything! by Maggie Toussaint/Valona Jones

Autumn leaves show us their fall colors first and then they flutter to the ground. Oh, how I enjoyed jumping into leaves as an adult. That’s right. Down where I grew up, our trees are mostly deciduous. Fall was something I read about and saw pictures of but never experienced until I was grown up.

Something about fall that keeps coming to mind today. Perhaps it’s the bright pop of red, orange, and yellow leaves in trees that have been green since spring. Or it might be the whimsical way leaves fall, twirling in the air or wafting along on a stiff breeze.

With fall on my mind, I decided to share the ways my sleuth, Tabby Winslow, falls in my latest release, TALLOWED GROUND. I wasn’t conscious of this thematic element in her characterization until I sat down to write this post.

First, Tabby is falling into trouble. A seemingly routine fishing expedition by Detectives Nowry and Belfor of the Savannah Police Department (SPD) turns into pointed questions. Instead of being a subject matter expert on tallow, she’s a person of interest in a recent homicide. The victim is a man she barely knew but he had been drunk and disorderly in her shop. He’d threatened her. She’d filed a restraining order against him. Now she’s in a deep hole of suspicion.

Second, Tabby believes her boyfriend will propose during their Valentine’s Day romantic dinner. Then just about everyone in the restaurant is saying yes to marriage. It’s annoying and nerve-wracking. Is Quig falling out of love with her? Since she’s totally fallen for him, tiny waves of dissonance occur, keeping her on pins and needles.

And thirdly, once the killer realizes Tabby is after him, he comes for her. Tabby falls into the worst sort of trouble. Worse, she doesn’t know who kidnapped her or where she is. It’s all she can do to be positive in that darkness. She vows to save herself. But she can’t prepare because she doesn’t know who, what, where, or when.

In summary, these layers of “falling” quicken TALLOWED GROUND’s pacing, ratchet up the tension, and according to one reviewer, “High stakes and a creepy setting fuel the tension in this compelling story. A page-turner that will keep you reading into the night!”—Nancy J Cohen, award winning author of The Bad Hair Day Mysteries.

If you’d like to fall into a good book or a good series, check out TALLOWED GROUND, book three of A Magic Candle Shop Mysteries, which came out on September 10, 2024. It is available in digital and trade paperback from most online vendors.

A Bit About TALLOWED GROUND:

When a killer props his third and latest victim against the double tombstone of Tabby and Sage Winslow’s grandparents’ grave in Savannah, Georgia, the psychic twins are stunned. Even worse, the victim is the very man they filed a restraining order against a few months ago for trashing their book and candle shop. Coincidence...or a connection? Then a clue about the murders points to Tabby’s career as a candlemaker. Now, she is a person of interest in the killing spree.

The twins investigate all three victims, finding little that might tie the cases together besides where the bodies were found—in or near Bonaventure Cemetery, a beautiful 100-acre historic graveyard with a storied past. Then Tabby’s Medical Examiner boyfriend is mysteriously pulled from the case, with his dream job in jeopardy. The situation reaches a flashpoint when new evidence points to Tabby. With her freedom and the family business in peril, Tabby matches her wits and psychic abilities against the wily killer.

That is, until Tabby’s spirited inquiry as an amateur sleuth lands her in the worst kind of trouble. Can Tabby clear her name before the fiend snuffs her flame…for good?

BUY LINKS:         AMAZON              B&N              KOBO

Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes cozy and paranormal mysteries under her name and a pen name of Valona Jones, romantic suspense, and dystopian fiction under the pen name of Rigel Carson, with more than twenty-seven novels of fiction published. Her upcoming release, TALLOWED GROUND, book three in A Magic Candle Shop Mysteries, is a cozy paranormal mystery series written under the pen name of Valona Jones. A multi-year finalist for Georgia Author of the Year, she’s won Silver Falchions, two Readers’ Choice awards, and the EPIC Award. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America-Southeast chapter and Sisters In Crime-Guppy chapter. She lives in coastal Georgia, where secrets, heritage, and ancient oaks cast long shadows. Visit her at https://maggietoussaint.com/ 

CREDIT HEADSHOT TO CSAW PRODUCTIONS - (MAGGIE TOUSSAINT HEADSHOT)

The post Falling into…Everything! by Maggie Toussaint/Valona Jones first appeared on Debra H. Goldstein.

The post Falling into…Everything! by Maggie Toussaint/Valona Jones appeared first on Debra H. Goldstein.