Let's Talk with Maggie Toussaint
Let’s Talk with Maggie Toussaint
December 14, 2017
When something old is new
Finally, finally, finally I have trade paperbacks and a digital release of the entire series for the Lindsey & Ike mystery fans. The print and digital books contain all three novellas.
This series sprang from my very first mystery ever written. Like many first attempts, it wasn’t ready for prime time, though I polished it and polished it. At one point I decided it was the Third Person point of view that I didn’t like, so I went through the whole story, all 75,000 words changing to a First Person point of view. A few publishers showed interest and I rewrote it a few more times. Meanwhile, I wrote other books and one of them got picked up. The first book got left behind in a cloud of dust.
Then in late 2015, a writing friend approached me about writing a romantic mystery novella for an anthology she planned to publish. I didn’t have time to build a new world and characters but this story about Lindsey & Ike came to mind. Surely it would be easy to trim it down to size by taking out the sub plot and eliminating two or three murder suspects. I committed to the project, and then I realized how hard it was to murder my darlings. Somehow, by the grace of God, I pared it down to about 22,000 words.
By then I fell in love with those characters again, so I wrote two additional novellas for other anthologies. I waited until this year to issue them individually and in my own collection. I love the cartoon covers for the individual books and for the boxed set.
With ocean colors on all the individual covers above, it’s clear that this series is set near the seashore. I hope you’ll take a chance on Lindsey & Ike if you haven’t already. It’s like creating your own beach getaway in December.
LINDSEY & IKE MYSTERIES: THE COMPLETE SERIES
Also, just in time for the holidays, Dadgummit, my latest Dreamwalker Mystery is now available at a discounted price. CHECK IT OUT
For fun, comment with one thing on today’s to-do list!
And, while you’re visiting Booklover’s Bench, be sure to enter our monthly giveaway, going on now through Dec. 18. You could win a $25 gift card. Click for CONTEST PAGE.
Posted in Let's Talk, with Maggie Toussaint • Tags: BLB Discussion, Let's Talk, Lindsey & Ike Mysteries, Maggie Toussaint, series, When something old is new | 5 Comments
What day is it? Thursday. Right. It’s “Wash the dog towels day.” Isn’t my life exciting! And good luck with the new release. I’m sure your readers will love it.
Hey Terry. Washing dog towels would be high on my list because those things get smelly quickly! Today I made oatmeal cookies for my afternoon booksigning in Darien, GA.
How nice that you were able to revise an earlier story and write more in the series. On today’s list for me is a routine eye exam and a visit to my hairdresser.
Wrap the last of the presents! Which I did. Now a toddy. Checking that off the list!
I went through the same thing with my Epitaph series. Couldn’t see to get the first one right, but too stubborn to let it go. There were others that I happily discarded when I knew they wouldn’t work, but sometimes a story sticks with you. Congratulations on getting Lindsay and Ike out there!