E-reader Book Bash - Grab a book or two!

I'm happy to participate in the E-reader bash. 23 authors are giving away 27 romantic ebooks. That's a whole lotta love!

To enter, all you have to do is answer a question here at Mudpies in a comment between now and Dec. 29. There will be a grand prize and a second place prize, with each winner taking home more than a dozen ebooks! Winners will be posted late on Sunday, Dec. 30.

My book that's up for grabs is Murder in the Buff, a romantic mystery. In the story, reporter Molly Darter's job is on the line, and her marriage has gone south. When she gets the worst assignment of her life, she can't turn it down. The job? Getting an obituary from the nudist colony.

My question for the giveaway is: what hair style does the woman behind the fence sport?

Here's a short excerpt where you can look for the answer:

We’d also heard the naturalists were retired call girls. No telling what went on back in these dark woods. Orgies. Wild rituals. Substance abuse. Anything was possible in such a remote location.

I checked the time again and sighed.

If I left right now, my mother would never know I’d been here. However, Ted would fire me if I returned without this family-placed obituary. Jobs were scarce in our county of ten thousand people, and with my changed personal circumstances, I couldn’t afford to lose this one. Air huffed out of my lungs, up my warm face, giving flight to the wispy bangs on my forehead.

I dried my sweaty palms on my jeans and ramped up the air conditioning another notch. What was taking so long? I rubbed the back of my neck to ease the stiffness.

Behind the stockade fence, briars and weeds flourished. Spanish moss and ropy vines choked the tops of the oaks, pines, and cedars, adding to the sense that anything could and would happen deep in that jungle of green.

Jungle love gone wild.

I grimaced at that carnal image. My gaze fell to the thick ground cover outside my door. I couldn’t see the sandy soil at all. I gulped. There were probably rattlesnakes galore out here.

Cottonmouths and copperheads, too.

And ticks.

I bet every tick known to mankind lurked within the dark green foliage, waiting for me to step out of my vehicle. I’d have to be diligent as I checked every inch of skin tonight for ticks.

Without warning, a narrow-faced woman with gray braided hair peered over the top of the fence and waved her bare arms. My heart sunk as her lips moved. Dang, she was talking to me. With my windows up, I couldn’t hear a word she said.

Please, dear God, let her have clothes on behind that fence.
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Okay. So all you have to do is leave your answer in the comments section of this blog. If you'd like to visit other blogs and have more winning chances, here's a list of the other blogs involved:
THAT DATING THING by Mackenzie Crown ~ http://mackenziecrowne.com/wp/
HOME by Calisa Rhose ~ calisarhose.wordpress.com
MONA LISA’S ROOM by Vonnie Davis (plus a little sweet) ~ vintagevonnie.blogspot.com
STEPPING OUT OF LINE by Linda Carroll Bradd ~ blog.lindacarroll-bradd.com
DECEPTIONS OF THE HEART by Denise Moncrief ~ ~ denisemoncrief.blogspot.com
BE STILL MY LOVER’S HEART by Lisa Hannah Wells ~ memorymakerscreator.blogspot.com
THE TREASURE OF COMO BLUFF by Alison Henderson ~ AliceHenderson.com
SHANGHAI CONNECTION by Carol Henry ~ macsmadmania.blogspot.com
SOMEWHERE MY LOVE (A ghostly time travel romance) by Beth Trissell ~ bethtrissel.wordpress.com
FAERIE FOOL by Silver James ~ Silverjames.com
CLEAR AS DAY by Babette James ~ http://wp.me/pjagl-1Tr
AN UNEXPECTED GIFT by Katherine Grey ~ katherinegrey.blogspot.com
TAKE ME HOME, COWBOY by Krista Ames (Plus 4 Anthology titles below) ~ apassionforromance.blogspot.com
THE DOLLHOUSE (For the Love of Christmas Anthology) by Dani-Lyn Alexander~ danilynalexander.com
STUDIO RELATIONS by Georgie Lee ~ georgielee.blogspot.com
Carolyn Sullivan
A SECOND CHANCE AT FOREVER by Joanne Stewart ~ jm-stewart.blogspot.com
MAGIC OF THE LOCH by Karen Michelle Nutt ~ kmnbooks.blogspot.com
THE BETTER MAN by Ceri Hebert ~ cerihebert.wordpress.com
THREAT TO OUR FOREVER by Em Epe ~ emeperomances.blogspot.com
CONNECT THE DOTS (For the Love of Christmas Anthology) by Jennifer Eaton ~ jennifermeaton.com
FADEOUT by Rolynn Anderson ~ blog.rolynnanderson.com

Plus four anthologies, courtesy of Krista Ames.
BELIEVE CHRISTMAS ~ BE MINE, VALENTINE ~ ALL BETS ARE ON ~ SUMMER SHORTS
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Thanks to Mackenzie Crown for putting this together. Besides commenting here, a comment at the other sites may increase your chances of winning. Best of luck to you all!

Don't forget to leave a comment with your answer to my hairstyle question! I'd love to put a copy of Murder in the Buff in your hands, and on your e-reader. MITB is available in all digital formats.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Maggie Toussaint
www.maggietoussaint.com

A matter of point of view

How many times have you been in a situation where something happened and everyone who witnessed the event told a slightly different version of events?

Ground zero, or the incident itself, is at a physical location. Witnesses range from nearby to further away. They also may or may not have a personal relationship with one of the individuals involved.

Both proximity and "insider knowledge" greatly affect how someone sees an event. For instance, if you observe a person running through the grocery store that knocks displays over and makes a mess of the store, you're upset with that person. But if you know his dog jumped out of the car and is dying in the parking lot, you're less likely to  paint his action in the grocery store in such a negative light.

That point of view, or how you see the world, is greatly influenced by what you know and what you see. One problem with this is that what we know may not be the entire truth. In most cases, knowing something new about a person changes our opinion of that person, shading it anywhere from less favorable to more favorable.

And let's not forget perspective. If you stand on a deserted road, the margins of the road at the horizon will converge to a vanishing point, making the road wider looking where you're standing and narrower the further away you look. The road doesn't change shape, but your point of view does.

In the same way, different characters in a book will rarely have the same perspective. The issue of what's at stake will be different for each person. Each person will have goals, dreams, agendas, flaws, and personal vendettas. That's the nature of humanity.

Pouring all of this into a character infuses life into a story. Point of view is a craft element that's more than one entity narrating the story. POV brings us into the mindset of the character on center stage. It grants us access to his/her knowledge, physical location, and personal history with the other characters in the scene.

Take the instance of two sisters. Molly has the family that Clarice wants. Molly has a handsome, successful husband who adores her. When Clarice can't obtain those things for herself, she goes after what Molly has.

Not such a nice sister, is she? But these situations happen in real life. This particular rivalry of Molly and Clarice is played out in my murder mystery, Murder in the Buff.

By making the stakes matter, readers empathize with Molly and despise Clarice for her interference. I write mysteries in first person POV, which makes Molly my only POV character, but through actions and dialogue, the perspective of the other characters come through.

This marriage-wrecking scheme of Clarice's affects more than the three people involved; it includes the whole family - from Molly and Hadley's son, to their parents and grandparents, to Molly's workplace. A ripple in the pond is more than a ripple when the stakes are high.

Point of view.
It makes us care.
It makes us want to know what happens next.
It makes us demand justice.

Maggie Toussaint
www.maggietoussaint.com

Murder in the Buff is available now.
Buy links:

Muse It Up Publishing  Amazon.com  BarnesandNoble

Sisterhood of the Frying Pan

It was one of those church affairs that I got my comeuppance. The leader of the young moms' group handed out recipes. We were all supposed to follow the recipe and bring this specific all-in-one egg casserole dish for the church-wide Sunday brunch.

Understand that I've never claimed to be a great cook, but I know how to read. And I'd been cooking for my family for a few years without poisoning anyone. Plus, I followed step-wise procedures all the time in the world of science. I could do this.

I followed the recipe to the letter, and it wasn't easy with an infant and a toddler attached to me like rogue octopi, let me tell you, but I wanted to do my part.

Come Sunday morning, the 9x12 casserole dishes were laid out on the counter like a holy jack o'lantern smile. I took some of mine and a few unsuspecting others did as well, but most of the other dishes emptied out.

Come to find out, "follow the recipe" doesn't mean that. Folks substituted lots of things, added more flavors, threw in a little extra this and that. My plain-jane casserole didn't measure up.

That's when I knew.

There was a secret society, one of which I was not a member.

The Sisterhood of the Frying Pan met in out of the way places, they swapped recipes, they watched cooking shows, they even experimented with foods. Ye gads. I was a cooking failure before I even lifted a spatula.

At one cookie-making event I attended, one of the sisters noticed me struggling as I carved the Crisco out of the measuring cup for my gingerbread men. "Don't you know nothing, girl?" she said. "Always crack your egg in the measuring cup to coat it before you measure out the shortening."

Dumbfounded, I watched her execute this move and not a trace of Crisco remained in her measuring cup afterward.

But the sisterhood was wise to the leak. No more tips came my way because I didn't know the secret handshake. But I didn't mind, I'd learned the true secret. Find out who the best cooks were, then only eat their dishes at pot luck functions. I'm more than happy to eat food the sisterhood makes.

Recently, another "sister" let slip a tip that made me realize I'm an amateur on a professional playing field. After spending the night at her place, she pulled out what she called her egg dish and proceeded to crack her eggs on the bottom of the pan. For more than 30 years, I've been cracking eggs on the side of this or that, and there's always that telltale dribble of white everywhere. Cracking eggs in the bottom of the dish. Imagine that.

Since I'm not a member of the sisterhood, I can't be sanctioned for sharing this leaked  tip. From now on, I will always crack my eggs in the bottom of a bowl. No more egg white cast-offs for me!

If you'd like to share a kitchen tip, and aren't afraid of being drummed out of the sisterhood, please leave a comment. You can only dine so many years on perfectly Criscoed gingerbread men....

Maggie Toussaint
www.maggietoussaint.com

large print edition of Death Island Style out now

Murder in the Buff, a naturalist mystery with organic produce, is available now as an ebook. check it out at Amazon.com  BarnesandNoble   Muse It Up Publishing

The cabana boy

Admit it. We all have secret fantasies. In these moments, we stretch beyond our fears and limitations. We become the person we always knew we could be.

Successful. Brazen. Powerful. Rich. Seductive. Unblemished.

In private inner thoughts, our potential unfolds without boundaries.

Let’s consider Molly, a woman whose marriage is on the rocks. A woman who has always felt inferior to bustier types. A woman who needs reassurance that someone loves her unconditionally. A woman who needs an escape from reality.

Molly might have this dream:

Gentle waves lapped the pristine white sand. The sun warmed my bronzed skin as a muscular cabana boy walked toward me carrying a tray of umbrella-topped drinks. He was much too young for me, but he seemed riveted by my svelte body, his dark brown eyes boring into me with animal-like fascination.

I flushed under his rapt attention. He caressed my cheeks with long languid stokes, and my heart rejoiced. His breath came faster and faster, and it thrilled me that he was so attentive to my every desire.

There was something familiar about his scent. I inhaled deeply, freeing all the pent-up tension in my lungs, straining toward his heat. My eyelids drifted shut with pleasure at his repeated caress.

+++

We are all cheering for Molly, right? She’s inhabiting a world where everything is exactly as she wishes. A world where good things come to her by virtue of her existence.

Her rich fantasy of a cabana boy who worships her body with his eyes and hands is likely a near universal ideal among women of a certain age. Having a fantasy like this, particularly in light of a horrible mess in real life, provides an escape into a world where happiness reigns supreme.

However, Molly’s liaison with the cabana boy is in question. Read on:

Something hard, cold, and wet touched my face. I startled awake, surfacing from my cocoon of sleep. I shoved the object away, blinking against the blinding sunlight filling my bedroom. As my brain booted up from dream mode, I was filled with a sense of profound loss.

I wanted to be back on that tropical island with my handsome cabana boy.

“Five more minutes,” I murmured, scrunching my eyes closed and burrowing into my fluffy comforter. The heavy object rolled up to my nose with a thud.

My eyelids popped open at the unexpected impact. Goldie’s slobbery rock lay on my pillow. I groaned and then shoved the rock away, blinking against the bright sunshine. I squinted over at the clock. Seven.

By now you may have guessed Molly is a character in a book and that the snips above are excerpts from Murder in the Buff. The book is a campy, offbeat mystery in which her father is accused of murdering a nudist.

Molly’s dream of adoration by her cabana boy, in this case, her son’s golden lab, link back to her deep-seated feelings of betrayal. Those play into her fears of physical inadequacy, giving a double wallop to this flawed character.

In addition, she’s blindsided by the entire situation. Molly’s a woman in jeopardy of falling apart at the seams.

I wrote her that way because so many times in life, women get caught up in a double boiler of balancing career and family. We know we aren’t keeping all the juggling balls in the air. We can’t. It’s physically impossible. But we try it anyway.

Molly gets a happy ending, but she has to work for it. She has to process her feelings and learn to trust her reactions again. She has to decide what she wants and then she has to go out and get it.

In finding herself again, Molly becomes empowered. Gosh, we could all use a bit more of that!

Maggie Toussaint

www.maggietoussaint.com

Murder in the Buff e-book buy links:

Muse It Up Publishing

Amazon.com

BarnesandNoble

What would you do?

What would you do if you saw your husband kissing your sister? Really kissing her with his hands in all the wrong places?

In my new mystery, Murder in The Buff, Molly Darter handled that scenario by throwing everything that wasn’t nailed down at her husband. She kicked him out of their home. She quit speaking to her sister.

She knew what she saw. Her eyes didn’t lie. Worse, her husband looked guilty. He tried to talk to her about it but she couldn’t stand to be around him. Every time she saw him that kiss of betrayal flashed in her head again.

Molly and Hadley’s marriage is a rich vein of conflict in this mystery. It echoes the theme of broken relationships that come into play in the murder plot. Love and murder – it just doesn’t get any better than that in my mind.

I write about people who make mistakes because I’m curious about human behavior. Love can be very messy.

Some people honor their romantic commitments. Some people cheat. Some cheaters fall apart when they get caught. (What were they thinking?) In real life, these things never end well. Arguments get nastier. Lines get drawn in the sand. Hurt pride rears its ugly head. Outsiders take sides. No one can back down.

This type of emotional conflict is great fuel for a story, plus as an author, I get to create the ending I want. That’s the beauty of fiction.

But I’m curious as to how you might handle a situation like this in real life or in the pages of a book. Would you go all ballistic? Would you withdraw and cry out your hurt all alone? Would you get even? Would you listen to what your spouse had to say?

Would your answer have been different twenty years ago?

What would you do?

Maggie Toussaint

Puzzling her way through life

More good news for Murder in the Buff

Last week I posted a five star review for my new digital mystery release, Murder in the Buff. Since then, I've been fortunate to receive two more wonderful reviews for this ecclectic mystery.

Amazon reviewer Mona Risk of Florida had this to say: "... Thanks to the incredible talent of Maggie Toussaint and her amazing writing style, we share the stress faced by Molly, fall in love with the characters: the sexy and so attractive husband Hadley, the capricious and insecure sister, the down-to-earth and lovable Dad, and let's not forget the incredible nudist Mama Leon who is a man. Add to that delicious dialogues full of innuendoes, and steamy love scenes. M. Toussaint kept me reading, laughing, and biting my nails until I finished MURDER IN THE BUFF. I highly recommend it."


Here's a snip of what Sharon Hopkins of Missouri said in her Amazon review: "... MURDER IN THE BUFF is one laugh-out-loud, terrific read."

Read the full reviews at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Murder-in-the-Buff-ebook/dp/B007HOPSFE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1331647638&sr=8-5

If you agree with the reviews, be sure to like and tag the book while you're there!

And while I'm on the subject of promotion, I'm guesting over at Lindsay's Romantics today, dishing about romantic mysteries. Come on over and share a cup of tea. Here's the permalink:

http://lindsaysromantics.blogspot.com/2012/03/if-you-like-romantic-mystery.html

Maggie Toussaint

blending mystery and romance into compelling fiction

www.maggietoussaint.com

Guesting at Muse today

Today I'm guesting at the Muse It Up blog and dishing about my brand new release, an ecclectic mystery titled Murder in the Buff. To access the post, click on this link: http://museituppublishing.blogspot.com/2012/03/hooray-for-muse-and-murder-in-buff.html

Also, while we're gabbing about Murder in the Buff, the reviews are starting to come in, and I couldn't be more excited. My first FIVE STAR review on Amazon is from England's bestselling romance author, Lindsay Townsend. Read it below:

"An original and deftly written cozy-murder-romance

Molly Darter is in a lot of trouble. She has an estranged husband, a dysfunctional family, a tricky job as a reporter and now she has to enter a nudist colony.

Written from Molly's engaging, sometimes wry point of view, 'Murder in the Buff' is a family story, a crime story and a romance. The author, Maggie Toussaint, perfectly evokes her chosen setting, the small Georgia town of Marshview, where memories and grudges are long and where family is vital. I felt to be suffering with Molly as she tried to understand the actions of her husband Hadley, the former sherrif, her scheming, selfish sister and her drama-queen mother. Molly is sympathetic and no doormat and through the novel she learns more about herself and her relationship with Hadley, while there is also a ticking-clock element in the murder itself and another mystery - who will benefit from the dead woman's inheritance?

I found 'Murder in the Buff' a highly entertaining read, written in a flowing style. I shall be looking out for more of Maggie Toussaint's work." - Lindsay Townsend, Yorkshire, UK

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WOOT! Thanks for the fab review, Lindsay!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Maggie Toussaint
blending romance and mystery into compelling fiction
www.maggietoussaint.com

Ketchup is more than a vegetable

When my kids were little, we used to joke that ketchup was a vegetable. It's chock full of tomatoes, so it has to be healthy, right? Fast forward a few years and we move to the deep South. At one of our fav eat-out spots, they have a list of veggies in big letters right on the back of the cash registers. Get this, macaroni and cheese is a vegetable. So is rice. You gotta love the South!

Anyway, I have some catching up to do, hence the ketchup blog.

For anyone that missed the announcement, SEEING RED, my sweet romance about the bed and breakfast that's a huge money pit, is FREE this week/month at Smashwords as they promote reading e-books. Free, that's right. But you need a coupon code, so here it is:

MD44L and here's the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/41338 

In this book, Emma Heartly is desperately trying to get out of her dead end job, but her boss and sisters won't let her. Contractor Quentin Stone likes old Victorians and he's keen about the redhead too, so he volunteers to help her when her loan falls through. Expect construction mishaps and family drama in this full length book.

As the wheels of publishing turn at unequal rates, my "February" release of my hardcover title from Five Star / Cengage, DEATH, ISLAND STYLE, actually becomes live at Amazon and B&N on March 7. That's this Wednesday. You need to read this fun-in-the-sun book. It's gotten fab reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Romantic Times and more. MaryBeth reinvents herself as a craft store owner after the deaths of her husband and her mother, but her past isn't done with her. It catches up with her in the form of a dead guy in the surf, a guy the cops link to her. Yikes! She has to work fast to prove her innocence.

Besides 3 of the Big 4 reviewers taking a shine to this mystery, read this from a trending author:

"On the surface, Maggie Toussaint's "Death, Island Style," is a well-written, intricate, and satisfying cozy mystery with a charming setting and well-developed characters. Below the surface, it's an emotional but no less satisfying look at a woman's journey from heartbroken widow and grieving daughter to self-confident business woman and kick-ass heroine. It delivers on both counts, and will hopefully not be the last we see of MaryBeth Cashour and the people of Sandy Shores Island." Jennie Bentley, New York Times Bestselling Author

Thank you, Jennie Bentley. You are truly a Rock Star in my world.

And the publishing wheels revolve again, this time to my zany cozy mystery, MURDER IN THE BUFF, an ebook-only mystery from Muse It Up which releases this Friday, March 9. Holy Murgatroid, Batman. Two books releasing in one week! What was I thinking?

Murder is about wronged Molly Darter, a reporter who caught her husband doing a tonsil check of her sister. Her boss makes her go to the nudist colony for a story and the nudists insist that one of their own was murdered. Molly doesn't want to help them, but certain photos push her into sniffing around. There's a slobbery dog, a precocious boy-child, a determined husband, a boss with secrets, and a whole lot more. Plus this book very affordable. Here's a link you might find useful on Friday (to buy) or today just to nose around. Muse It Up Publishing

I've got two signings coming up this month. One on Sunday, March 18 and another on Saturday, March 31. Local folks will get postcards with more info. If you aren't on my mailing list - you need to be! Email me for more info maggie@maggietoussaint.com

In the upcoming weeks, I have guest posts to promo the books, and I'll post a link at mudpies in case folks want to click over. There are excerpts for all my books at my site www.maggietoussaint.com.

Whew! That was a lot of Ketchup. I've fulfilled my vegetable requirements for the week.

Maggie Toussaint

all formatting errors are mine and mine alone. blogger hates me.