Amazing Trifecta

I'm blown away, and I hardly know which event to report first. On any given day, I would have been thrilled with any one of these occurrences, but the tide surged and I got three goodies at once!

There is no equitable way to showcase my news, so I'm going in chronological order of my awareness of them. This in no way detracts from the importance of anything. As I say, I'm OVER THE MOON about all three of these things.

AMAZING EVENT #1

My romantic suspense, HOT WATER, won the EPIC eBoook Award for Romantic Suspense. I was up against stiff competition, and I'm honored that this book got the nod. Thanks to Sharon Buchbinder who graciously accepted the win for me in San Antonio. Her book OBSESSION was also a finalist in the same category and a darn good book. The Wild Rose Press rocks! Thanks also to my editor Laura Kelly for all her encouragement and nudging.

(It was very difficult to photograph this clear, reflective award. The best spot turned out to be on top of the hot water heater, so there's the pipe in the background...)

If you haven't picked up your copy of HOT WATER yet, its in ebook and print at most online book places. A cop and an arson investigator are hot on the trail of a serial arsonist!  Hot Water on Kindle  Hot Water on Nook

AMAZING EVENT #2

I have a cover reveal for my next romantic suspense, ROUGH WATERS. Cover artist Kim Mendoza did a great job of capturing the essence of the story with her artistic treatment.

ROUGH WATERS will release in the not too distant future through The Wild Rose Press. It's about a florist and an ex-SEAL searching for stolen treasure. This story is set in my fiction town of Mossy Bog, conveniently located on the Georgia coast. There's action. There's adventure. And the clock is running out...

AMAZING EVENT #3

Kirkus reviewed my upcoming paranormal mystery release, GONE AND DONE IT. Here's a snip of the review:

“A landscaper uses her psychic powers to solve murders old and new . . . the last thing she wants is to unearth an ancient skeleton right where she’s supposed to plant a weeping cherry tree. The unfortunate discovery brings her job to a grinding halt . . . as Baxley moves closer to taking over her father’s role as county dreamwalker, her waking life is threatened by a murderer who’d prefer not to be caught. Toussaint takes a break from her Cleopatra Jones series for a brisk plunge into the paranormal.”

GONE AND DONE IT will release on April 18 and is available for pre-order on Amazon and B&N. The price is right!

 

GONE AND DONE IT (Dreamwalker Series #1)

Baxley speaks to the dead in her dreams.

BUY NOW at Amazon or  B&N

And, as luck would have it, of the 42 authors vying for 23 spots at Malice-Go_Round, not only was I lucky enough to land a spot, my name was picked first. I should've bought a lottery ticket this weekend!

Thanks for sharing in my good fortune. Having family, friends, and fans like you make it all worthwhile!

Maggie Toussaint

who is quite literally walking on air

Rough conference start leads to great finish

My trip to Sleuthfest got off to a rough start with a reservations snafu followed by an "Oops, I forgot my suitcase." Yeah. I'm that person. I'd like to say that's never happened before (the suitcase), but I made the same mistake about 25 years ago. Let's hope it's at least another 25 years before it happens again!

Maggie with Nancy J Cohen

But, everyone at the conference was so gracious and accepting of my total Space Cadet moment, that I stopped hyperventilating and enjoyed myself. I met up with Guppies, with Five Star Authors, with 3 of my fellow Booklover's Bench authors, with old friends, with my "home-team" crew from Killer Nashville, and of course, the incomparable Deni Dietz from Five Star.

From left: SL Menear, Maggie, Sandy Parks, Clea Simon, and Judy Knauer

I was fortunate enough to have been placed on two panels and asked to moderate a third. In the first panel about how our sleuths were not so ordinary, I was fortunate enough to be sandwiched between two authors with pilot sleuths (Sandy Parks and SL Menear ) while Clea Simon rounded out the author line up and Judy Knauer did an excellent job of keeping the conversation moving.We were supposed to dress up as our sleuths, if you're wondering about the hats. I'm supposed to be Cleopatra Jones, my accountant and terrible golfer sleuth.

Neil Placky, Jennifer McMahon, Heather Graham, and Maggie T

Panel #2 was all about paranormal mysteries, and I had the great fortune to be seated beside the wonderful Heather Graham. Other panels included Neil Placky and Jennifer McMahon, with moderator Diane Stuckart who did a wonderful job.

I moderated for the cross-promotion panel featuring author-marketing dynamos Nancy J. Cohen and Libby Fischer Hellmann, along with publicist Erin Mitchell.

from left: author Nancy J Cohen, librarian Judy Buckland, and author Elaine Viets from the Librarian and Author Mash up Panel

I attended several panels about the business side of the publishing industry and got a good vibe on what authors are doing to expand their reach. They're doing the kind of marketing they enjoy the most to maintain a consistent social media presence. They're also scrambling to write the next book!

I enjoyed meeting up with new and old friends, and I came home fired up and ready to write!

Good thing because I have a novel to finish. I'm currently at 48,000 words on Doggone It, book 3 in my paranormal dreamwalker series.

Stay in touch!

Maggie Toussaint
Gone and Done It coming in April
Available from Amazon for preorder... now!