Let's Talk with Maggie Toussaint

As the months slide deeper into fall, the weather chills and the skies are light fewer hours of the day. While doing research for a talk I recently gave, I learned that children of all ages list fear of the dark as a primary fear. No wonder we all use lights and candles to keep the dark away!

Many people are drawn to the scent of a candle. Often the attraction happens because certain aromas trigger memories or make us feel good. Others may select a candle based on a certain color to match their décor or mood. Luckily, candles come in every hue of a rainbow. However, unless you are very into candles, it is unlikely that you think about the waxy part.

Not all candles are made of wax (paraffin). Many candles are made of paraffin, soy, tallow, or beeswax . Often, one or more of these base ingredients are combined.

You may have noticed the word “tallow” is in the title of my latest release, TALLOWED GROUND, which I wrote as Valona Jones. Tallow is a rendered animal fat product that has historically been used as an ingredient in candles, though it is not used as much now for that purpose.

Tallow is used in the production of shortening, and many fast-food places made their mark in the 1960s and 70s by frying French fries in tallow. It is used in Native American pemmican and in aviation fuel. It also has had uses in heavy machinery lubrication, textile production, soap, and beauty products.

With such varied uses, one might think that finding tallow on murder victims would have law enforcement in TALLOWED GROUND baffled. Instead, they turned their sights on the candlemaker and soap-maker they knew in Savannah—Tabby Winslow, a co-owner and operator of The Book and Candle Shop.

Not that her career makes her guilty, but still, she’s a bird in hand. They approach her as an expert in the field.

At first, they grill her for information about tallow, particularly where to buy it. She explains it is sold in meat markets and farmers’ markets in Savannah, along with other stores. Then they ask her if she uses tallow in her candles or soaps.

Tabby tells them she uses soy, paraffin, or beeswax for candles, depending on the season. She admits there is tallow in the premixed soap base she buys. When they ask to see it, she shows them a sample, and they leave with it.

She feels less like a subject expert and more like a suspect. It is very likely they will return with a court ordered search warrant for her shop. Since she isn’t the shop’s first candlemaker, she checks every nook and cranny of her stillroom. No telling what her aunt used when she made candles.

In the bottom of the storage closet, she finds a dusty half-gallon tub of tallow. The sight of the printed word “Tallow” gives her chills. She didn’t kill anyone and rub tallow in their hair, the killer’s signature. But the police might jump to that very conclusion if they found this tallow. She must dispose of it.

The cops are watching her shop, so it isn’t as simple as tossing the container in the dumpster out back. She must make that tallow disappear, to save herself from that small and cold police interview room.

She devises a clever way to get rid of the tallow that can’t be traced back to her or her shop. When the police come, Tabby is bewildered by the search outcome. Even though there is no tallow in her shop, they also search the apartment above the shop and seize her bow, leftover from a college archery class.

Unfortunately for Tabby, a bow and arrow were used in one of the recent serial killer homicides. Tabby lands in that dreaded interview room. Even though she explains the history of the bow and shares how many other candlemakers live in Savannah, they detain her for hours.

Want to find out what happens next? TALLOWED GROUND is available at most book vendors. Multiple links are HERE.

While you’re here, leave a comment on your thoughts about candles you like for a chance to win a copy of Tallowed Ground. The winner will be selected by random.org on Tuesday, Nov. 12. This book is available in ebook and print, but to win the print copy you must have a US mailing address.

If you’d like to know more about author Maggie Toussaint, who also writes as Valona Jones and Rigel Carson, visit her WEBSITE.