Maggie Toussaint--Dreamwalker Series

The breath wheezed out of him. Impossibly, his dulled eyes sought mine.

I edged closer, my hand fisting over the pointy edges of the seashell.

Slashes in his white shirt oozed thick crimson.

Blood.

I shuddered and breathed around the metallic smell.

Another inhalation from the dying man. Morgan’s chin wobbled.

A raspy whisper slipped out on his final exhale.

“Bubba done it.”

Maggie Toussaint, Bubba Done It (page 15-16.)

Bubba Done It is Maggie Toussaint’s second book in the Dreamwalker Mystery series. Because I love supernatural mystery that focuses on spirits, this series caught my attention. I interviewed Maggie about the first in this series, Gone and Done It, last year. Her main character left a lasting impression so when the second book came out, I wanted to read it.

Maggie writes more than one series, some of which are set in the south. The Dreamwalker Series, set in Sinclair County GA, is essentially Southern, from the many “good-old boy” male characters to the multitude of the Bubbas in the suspect pool, from which Baxley must investigate as a consultant to the Sheriff. In small towns, everyone knows each other and shares history, good and bad. 

Please welcome Maggie back to WWK!          E. B. Davis

There are four “Bubbas” that Baxley must investigate, but then other Bubbas appear. Why is Bubba a purely Southern nickname? Is there a common trait among Bubbas?

Hi Elaine! Thanks for having me back at Writers Who Kill. It’s always fun to hang out here. You asked me about the Bubbas. Having grown up in the South, I never gave the name of Bubba a second thought because it seems every family has at least one Bubba. I believe it originally came from the same convention that gave us MiMi, MawMaw, Dada, Pawpaw and more – young ones coming up who couldn’t pronounce the family names of mother, father, sister, brother, etc.

But here’s the thing about the South. We love nicknames, and a lot of these shortened versions stuck. I have a second cousin originally known to her grandchildren as Mim, and that’s what a lot of people now call her even though her name is Wanda. We have a ton of Bubbas and Buddys, as well as Bubs and Buds. I have another cousin I still call Sister even though she isn’t my sister.

You may be thinking by now that my family is weird, but honest to God, we are typical. The mayor of our small town, no relation to me at all, is named Bubba and the name “Bubba” was on the ballot. A historian down the street from my sister is called Bubba by one and all. Most people have heard of Bubba Gump Shrimp from the Forrest Gump movie, and there’s a famous golfer on the PGA tour, Bubba Watson.

We love our Bubbas down here. I even have an aunt who’s passed that everyone called Aunt Bubba, and she gets a mention in the story. I think the common trait among Bubbas is that they are well-liked. The name Bubba seems to fit these affable people, and it sticks.

When I think of the characters in your books, each one is distinct and fully drawn. How do you create interesting characters?

I laughed out loud at this question! How do I not draw interesting characters? I am writing what I know, and people down here don’t hesitate to tell you what they think and what they feel, if you’re an insider of course. I qualify by virtue of being a native and having pulled a long stint as a newspaper reporter. My M.O. for my newspaper interviews was to get the person relaxed and talking and they’d tell me just about anything. I come from a large family of storytellers, so I’m a good listener.

What happened to Louise Gilroy, the victim’s sister-in-law, making her drink and act crazy?

Poor Louise. I felt so sorry for her. Have you ever known someone, man or woman, who couldn’t quite pull it together after a loss? Louise’s only child went missing in a boating accident. Everyone searched and searched, but the body never turned up. In the absence of proof of death, she clung to the fact that her ten-year-old daughter might be alive, but thoughts of the horrors her child might be encountering as someone’s captive are tearing Louise apart. She can’t think, she can’t cope, and she is quite literally falling apart at the seams.

What’s wrong with Dottie Thompson, the sheriff’s wife?

Have you ever heard the phrase “be careful what you ask for because you just might get it?” Dottie was the girl in high school who set her cap for the football quarterback. Nothing suited her but catching him, and catch him she did with one pregnancy after another. But the thing about a man who doesn’t want to be caught is that he will still cat around. After three children and years of marriage to an unfaithful man, Dottie gave up and took to her bed. She makes her husband’s life miserable, which is relevant because he’s now the sheriff and a key character in this series. Sad to say, I have known several women who have taken to their bed and quit on life.

Baxley has tried to differentiate herself from her parents, even if it is self-defeating, by becoming traditional. When she investigates Bubba Paxton (my favorite character), who is a crack-head evangelist minister, he surprises her. How?

I am a person who often makes a snap judgment about someone else based on that first moment of meeting them. Baxley is a little like me in that regard. She doesn’t know much about Bubba Paxton except that he is a former druggie who’s supposedly turned the corner and made something of himself. She’s skeptical of people changing their nature and doesn’t cut him any slack at all. In addition, his brand of religion seems suspect to her. She thinks he’s still tricking people.

But, like most people, Bubba Paxton isn’t all bad, and in fact, is very nontraditional. I don’t want to give away the story, but suffice it to say that Baxley realizes she has no right to judge anyone.

Baxley’s husband Roland was declared dead by the U. S. Army. When Baxley’s mother, Lacey, criticizes Roland’s family in front of Larissa, Baxley’s daughter, I was surprised. Why does Lacey do so? Is she right?

Lacey is a character I’ve continued to develop through the series. One of the truths of Southern matriarchs is that they speak their minds. Lacey is an understated powerhouse, and she starts to show her claws in this story. She’s seen her daughter turn herself inside out trying to please the Powell family, and she’s had enough. She wants her daughter and her granddaughter to embrace their Nesbitt heritage and to no longer kowtow to what the Powells think or want.

Lacey knows what the Powells are like because she’s known them all her life. She remembers how ugly they were to her when she was coming up. She knows how Elizabeth Powell thinks she’s better than everyone else. Lacey has played the I’m-being-nice-and-not-saying-anything game long enough. She’s tired of seeing her daughter bend over backwards to accommodate these demanding and insensitive people. Whether she’s right in the eyes of society, she’s dead right when it comes to the Powells.

Even though Bubba Powell, Baxley’s brother-in-law was in love with the victim’s ex, which gives him motive for murder, why does Baxley try to protect him?

Bubba Powell, bless his heart, is a man who tilts at windmills. He’s the sucker that con artists see coming from a mile away. He buys their scams hook, line, and sinker. For years, even though Bubba was the older brother, he relied on his younger brother Roland to bail him out of financial scrapes. Baxley has endured many long nights of heated and tearful conversations between the brothers, with Bubba promising to do better, and Roland saying this is the last time he’s going to fix Bubba’s mistakes.

Both Roland and Bubba Powell knew their father, a retired colonel, wouldn’t lift a finger to help Bubba. If it’s not done the colonel’s way, it isn’t done.

Knowing Bubba’s propensity for poor judgment and knowing she was his only advocate, Baxley had to step forward to protect her brother-in-law. If she didn’t, he would surely go to jail for the rest of his life.

When Tab, Baxley’s father, tries to find Baxley’s allegedly deceased husband in the “netherworld,” he goes too far and can’t get back without the help of spirits who want payment in return for guiding Tab to Baxley. What is the tattooed woman’s price? 

The tattooed woman is one of my favorite characters. She is both good and evil and very powerful. She’s also a bit of an opportunist. Baxley is brand new at her dreamwalker gig, and by now you know she has a heart for helping people. Her dad got lost trying to do something for her. If she goes after him, she will be lost too. She also knows time is running out. Going over the bridge, which is what her father did, is usually a one-way trip.

Baxley would do anything to get him back. The tattooed woman demands an hour of her life. Baxley agrees to the terms. She gets her father back, a rose tattoo on her skin, and a debt she doesn’t know when will be collected. The tattooed woman, Rose, isn’t about to let Baxley get off easy. She has big plans for her new conquest.

Baxley must support her daughter and herself by consulting for the sheriff’s department, providing pet care, and serving as a landscaper since the U. S. Army’s benefits for her dead husband are tied up in red tape. But there might be another reason: Tab can’t find Roland in the netherworld. Is he alive, or is there another explanation?

Bureaucracy. (Did you just shudder? I know I did.) There are times when it works great, but other times it isn’t so great. In this case, it stalled out on delivering the death benefits. Baxley and her family don’t know what to think. They can’t find Roland among the dead. If he were alive, he’d come home. The messed up death benefits make Baxley think there might be a government cover-up or something, but the truth is they don’t know Roland’s status. His whereabouts is an ongoing, unresolved matter in the early books of this series. Readers will eventually learn his status, I promise!

There are times when Baxley goes over the top to protect Larissa by stockpiling ammunition and loading rifles. Is she paranoid or does she have reason?

Baxley’s husband was/is very security conscious. He made sure Baxley knew how to protect herself. In his absence, she feels the pressure to assume his role of family protector. Her actions may seem over the top for a mom, but she’s both the mom and the dad for her daughter now. She will do whatever it takes to protect her family.

While investigating, Baxley provides her services as a landscape designer—often getting her into more trouble than walking among the dead. Bubba Jamison’s wife Muriel hires Baxley, enabling her investigation. Baxley finds out the man is abusive. How does Baxley give him his comeuppance?   

Raise your hand if you’ve ever known anybody who acted too big for his britches. I thought you’d recognize this character type. Bubba Jamison married into a family with money and clout for good reason. He likes to throw his weight around and live the high life. Without revealing too much about the story, let me say that in this instance Baxley’s protectiveness extended to the family of the bereaved. Bubba Jamison was not playing nicely, and Baxley called him on it publicly.

Why does the Sheriff pay Baxley under-the-table cash?

There are two reasons. First, the sheriff thinks he’s doing Baxley a favor by keeping her employment off the books. The second reason is that due to vehicle confiscations and car auctions, he has a slush fund of discretionary money. This comes in handy because he has no line item in his county government approved budget for a psychic crime consultant.

What’s next for Baxley?

Baxley will be solving more crimes. Book 3 of this series is in acquisitions. Doggone It features a ghost dog and a medium who help her solve the case of the movie director’s assistant’s murder in a haunted house. Book 4 of this series has Baxley and crew taking a vacation in the Georgia mountains and becoming involved in a homicide investigation up there.

Of all of your series, Maggie, which is the one you like to write best?

Mercy! That hardly seems fair because I love every series I write. Currently, I’m immersed in Baxley’s paranormal world so that’s my answer for this post. My favorite series is my Dreamwalker series.

Thanks again for having me, Elaine. I appreciate your in-depth questions and your interest in my books.