Malice and the Stew Pot

Whenever I make stew, I'm guilty of not following a recipe. I brown the meat, then submerge it in broth with some Vidalia onions and whatever veggies I have on hand. Then I simmer it until done and serve the thickened comfort food over wheat toast, brown rice, or grits.

I thought of stew as I was casting about for my blog title this week. I have different and diverse topics to include, so I hope you find these tidbits something yummy to digest!

The first item in the stewpot, so to speak, are my pictures of Malice. I didn't take a surfeit of photos this year. In fact, only 4 survived the cutting room floor, and one of those wasn't as crisp as I liked.

I'm shown here during a conference break with three of my dearest writing pals. I'm all the way left with my fabric "Guppy" boa still wrapped around my neck. Sitting beside me is author Nancy J Cohen who is a fellow member of Booklover's Bench. To her right is author Barbara Graham. Barbara is a great roommate and we enjoy going to conferences together, even though she lives in Wyoming and I'm in Georgia. And to the far right is my best-ever critique partner, Polly Iyer. She always looks like a million dollars.

I attended Nancy's panel on Saturday morning. Moderator Debra Goldstein did a great job of keeping everyone on the topic of social issues. Nancy spoke about using the Prepper Movement in her book. Preppers are the group of people that think the end is near so they encourage stockpiling necessities.

Barb's panel was interesting too. It was about a business related to the sleuth, and in her series, the business is a quilt shop. Barb has mystery quilts in each of her books - all part of her devious plan to get us to read every page of every book!

Barb and I slipped away from the conference on Thursday afternoon. We're shown here out and about on the Mall - see the faint Washington Monument between us? We walked the length of the Mall, after touring an art museum, and got swept up in a deportation rally. Glad the protest was peaceful. And hey, I took a selfie!

I should have snapped more pics at the conference, but in truth, I forgot! I didn't take my camera along this year, and I wasn't in the mindset of taking pics with my phone, which is how these few shots were taken. I missed everything on Friday due to being under the weather, but I rallied for the Saturday and Sunday sessions.

I also attended the Banquet (very fun) and the Poison Lady's talk. I found out a good bit about native and not so native plants and toxicity. Definite material for a future book!

The panel I was on (no pic here, but I've shared one on my FB page from Nancy's camera.) was all about paranormal sleuths. Everyone else on the panel had a ghost for a sleuth. My sleuth saw ghosts, which was different, but no one seemed to hold that against me. Several people from the packed room said the panel discussion was very entertaining, and I am happy to have been a small part of that. And I thank author Carolyn Hart for being a big name and drawing such a crowd to our session!

In other news, reviews are coming in for GONE AND DONE IT. One of the latest is from Romantic Times, which stated the mystery was multi-layered and wildly exciting. Yes! I love reviews like that. If you've read GONE AND DONE IT, I'd be honored to have you post a review online.

Available at Amazon in print and ebook and in print at Barnes and Noble

Here's a snip of a recent review from MyShelf reviewer Linda Morelli:  "Gone and Done It is the best mystery I've read in a long time. The paranormal aspects were realistic and Maggie Toussaint’s plot was engrossing, with plenty of twists and surprises to keep me hooked. I definitely want to know who – or what – the secret watcher is and can't wait to read the next release to find out." Read the full review: http://www.myshelf.com/mystery/14/goneanddoneit.htm

And its official. My next book, romantic suspense ROUGH WATERS, will release August 29 from The Wild Rose Press. Yay! I have a release date. Now I need to find some advance readers. Anyone listening? I have electronic arcs to send out as the time approaches.

Also, the Booklover's Bench May contest continues until May 18. Click on over to enter the contest, where a $25 gift card, ebooks, and a chance to have a character in a book named after you are up for grabs. http://www.bookloversbench.com/contest/ 

Please join me on Wednesday, May 14 at http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/ for a look at how I came to write a ghost story.


Thanks for joining me in sampling my Stew Pot of tasty news.

Maggie Toussaint
Have you LIKED me on Facebook? http://www.facebook.com/MaggieToussaintAuthor

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 

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!

Eight Awesome Ebook Prizes

CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!


Amy McKechney Lang won Shear Murder from Nancy Cohen ;
Janice Houghland won Death of a Schoolgirl from Joanna Campbell Slan;
Charlene Fraley won Photo Finish from Terry Ambrose;
Cheryl Green won The Rebellious Heiress from Karla Darcy;
Anita Shaw won Trail of Thread from Linda Hubalek;
Sandyg265 won What's In a Name from Terry Odell;
Lynn Reynolds won Hidden Choices from Carol White; 
and Marissa Culp won Death, Island Style from Maggie Toussaint.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you everyone who entered!

In honor of the release of the release of my new romantic suspense, Hot Water, I'm hosting a giveaway of one of my cozy mysteries, Death, Island Style.

And seven writers are chiming in with additional prizes. That's right, my Booklovers Bench pals, all amazing, award-winning authors, are tossing a book out for you to catch.

Here are the titles up for grabs. Don't they look great?

Enter the contest via the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for visiting me at Mudpies, and be sure to check out Hot Water, now available in all digital formats and in print.

Buy Hot Water as an ebook or print at Amazon

Buy Hot Water at Barnes and Noble


Maggie Toussaint
www.maggietoussaint.com

http://BookloversBench.com

Maggie does Malice

Maggie, left, with Barbara Graham

This was my second year of attending Malice Domestic as a published author. For those who aren't familiar with this event, it's a mystery fan conference, which is a great treat for mystery writers.

Canadians RJ Harlick and Vicki Delany

Like 2011, the conference was held at the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, Maryland. For intrepid travelers, it was a stop off the DC Metro. For the rest of us, it was a shuttle ride from the airport or a threading-the-Beltway adventure by automobile.

My roommate Barbara Graham shares the same publisher, Five Star Cengage with me, and we're both members of Sisters in Crime and members of our respective Mystery Writers of America chapters. You might think a gal from Cody, Wyoming would have little in common with a gal from Darien, Georgia, but we both speak "writer" so all was good.

From our breakfast with the Canadians and a very nice fan named Lexa, to the popular Malice Go Round, Friday morning passed in a blur. The ladies from breakfast became familiar faces that we would meet and dine with throughout the conference.

Barbara Graham, center

Malice Go Round is a speed-dating format where authors get two minutes to pitch their book to tables of fans. There were 20 tables and 40 authors, so it was an intense hour and some change. I partnered with Barbara, and by the midway point I could have pitched her Murder by Music and she could have hit all the high points of my Death, Island Style.

We went right from Malice Go Round to the Guppy lunch over at Booeymongers. How fun to connect with this group of friends from the Guppy chapter of SINC.

Erika Chase, Janet Bolin, Maggie, and Barbara

There was all kind of stuff going on at the conference in the afternoon, but I was toast. Being on grandma duty for the two weeks prior to the conference had taken a toll on my energy reserves. I emerged for dinner, but I wasn't good for much else that day.

Saturday was an easy day for me because my panel wasn't until the next day. We went to the new authors breakfast and enjoyed hearing about their books. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon chatting with authors, shopping in the bookstore, and enjoying the author panels. Barbara earned a gold star for doing everything, including donating an item for the charity raffle and staying all the way through the Agatha Tea on Sunday.

Guppies - Maggie and Liz Zelvin

The conference offered box lunches on Saturday. Barbara and I grabbed ours and joined the throng listening to the Poison Lady. She offered insider knowledge on ways to kill people - in books. The astonishing thing is that she was able to purchase an item at the dollar store for under $2 that would have been enough liquid to wipe out more than a dozen people. Because I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about this, I'm not mentioning the item. Suffice it to say that this was an eye-opening session.

We enjoyed a nice walk outside prior to the banquet. Luckily, we wore our rain jackets because it started raining during our walk.

Lisa Wysocky, Maggie, Nancy Cohen

The banquet was lovely. We enjoyed the company of Canada's RJ Harlick, who sponsored our table. She handed out favors, and I was lucky enough to receive a dreamcatcher, which I've added to the pull of my office ceiling fan. Award winners on this night included Chris Grabenstein, Best YA; Dana Cameron, Best Short Story; Leslie Budewitz, Best nonfiction; Rhys Bowen, Best Historical Mystery; Sara Henry, Best first novel; and Margaret Maron, Best Novel.

Sunday morning I realized I'd forgotten to sign up for the SINC breakfast, so it was breakfast on my own, panels, and networking. Right before my 11:10 a.m. panel, I realized I needed a snack. Lisa Wysocky had the same idea. We were eating and chatting and I lost track of the time, dashing off to my panel at the last minute.

"Down the Shore" panel at Malice 2012 - I'm second from left!

I was so rattled. The entire panel was assembled and there I was, dead last! Fortunately our moderator for "Down the Shore," Trish Carrico, had sent her questions ahead of time, so I had written out my answers in very large print, which I placed on the table before me.

Maggie, Michelle L. Johnson, Trish Carrico

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to sound coherent when you're rattled? I had 100 proof adrenaline surging through my veins and no telling what was coming out my mouth. Thank goodness for my speaking notes or I would have gotten completely off track.

I was especially nervous about the special question Trish had planned for each of us. Through time I've realized I don't do "unplugged" very well, and I approached this question with all the enthusiasm one has for a pop quiz.

But my fears were soon alleviated. Trish asked me about my stream of consciousness style of writing for MaryBeth, my protagonist in Death, Island Style. She said how engaging that style of writing was to her. I was elated that I knew the answer. Even better, people in the crowd nodded their heads in understanding. Thank you, Trish, for being so kind.

After the booksigning time, we had lunch at la Madelaine, and it was time for me to go. I said goodbye to my roommate and good friend, and headed to my daughter's house to see that precious grandbaby again before the long trek back to Georgia.

You know what? I'm already looking forward to next year.

Maggie Toussaint
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