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.