By: Valona Jones
Series: Magic Candle Shop Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: October 17, 2023
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Tabby Winslow will help her twin sister Sage with anything and everything—and that includes putting out the flames of suspicion when Sage’s boss is found murdered in this magical mystery, perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Sofie Kelly.
December in Savannah, Georgia, is a sight to behold. With all the festivities—including the traditional riverfront luminary display during the boat parade—twin sisters Tabby and Sage Winslow are busier than ever setting up for the big celebration. But that isn’t the only thing on the sisters’ minds. Both Sage and her fellow employee Mary Nicole are vying for the sought-after assistant manager job at the plant nursery. But when Loren Lee, their boss, is found dead, and Sage becomes the police’s favorite suspect, both Winslow girls know that they’ll need more than a flicker of magic and their sisterhood to solve the murder and clear Sage’s name.
Soon, Tabby realizes that this is just one of the many problems they have. If being a suspect for murder wasn’t enough, there are more magical problems that they have to fix: Sage’s boyfriend is having a paranormal experience of his own he can’t control, there’s an energy vampire searching for his supposedly lost cousin, her cat suddenly dislikes her, and oh—every time Tabby hiccups, she turns completely invisible. The suspect list grows with each day and it seems everyone has a reason or a connection to Loren Lee.
Tabby and Sage are burning the candle at both ends—but will it be enough to keep their friends safe and find this killer? Or will they be burned by their efforts?
Hey there! I’m glad to be a guest on your blog, so thanks for inviting me over.
You’re welcome. I’m excited to talk about your Magic Candle Shop Mystery series. You are a new to me author. Could you please tell me about yourself?
Sure. While my latest book, IN THE WICK OF TIME, is only my second book, I am actually a pen name for author Maggie Toussaint. I’m a native of Georgia and I grew up in the fishing village of Valona (hence the choice of pen name!). My hobbies include photography, music, sewing, and spending time with family.
Please tell me about your Magic Candle Shop Mystery series and what readers can expect from your latest release, In the Wick of Time.
This is a series about twin sisters who have a few psychic abilities. Tabby Winslow, the main character creates the candles and soaps for the shop, and they are imbued with her positive energy. Both twins can read auras and well as give and take energy. This series came into being from me wanting to further create around the talent of giving and receiving energy. My latest book features the poisoning of Sage Winslow’s boss at the plant nursery where she moonlights. As an herbalist, Sage is a person of interest in the boss’s murder.
Can you tell me more about the magical element?
The magic is in the characters and in the shop. Savannah has several mass graves from three yellow fever epidemics. The city has also overgrown several cemeteries through time. To create a “battery” of energy under the Candle Shop, I located one of the mass graves under the shop’s Bristol Street location, not far from the intersection of Bull and Broughton. The twins are energetics, and Tabby also has the ability to go invisible for short periods. The twins can communicate telepathically through their “twin-link and often do.” The shop cats, Harley and Luna, aren’t magical, per se, more comfort animals with an understanding of what’s going on.
Tell me about some of the characters readers will meet In the Wick of Time, and the Magic Candle Shop Mystery series.
The Book and Candle Shop has been in the Winslow family for generations, and 30-year-old fraternal twin sisters Tabby and Sage Winslow are the latest in their family to own/run the shop. They are still figuring out life and the joys of balancing a relationship as they also take on the role of amateur sleuths. Auntie O is their aunt and she recently returned from living in Florida with a partner, Frankie, in tow. Brindle Platt, Sage’s boyfriend, is the family’s attorney. In this book, he gets spelled by one of Sage’s rivals, and things get a bit out of whack when he ends up in a psych ward. Tabby’s boyfriend is Dr. Octavian Henry Quigsly, IV. Quig, as he’s known, is the Medical Examiner and his goal in life is to marry Tabby. Finally, his dream is on track and he’s hired an assistant to ease his load at the morgue. Gerard Smith, the shop clerk, is essential to the business as he has a knack for sizing up the best product for each customer. It’s rare for anyone to walk out of The Book and Candle Shop empty-handed.
They sound like a good cast of characters. Can you give me a preview of one of your favorite scenes from In the Wick of Time, and why is it a favorite?
This is a scene from early in the book When Auntie O’s partner Frankie is helping with the shop and it shows Tabby in her everyday mode. I love it because it shows that keeping the family business afloat is very important to my sleuth.
Then I made candles and soaps in the adjacent stillroom with our cats supervising from the sunny windowsill. The origin of stillrooms dates to medieval times when each establishment or grand castle had a distillery room in the back. That room functioned as part science lab, part medicinal, part workroom, and part kitchen.
In our stillroom the restful robin’s egg blue wall color reflected my good intentions, necessary for the creation of any aromatherapy blend. I hummed along with wicks and wax combinations until a few hours later when I noticed Frankie watching me from the doorway.
“Smells divine back here,” he said, sniffing copiously. “Something between a day at the beach and a coconut smoothie. Did you create a new scent?”
I beamed at Frankie’s compliment. “Thanks. This is a trial run of a new blend.
Glad you like the aroma. It’s a little south of our ‘Beach’ candles. All our bestsellers are the ones Auntie O and Mom perfected, but every now and again I try something new. Nothing ever got the same traction as Auntie O’s blended scents.”
“It’s only natural you want to put your stamp on the shop, Tabby. Trust me, this blend will have wings.”
“I hope so. Sage and I keep doing the math, and our income level doesn’t quite meet the bar Mom and Auntie O set. We’re not doing bad per se, but we are so close to the profit-loss line that a bad month might sink us. I asked Auntie O several times what they did differently, but she keeps saying we’ll figure it out. It’s frustrating not to have the answer.”
When it comes to writing your stories do you begin writing already knowing who the killer is and why they killed or is it a surprise for you?
I used to know my villains when I was a full-time book plotter. However, I found that to be stifling. I now write my books without knowing who the killer is. Everyone is guilty until the true guilty party emerges in the final scenes. Thus, I have the joy of discovery as I write and edit.
Thank you so much for your time, Valona.
Thank you for having me. It was my pleasure to showcase my new paranormal cozy, IN THE WICK OF TIME, and to make new friends!
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Valona Jones, also known as Maggie Toussaint, writes paranormal cozy mysteries set in coastal Georgia. A former scientist, she’s drawn to the study of personal energy. She sharpened her people-watching skills as a lifelong introvert and had a bank vault of personal observations when she began to write fiction. Her newest release is In The Wick of Time, book 2 in the A Magic Candle Shop Mystery, preceded by Snuffed Out, which released Jan. 2023. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime with more than twenty-five published works of fiction. She lives in coastal Georgia, where she’s seen time and tide wait for no one.
Places to find Valona Jones:
You can follow the In the Wick of Time Blog Tour here.
The cover looks great. This sounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words, Marcy, and thanks to my blog host, Read Your Writes, for participating in the Great Escapes Book Tour. I love the background color of this site--it's one of my favorite colors!
ReplyDeletethis sounds really good!
ReplyDelete