1. In Dreamed It, paranormal sleuth and crime consultant Baxley Powell juggles the pressure of two high-profile cases and expanding her limits. Traveling through the afterlife is hard enough, now she has to use her abilities to find a frightened woman. Consider putting yourself in Baxley’s shoes. If you had a certain skill for solving crimes would you become a police crime consultant? Why or why not?
2. A Native American she met on vacation, Deputy Sam Mayes, makes no secret that he wants Baxley in his life. He uses their cultural differences to his advantage, wooing her Cherokee-style. He would consider holding her to the promises she makes by accepting his gifts but there’s no need to be heavy handed. Baxley is also in love with him. Do you think a strong relationship has a place in a mystery?
3. In my early years, my dreams were so vivid upon awakening. Then came marriage and juggling kids, career, marriage, and writing. Guess what? Those vivid sleeping dreams went bye-bye. But there was a time in between where I kept a pad and pen by my bed just in case I remembered any dreams upon waking. Do you remember your nighttime dreams now? Did you ever remember them?
4. Baxley and Mayes awaken someplace different than when they went to sleep. They are wearing someone else’s clothes. Worst of all, they have no memory of where they were or what they did in the dark of the night. There’s a lot of freaking out and unhelpful figuring out. They sneak home and burn the clothes so that there’s nothing physical to link them to whatever happened. They hope. What would you do if this happened to you?
5. Baxley has a true affinity for animals. She has a veritable menagerie at her place with these dogs: Muffin, Elvis, and Maddy; and these cats, Sulay and Ziggy. Muffin is a rescued terrier, while Elvis is a therapy chihuahua. Maddy is Baxley’s daughter’s Labrador retriever and is not pictured here. Little Ziggy, a tabby, is a relatively new addition to the crew. Sulay, the Maine coon cat, is the boss of the pack. Baxley has one more pet: Oliver the ghost dog. Oliver is a Great Dane she rescued from being chained to a haunted house, and he’s incredibly loyal to her. Oliver loves pets and ear rubs, and he’s a darn good tracker too. Do you believe authors add pets to story to increase the number of characters or are you of the belief that pets are people too?
6. The woo-woo factor is a big part of this paranormal series. I have no crystal ball or eyewitness knowledge about the afterlife, but in this series I’ve shown it as something akin to a different reality. It has the attributes we’ve heard about through time, a way to go into the light for the contented souls, and all kinds of in-between places for those souls whose dark emotions, unfinished business, or otherwise detoured trap them in a hell of their own choosing. Trips to the Other Side take a toll in terms of energy and time, and Baxley is fortunate to have a team that helps her recover from her dreamwalks. Is there someone in your family, community, or a historical figure that you might choose to visit in the afterlife if you had the power?
7. My sleuth Baxley Powell is a Dreamwalker. She taps into her extrasensory abilities to learn more about a person, place, or thing in this world or the next. In reality, psychics often have one strong extrasensory skill. In the Dreamwalker Series, I take liberties so that Baxley explores a new paranormal aspect in each book. Dreamed It is book six in this series. Her skill set includes lie detection, touch readings, traveling to the spirit realm, sharing energy, being there for her ghost dog, spontaneous visions, and something new in book six. While fumbling to reach the kidnapped teen, Baxley’s consciousness gets bumped out of her mind and into another’s. If you could have any of Baxley’s paranormal abilities, which would you select and why?
8. Throughout this series Baxley’s Other World mentor has been a plus and a minus. She helps Baxley when she’s asked, but there’s always a price with Rose. She doesn’t do freebies. Consequently, Baxley now owes Rose 3 hours of her life. Dreamed It opens with a chilling scene that is believed to have been engineered by Rose, but all of Baxley’s attempts to contact her go nowhere. Bottom line: Rose is missing. Her absence unnerves Baxley. Though Rose was a pain to work with, Baxley enjoyed having backup. The serial killer and the missing teen cases in Dreamed It could use Rose’s help, but she’s not there. In our lives, friends come and go through marriage, moving, career changes, lifestyle changes, and death. Is there a particular friend you’ve lost track of that you’d dearly love to connect with again?
9. This amateur sleuth series mostly fits in the cozy genre, but there are usually scary moments when Baxley faces down the villain. With the story seed of Dreamed It being ripped from the headlines and the villain being a serial killer, this story leans slightly toward thriller. But it’s still a small town murder solved by deputies and an amateur sleuth. How do you feel about paranormal cozies? Do you like all your cozies to be traditional in style?
10. Dreamed It is the sixth book in a seven book series. Early in the series we learn that Baxley’s soldier husband was declared missing and then dead by the service several years ago. She never believed the finding because she searched for him among the dead and he wasn’t there. Over the first few books we learn more about how she operates in this limbo of not knowing. In book five, readers find out what happened to her husband, and Baxley and Mayes guide his spirit into the light. All of the steps of grieving for her husband get jumbled up but she makes it through the process, feeling much better. And now there’s a new man in her life, one that shares her talents and helps on her Dreamwalks. She wants to take that next step in their relationship but she’s afraid. All of this is given to say that Baxley’s series arc is one of self-discovery and personal growth. Do you prefer this kind of series where the character changes, or do you prefer the mysteries where the main character stays the same and the crimes and/or locations change?

Something amazing happened! CONFOUND IT won a Silver Falchion Award at Killer Nashville 2019. The field was tight, and I honestly didn’t expect to win among such stiff competition. I nearly didn’t hear my name called by category announcer Charley Pearson.

I floated up to the podium to get the award. Gosh, it was so super. Here it is nearly three weeks later, and I still get misty-eyed thinking about that beautiful moment.

So grateful for all the readers, fans, judges, and KN staffers who made this wonderful conference possible. It was a life moment for me and one I will always cherish!

This link will update the tour page daily with the post links and snippets from the reviews. https://www.escapewithdollycas.com/great-escapes-virtual-book-tours/upcoming-great-escapes-book-tours/dreamed-it-dreamwalker-mystery-by-maggie-toussaint/

These are the tour stops and their respective dates:

August 14 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – CHARACTER GUEST POST

August 14 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

August 15 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

August 15 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST

August 16 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

August 17 – Babs Book Bistro – GUEST POST

August 17 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

August 18 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST

August 18 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT

August 19 – eBook Addicts – SPOTLIGHT

August 19 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

August 20 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW

August 20 – A Blue Million Books – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

August 21 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 21 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 22 – I Read What You Write – SPOTLIGHT

August 22 – Teresa Watson’s Blog – REVIEW

Thank you, Lori Caswell, for all your hard work in setting this up. You are a true friend to mystery readers and authors.

Happy to announce I have a new agent, Jill Marsal of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Jill is representing my new series, the Seafood Caper Mysteries. Henery Press contracted to publish the first three books of the series. Seas the Day, will release in April 2020. This series is based on the characters from my Trouble with Horses short story, which was part of a short story anthology to benefit animal rescue.

Anyway, caterer River Holloway along with her boyfriend Pete Merrick solve crimes on Shell Island, GA. I hope you’ll come along on this new writing journey with us!

The sixth book in my Dreamwalker Mystery Series, DREAMED IT, will be out August 13, 2019. I hope you’ll check out the book’s page on this site, complete with blurb, excerpt, and a pre-release review! CLICK HERE

All three of my Mossy Bog Romantic suspense titles have been updated! Book 1 in the series, MUDDY WATERS, released on February 5, 2019. Now, on March 5, 2019, the other 2 books, HOT WATER and ROUGH WATERS, are coming out.

My friend Polly Iyer, who is both author and illustrator, helped with image selection and formatting of the covers. They look great, right? I LOVE these covers.

Each one of the Mossy Bog books features a different couple and a different mystery.

Muddy Waters is about Roxie and Sloan, a real estate broker and a security expert, as they hunt for his lost inheritance.

Hot Waters features Laurie Ann and Wyatt, a cop and an arson investigator, as they investigate an arsonist-turned killer.

Rough Waters tells the story of Jeanie and Rock, a florist and a former Navy SEAL, as they search for the stolen shipwreck coins.

I hope you’ll visit the book pages here on my website or click over to the vendors to pre-order your digital copy today. At this time, no print books are being issued for this series.

1. What if a young mother found a lucrative way to provide a future for her son, but then couldn’t get out? Soon she becomes a homicide statistic. We automatically look at what she did-making drugs-and label her a bad person. Now that you know character Mandy Patterson’s backstory, do you feel empathy for her? Do you think others care if a meth cook dies?

2. A man she met on vacation, Deputy Sam Mayes, visits my sleuth Baxley Powell and her family. Like her, the man has extrasensory abilities, and she wants to learn from his experiences. He, on the other hand, is abiding by her lets-be-friends decree, but he’s made it clear he’s interested in a romantic relationship. As a woman, would you pursue the friendship?

3. For the longest time, Baxley has lived in relationship limbo. Her elite soldier of a husband went missing on a military mission. After a year went by, the Army declared him dead. As someone who can traverse the Veil of Life, Baxley knows he isn’t dead, only she can’t find him in the land of the living either. She worries he’s hurt. That’s the only way she knows that he wouldn’t come home to her and their young daughter. People say she should start dating again, but Baxley is married. Her honor and integrity demand that she honor her vows. What would you do in that situation?

4. In-laws and Outlaws is a phrase I’ve often heard applied to some extended families. In Confound It, discord rules amongst the victim’s family members. There’s love, but there’s also envy, greed, jealousy, and lust. Does your family always get along? What’s the usual bone of contention? Examples: curfew, bedtime, heirloom, elder care, employment, authority, money, respect…

5. We expect those who care for us to comfort us when troubles occur. But Confound It’s Mandy Patterson is trapped in a desperate situation, and she’s afraid of her boyfriend. What advice would you give someone like Mandy?

6. In Confound It, Mandy’s sister makes no bones that she wants what her sister has, only June is mostly talk and no action. Plus, she believes the world owes her. She gets mad when Mandy won’t continue to give her money. Do you believe in Tough Love? Why or why not?

7. My sleuth Baxley Powell is a Dreamwalker. She taps into her extrasensory abilities to learn more about a person, place, or thing in this world or the next. In reality, psychics often have one strong extrasensory skill. In the Dreamwalker Series, I take liberties so that Baxley explores a new paranormal aspect in each book. Confound It is book five in this series. Usually in other books, she must hold an item of the victim to make contact with his or her spirit. In this book, Baxley has several spontaneous visions causing her no end of confusion. What characteristic of Baxley’s do you most admire and why? (Her traits include loyalty, adaptability, courage, patience, composure, self-sufficiency, perceptiveness, honesty, fairness, or her curiosity).

8. Deputy Sam Mayes is a Cherokee. He carefully treads his way in both his native world and the white man’s world. Baxley doesn’t understand the issues he faces, doesn’t know how hard he is to appear to be solidly in both worlds, or that it costs his tribes when he is less than fully theirs. Assimilation used to be the American Way. Our society is a melting pot of immigrant groups. Why does assimilation hurt Native American tribes? Don’t people have to live and make a living in the twenty-first century?

9. Baxley’s household has a menagerie of animals: a Shih-Pooh named Muffin, a chihuahua named Elvis, black lab named Maddy, a Maine Coon cat named Sulay, and a tabby named Ziggy. Her ghost dog, Oliver the Great Dane, puts in appearances now and then. Occasionally, one of her pet-sitting clients leaves their animals with her, so she has even more animals at home. With such a variety of dogs and cats, which animal is the boss and why?

10. In a series mystery like this one, as the series goes along, the amateur sleuth gains more of a familiarity with the criminal world, though she still says firmly grounded in her community. Although Baxley has gained experience as a dreamwalker, one of her abilities, being able to perceive lies, happens automatically. This can be a bonus for her police work, but this (and her other skills) makes people leery of her. If you had a special skill that made people nervous, would you use it or hide it?

Join me at Writers Who Kill blog on June 6, 2018, for an entertaining blog interview on how did you put this book together. You’ll find behind the scenes dirt you always wanted to know about the Dreamwalker Series and Baxley Powell and her friends. Some of the questions made me stop and think before I could answer them. There are times, not saying all the time, but certain times when ideas come together in such a way as to look premeditated. I wouldn’t say that I purposefully insert themes or layer conflict in this book or any book, but somehow it happens and it works. Elaine pushed me to articulate the process and the ideas behind the story. Here’s the link: https://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/

Join me at Dru’s Book Musing today, June 3, 2018, as she reveals her take on Confound It, book 5 in my Dreamwalker Mystery Series. There’s also an in-depth interview of my protagonist, female sleuth Baxley Powell, and she’s really telling all! www.drusbookmusing.com There’s a giveaway!

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