Announcing the debut of my first paranormal mystery!

Release Day - Today, April 18, GONE AND DONE IT hits the marketplace. 

I am delighted to be debuting a new mystery series and a new sleuth! Baxley Powell stars in this dreamwalker series. She's a single mom barely making ends meet in a small southern town by petsitting and landscaping. When her father steps down from his title as county dreamwalker, Baxley has some pretty big shoes to fill.

Not only does she have to become familiar with her various, er, skills, but there are unwritten rules about what she can do on the Other Side, not to mention the shady characters who are determined to trick her and wreak havoc among the living.

Before you know it, Baxley finds not one, but two burial sites, the last one being very recent. Worse, the evidence points to Baxley. She needs all the help she can get, in this world and the next, to prove her innocence.

Early Reviews for Gone and Done It are in:

"A brisk plunge into the paranormal" Kirkus
"Wow! I couldn't put this book down once I started it!" Lori Mitchell Myers
"A unique style and likable characters" Joyce Lavene aka JJ Cook
"Loved this new series" Sherry Troop
"I very much enjoyed this book" Denise Zendel
"Paranormal fans will enjoy this ghostly whodunit" Paula Adams
"I loved it and couldn't put it down" Monica Pulliam
"I found myself captivated by the characters and the story plot" Robin McKay
"A book readers won't want to put down until the last word is read" Jacqueline Seewald

Ready to get your copy?
Links for Hardcover: Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Link for eBook: Kindle

Nancy J. Cohen and I are having an online party today because we share the same launch date! Click on over to join us on Facebook where the cyber-champagne is flowing and the prizes are FUN! New Release Party

Be sure to ask your librarian to order Gone and Done It for your library so everyone can enjoy it! Much obliged!

Take care and happy reading!

Maggie Toussaint
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PS There's still time to enter the April Booklover's Bench contest. A $25 gift card and 6 ebooks are up for grabs. Contest ends at midnight on April 18, so don't delay! http://www.bookloversbench.com/contest 

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

Holy Moly! New format for DIME IF I KNOW

Breaking news from the universe of Maggie: DIME IF I KNOW is now out in digital format. I'm so very pleased that my readers in the digital world will now have immediate access to the 3rd book in my Cleopatra Jones series.

I love how cool Rafe's car looks!

If you're new to the series, accountant and golfer Cleo saved her best friend from the slammer in IN FOR A PENNY, and in ON THE NICKEL, she sorted through Mama's evasions to prove she didn't run over the church lady. Now in DIME IF I KNOW, she has her work cut out for her. Boyfriend and golf pro Rafe Golden is accused of killing a former girlfriend. As Cleo digs into the case, she learns deep, dark secrets about Rafe and his family. The more she learns, the more she questions her trust in him.

Here's the blurb: Cleopatra Jones has visions of marriage dancing through her head, but her boyfriend, sexy golf pro Rafe Golden, is happy with the status quo. With three puppies, a Saint Bernard, two teenaged daughters, a free-spirited live-in mother, a kooky best friend, and an accounting firm to run, Cleo’s household is hopping. But still. After months of dating Rafe, her relationship should be headed somewhere.

Mama comes home engaged and the wedding is in three weeks. Cleo’s happy for her mom, and hopes Rafe takes the hint. Meanwhile, her best friend is running for mayor.

A former girlfriend of Rafe’s turns up dead in a seedy motel. His fancy red sports car was spotted there the night she died. Cleo questions him, but he swears he didn’t shoot her.

The police identify Rafe as their top suspect, but Cleo’s having none of that. She hires him a lawyer, gets crossways with his snooty family, and sets out to prove her boyfriend’s innocence.

The more she digs, the more questions arise. Rafe’s been keeping secrets from her, but are they deadly secrets? 

I'm so pleased to be able to post the buy link to the Kindle format of this book. Here ya go: http://www.amazon.com/Dime-Know-Cleopatra-Jones-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00G5K7VY2/

There's a "look inside" feature at Amazon to get you hooked, or you can read the entire first chapter at my website:   http://maggietoussaint.com/dime-if-i-know/http://maggietoussaint.com/dime-if-i-know/

*****

 In other news, I'm honored to announce that I've been listed on Washington Romance Writers Wall of Fame, along with a host of uber-talented writers. Thanks so much for the mention, WRW! http://wrwdc.com/wrw-wall-of-fame/ 

And, we're having a new contest at Booklovers Bench, which runs through Nov 18. I believe there are 7 different ways you can enter to win. Up for grabs: A $25 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble, winner's choice, and 6 ebooks from mystery and romance authors. Just like the lottery - you gotta play to win! Here's the link to the site and the Rafflecopter form: http://bookloversbench.com/contest/

Hope your week is as fantastic as mine!

Maggie Toussaint

mystery and romance author

www.maggietoussaint.com

Contest News! And a new Cover!

Amidst the thrill of notifying winners for our First Coast Romance Writers unpublished Beacon contest, I got some great news myself.

Hot Water won the 2013 Show Me Your Cover Contest for Sunshine State Romance Authors in Romantic Suspense. I'm thrilled about the acknowledgement as I always thought I had a darn good cover.

And more good news came in my email today. Hot Water (the book, not the cover) is a finalist in the EPIC competition. Yay!

I had to blow the dust off my blog settings and kick the tires because it's been awhile since I've visited this place. I've been so busy writing and promoting my two summer releases that I haven't had much time to blog. This week marks the last stop on my blog tour for Dime If I Know. I don't know who is happier, me or the book's characters, who can finally stop getting gussied up and trotting out on command.

While I'm here, I want to acknowledge Laideebug Digital who brought my website into the new millenium by making it user friendly. I've made a mess of it a few times already, and Dee has graciously bailed me out, but I was able to post my contest win tonight, on the actual night I got the news. That's worth a lot to me! For readers and fans, the website should look very similar; it's the behind the curtains part that got rewired.

Good things come in threes. I want to show off my new cover for my first ever paranormal mystery, Gone and Done It, which will come out next May. I have a reading snip on my website it you'd like to have a peek. http://maggietoussaint.com/gone-and-done-it/

Every month from the 4 through the 18, Booklover's Bench, where I'm a founding member, holds a giveaway of a $25 gift card and various ebooks. Be sure to check the site frequently to enter. You have a few more days this month to add your name into the pot. http://bookloversbench.com/contest/

That's about it for today. Thanks for swinging by to share in my good news!

Catch you later,

Maggie Toussaint

Freebie this week!

In honor of the coming release of Book 3 of my Cleopatra Jones mystery series on Sept. 11, I've put the first book up for FREE on Kindle this week. That's right, IN FOR A PENNY, is just two clicks away from being on your Kindle or kindle-app device.

I'd be remiss if I didn't post the buy link, so here it is:

www.amazon.com/InForAPenny-ebook/dp/B008MCSGMM

  Some review snips to whet your appetite: 

"an amusing addition to the cozy ranks" Kirkus

"the story takes some unexpected and dangerous turns as it builds to a satisfying conclusion" Publishers Weekly

“Reading a Cleopatra Jones mystery is a nice way to spend an afternoon. This lighthearted story has a dash of romance and a lot of humor. Cleo is a delightful character, and her wacky family and friends add to the enjoyment.” Romantic Times

"Fans will enjoy this fun mystery" Harriet Klausner

"I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery book and highly recommend it" Reader Forever, Amazon

Here's the blurb from the book:

Amateur sleuth Cleopatra Jones of rural Hogan’s Glen, Maryland faces an unwanted hazard when she skulls her golf ball across the number six green and it lands in the inseam of a very dead banker. Though the victim is a longtime friend of Cleo’s, his ongoing dispute with Cleo’s best friend and golfing partner, Jonette, is public knowledge. When the police key in on Jonette as the prime suspect, Cleo sets out to find the real killer.

Amidst the fun of wacky meals, dueling daughters, Mama’s heart problem, lovesick Saint Bernards, a sexy golf pro, a repentant ex-husband and a host of murder suspects, Cleo does what she does best. With her trusty spreadsheets and logical accountant’s brain, she organizes the information and ferrets out a crazed killer.

Set against the lush splendor of mid-Atlantic springtime, this fun-packed mystery with a dash of romance will keep you turning the pages to see what happens next. 

--

What are you waiting for? Check out the first installment of my Cleopatra Jones series. Here's the link again:

www.amazon.com/InForAPenny-ebook/dp/B008MCSGMM

Enjoy!

Maggie Toussaint 

In For A Penny
On the Nickel
Dime If I Know