Toasting Tina

Jane Stuart and Winky #5

by Evan Marshall

In this delightful cozy, suspects abound when the hated book publisher becomes toast after someone throws a toaster into her bath.

"Jane Marple for the millennium."—Kensington Publishing

Schemer Tina Vale, publisher of Corsair Books, slept her way to the top, making many enemies on the way. Now she’s going after an old enemy, single mom and literary agent Jane Stuart. I’ll get even at last! What on earth did Jane ever do to get Tina so riled up? Nearly twenty years ago, Tina lost out to Jane when Jane married Kenneth, someone Tina wanted. She never forgave Jane for that!

Now Tina makes Jane pay for it. She cancels Jane’s multi-million-dollar publishing contract with Corsair. That destroys the author’s career and empties Jane’s bank account, but Tina goes further, spreading false rumors about Jane. Jane is damaged financially, but by having the past stirred up, Jane finds new heartache as she recalls her cherished memories of Kenneth who died a few years ago.

Tina and Joan are both at the annual RAT Convention (Romance Authors Together), where the hotel venue is struggling to handle all the romance authors as well as this year’s featured cat show. Jane and Winky, her trusted tortie, want to win the cat show contest and Jane tries to forget all about Tina and stay out of her way.

But soon Jane has more serious matters to worry about. After Tina fails to make her grand entrance at the award ceremonies, her body is discovered in the bathtub, along with one of her prized collectible vintage toasters she was an avid collector of. Tina was always the lavish spender when it came to herself, with some of her collection being worth a pretty penny, and this one sure sizzled! It was still plugged in.

Who put the toaster in the bath? This time, Jane herself is a suspect.

“You have to admit you have motive,” says police detective Stanley Greenberg, Jane’s boyfriend.

But as much as Jane hated Tina, she never would have wasted a good toaster on her.

Jane sets out to unravel the mystery of Tina’s death. Many of Tina’s enemies had access to her top toaster collection.

Before the toaster killer strikes again, Jane must find out which of Tina’s enemies hated her enough to say, “Tina’s toast.”

BONUS

This edition contains a bonus excerpt from CRUSHING CRYSTAL by Evan Marshall.

REVIEWS OF TOASTING TINA

3.56 average rating all editions, 57 ratings, 7 reviews, added by 142 people, 43 to-reads, 86% of people like it–Goodreads

3.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)–Amazon

"Miss Marple Lite."—Kirkus Reviews

"Sparkling!"—Publishers Weekly

The Jane and Winky series is as cozy as a kitten–with tiny sharp claws.”—Jill Churchill

"TOASTING TINA is cozy in every sense of the word…."—I Love a Mystery

“The writing style is one that I like, just enough action going on to keep me turning pages to see what would happen next, keep me in suspense until the end to find out who did it. I liked it enough to go looking for one of the other books in this series.”—Ivy M, Goodreads

ABOUT EVAN MARSHALL

Evan Marshall, president of The Evan Marshall Agency, is author of The Marshall Plan For Novel Writing, the international bestseller on commercial novel writing now in its 20th anniversary edition. He is author of 10 commercially published mysteries, the Manhattan Mysteries Series and Jane & Winky Suburban Sleuths Series, called “Miss Marple Lite” by Kirkus Reviews. His books appeal to fans of Janet Evanovich, Lilian Jackson Braun, Agatha Christie and Alexander McCall Smith. You can reach him at evan@evanmarshallagency.com.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Evan Marshall is president of The Evan Marshall Agency and author of The Marshall Plan For Novel Writing (Writer’s Digest, 1998), an international bestseller on novel writing now in its 20th anniversary edition. He is the author of 10 commercially published mysteries, Manhattan Mysteries Series and Jane & Winky Series which was named “Miss Marple Lite” by Kirkus Reviews. His books appeal to fans of Janet Evanovich, Lilian Jackson Braun, Agatha Christie and Alexander McCall Smith. You can reach him at evan@evanmarshallagency.com.

Reviews

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not sure when I picked this one up if I would like it or not as I am not a big fan of books that have a pet that helps the main character solve the mystery, especially the ones that have the animal talking in them. In this book though the cat did not help with the mystery at all that I found. There were very little mention of the cat so was surprised when I realized that the cat was suppose to be part of the team that would solve the case. The writing style is one that I liked, just enough action going on to keep me turning pages to see what would happen next, kept me in suspense until the end to find out who did it. I liked it enough to go looking for one of the other books in this series.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite a 4, but good. I didn't see the original release date, just the Kindle but this is an older series. I'm too lazy to go find my copy and check but my guess is the 90s. It holds up fairly well, even so. Evan Marshall knows of what he writes, as I keep seeing his name listed in the acknowledgments of some of my favorite cozies-- agent who reps a lot of cozy mystery with cats writers. Yay, Evan! Anyway, except for some mean just to be mean characters, I enjoyed this; solution was quite the surprise but it worked. Having just seen "The Lost City," I especially enjoyed the scenes at the Romance Writer's convention.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for my mystery club's "murder with an unusual weapon" theme. This book fit the the theme and that's about all I can say about it.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library find.
Light read for a lazy, rainy day!
Fun!
A wide range of characters introduced! Some enjoyable and some nasty! I guess you can say they are diverse.
Well developed and fast paced book.
Don't miss!

[Diane Large · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute cozy mystery with an unusual murder weapon.

[Tracyfromthemermaidcove · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t read cozies to have an animal tortured!

[Jacque · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really like this book. who would have thought that tina's killer would have been Nat one of Jane's newest authors. I thought tghe killer could have been a number of different people in the beginning. Tina Vale had so many enemies. Who would have thought that her daughter Shelly was involved with Nat who killed Tina. Jane came very close to being killed herself. I was happy with the ending also

[Kimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must look for more of these. Mysteries, cats, and knitting? Yes please!

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, easy read with some interesting characters. Does reference previous book, which makes you curious what happened before.

[Donna Maroulis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, not exactly stimulating reading but it passed the time - cute, kind of.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 - Very Good

[Zeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,7🌟