Maggie Toussaint Interview by E. B. Davis

I was starting to see there was a Big Picture I didn’t comprehend.

A symphony of actions going on in the world that ensured life wasn’t

completely random. Except for the fact we humans could mess it up,

especially if we ignored our path.

Maggie Toussaint, Dadgummit (Kindle Loc. 5602)

When most people think of heaven, they look up as if heaven must be in the sky somewhere. After taking a physics class or two (admittedly not comprehending as much as I wanted to), I realized there are different dimensions, some so small we can’t see and some so large we can’t grasp. The forces that rule each dimension change. Gravity rules our world, but in smaller realms, electro-magnetic, and smaller still—nuclear forces rule.

So when I read Maggie Toussaint’s Dreamwalker Mystery series, I’m predisposed to her notions. Maggie was a scientist before she became a writer so it’s no wonder why she can write paranormal or science fiction with authenticity.

Dadgummit is the fourth book in the series, which brings many changes to main character Baxley Powell’s life and propels the story and character arc onward. She encounters other dimensions she didn’t know existed, which has personal significance for her and daughter, Larissa.

For those of you who have read paranormal mystery, there are many varieties. Some, are charming tales that bewitch, feature ghosts who haunt or terrorize, and create creatures that stalk the human race. Maggie’s series puts Baxley on the hunt via tracking down killers, but they are also character driven because Baxley utilizes her skills as a Dreamwalker to communicate to the other side helping victims and herself as she struggles with a new career (several careers), facing possible widowhood, and being a single parent.

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

Thank you for such a warm welcome, E.B. I enjoy coming here to Writers Who Kill and talking shop with you.

In Dadgummit, Baxley solves several murders making the book a mystery. And yet, the investigation flushes a guilty party out of hiding early on and capturing him becomes Baxley’s problem, which would indicate the book is a thriller. How do you categorize it?

From the start, my books have been difficult to pigeon-hole. Fortunately, my publishers have been receptive to my genre-bending. The Dreamwalker Series is an amateur sleuth mystery series, and the paranormal element takes it to another place, so saying this series is a traditional cozy series would be misleading. I’d call Dadgummit an amateur sleuth novel with thriller elements.

Baxley and her friend and family live on the Georgia coast. But they are on a mountain vacation. Is there a real Stony Creek Lake in GA?

My brother is an excellent amateur photographer, and his photos of the Blairsville area of North Georgia tugged at my heart. Those shots gave me a visual of where this series needed to be set. I’ve never visited this exact area, though I have visited mountains several times on vacation or camping. In my experience, folks who live at the shore like to go to the mountains on vacation and vice versa.

Why does Sheriff Twilla Sue Blair use heavy-handed tactics to get Baxley to work for her?

The job has already cost Twilla Sue her family. Now she’s career-focused and determined to be governor. One look at the latest body in her county, and she knows this could blow up in her face. A sweep of the lake’s current occupants nets her a primo crime consultant, one that her good buddy Sheriff Wayne Thompson brags about all the time. Twilla Sue needs to solve this case, and she’s gonna make darn sure Baxley can’t say no.

We learn that the army has finally proclaimed Baxley’s husband Roland dead. She’s getting assistance from the Army Survivor Benefit Program. Is this program real?

This is a real program. After waiting the longest time for benefits, the Army finally comes through for Baxley. There’s a reason for the red tape, but that has to play out in the series. I personally have never had any dealings with the SBP, but I worked for the federal government for many years. I know a thing or two about red tape.

In previous books after a dreamwalk, Baxley regains her energy via her mother’s charged crystals and her soup. Is the energy restoring capacity of the soup due to the ingredients or does her mother transfer her own energy to the soup? Do you have a recipe for the soup?

This is an excellent question. I don’t remember my original basis for the decision to have a healing broth, but it just seems right, you know? I don’t have an exact recipe for it, but it seems intuitive that you’d start with chicken stock and add healing herbs.

Baxley works with Sheriff Blair’s next-in-command, Deputy Mayes, who is of the local Cherokee tribe. He has paranormal abilities such as energy transfer and limited dreamwalking, but he also has an ability, which Baxley lacks—dreaming the future (at least a bit). He makes it known that he is interested romantically in Baxley. Why does he taunt her about a relationship at the most crucial times during the case? Can he see a romantic future with Baxley even though he agrees to a working friendship with her?

Don’t you just love Mayes? I fell in love with him from the moment he walked into the story. Like his boss, Mayes makes no bones about what he wants. He recognizes Baxley’s importance in his life before she sees him as anything other than a coworker. However, he knows a thing or two about strategy and patience, courtesy of his Native American heritage.

Baxley learns about the Cherokee folklore of the Little People or Nunne’hi, who lure people to their dimension by mesmerizing them to follow. Why do they want humans in their dimension? What is the benefit to them?

Another fantastic question, EB, and the answer is I’m not 100% sure. From my research, I learned the Nunne’hi are a supernatural spirit race who are friendly toward humans in general and Cherokee specifically. In the published stories I read, they seem sympathetic toward lonely hearts or underdogs, but there is often a trickster element to their friendship. It seemed to me that some of the people they took in were missing something in real life and seeking refuge in the Nunne’hi world was preferable to living out their empty lives. People are not kept against their will, but time passes differently there. The human refuges choose to live a life without heartache or responsibility. As for benefit to the Nunne’hi, I can’t say, though it seems they enjoy company.

Readers learn that Rose really is a covert angel, something we found a bit suspicious in previous books. Rose has helped Baxley in the past when she’s gotten into situations beyond her abilities. But Baxley’s payment for Rose’s help so far is three hours of her life on Earth. When Rose helps Baxley in Dadgummit, Rose exacts no payment. Why didn’t Rose have Baxley pay or did they have a mutual goal? The reader feels suspicious of Rose’s intentions when she utilizes Baxley (without her permission) during a dreamwalk and wipes her memories of the experience with the excuse of not giving her nightmares—some angel! Don’t we have reason to suspect Rose has more than heaven up her sleeve?

Rose’s thorns are a side effect of her hidden agenda. That secret motivation is what keeps my interest high when she walks on scene. She is a recurring character in the series and has turbo-charged supernatural abilities. Her bad girl persona surfaces even when she flashes her angel wings, black, naturally. Think of Rose as the rebel with a cause, only the cause is her own gratification. In Dadgummit, Baxley doesn’t ask a favor of Rose, the Nunne’hi do, and the payment is stiff. Nevertheless, Baxley feels the effect of Rose’s ire more than once in this story. Baxley is clearly no match for Rose, but they need each other. And yes, never turn your back on Rose. She’s on a mission, and maybe not a mission from God.

When Charlotte starts getting to know Deputy Duncan and likes him, why aren’t readers surprised that she’d rather explore a personal relationship than get exercised over her career? Then again, we are surprised that she is candid and honest about her life—and we hope the best for the relationship.

I wanted all the Charlottes of the world to cheer for her. Being overweight or different in any visible or invisible way often leads to isolation. In Dadgummit, Charlotte is bright and personable and clearly the brains of the newspaper where she works. She’s ambitious but she’s also lonely. She wants someone in her live who gets her, someone who will be her partner through thick and thin. In the spirit of positive thinking, her best friend encourages her to shout her need to the universe – and she does – and the result is Deputy Toby Duncan. Their relationship has an unusual start, thanks to the Nunne’hi. Does Charlotte really become one of “those” women who steps out of her life and into her boyfriend’s? You’ll have to read the story to find out.

Your title, I think, refers to Baxley’s frustration with her father, the former Dreamwalker, for not giving her more information. Why hasn’t he been more forthcoming with Baxley?

Your insight is spot-on, E.B. Dadgummit taps into Baxley’s frustration with her missing/declared dead husband, her talent, her family, her job, and Rose. There’s nothing routine in any sector of her life. Readers may agree with this statement: within the paranormal world, there are many aspects. Compare that to your life experiences to date. If someone tried to firehose a lifetime of information into your head, could you tolerate it? No way. Baxley’s dad knows the learning curve on dreamwalking is wacked out, but lessons learned stick with you longer than lessons taught. He’s doing Baxley a kindness by allowing her to make her own mistakes, something any parent knows is harrowing when it is happening to your child.

Does Baxley really know why Rose internally marked her when Rose gave those in need the universal breath of life? Rose purports that she does.

At this point in the story, Baxley isn’t pleased with Rose, but there’s a mutual dependence. Rose is the dominant force in their relationship and she pushes her advantage any chance she can. Fans of the series know Baxley is special in both worlds. Rose is making sure her claim on Baxley is permanent and noticeable.

After Rose spits fire while capturing an energy vampire, Baxley’s hair turns white. What does this signify? Baxley has tried to “rock the geriatric look” with her white-hair stripe. Now what does she have to do—go with the “Mrs. Claus” look or rock the octogenarian look?

Her hair color change is permanent, plus we know she already tried to dye the stripe and that didn’t work. It’s just as well, actually. The white hair is a sign of spiritual power. By “rocking the total geriatric look” at her tender age, Baxley actually is a walking billboard proclaiming her extrasensory gifts.

Will Baxley ever get a vacation?

Sadly, the answer is no. Vacations do not make good fodder for mystery novels, not unless there’s a mystery or two thrown in.

What’s next in your writing career?

Fans of my Cleopatra Jones series will be delighted to know I’m working on a new entry in her story world. No Quarter, a longer novella, will issue in the Sleuthing Women II anthology collection later this fall. Also, the next Dreamwalk book, Confound It, is tentatively scheduled for a June 2018 release. Book six in that series is awaiting final edits from me before submission to my publisher, Camel Press.

Are you planning your next vacation to the beach?

Like Baxley, I’m too busy for a vacation this year! Being president of an MWA chapter takes a lot of my time, as does writing, editing, and promoting my books and novellas. Lucky for me, I live on a tidal creek in coastal Georgia. There’s only salt marsh and a barrier island between me and the beach. I delight in watching the birds, raccoons, and squirrels who call my yard (and the marsh) home.

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Dadgummit Jacket Copy

Amateur sleuth Baxley Powell is on vacation at Stony Creek Lake in the north Georgia mountains. Her parents, best friend, and ten-year-old daughter are camping with her. Almost immediately, a young man’s body is found beside the lake. Strangely, there’s no apparent cause of death. The local police have heard about Baxley’s skill at closing unusual cases, and at their urging she agrees to help.

Her psychic sleuthing leads the police to a halfway house. There they encounter eight comatose victims and an odd man named Jonas, who also has supernatural abilities. Baxley senses Jonas cruelly drained their life force energy. Jonas escapes, taking the sheriff as a hostage. Deputy Sam Mayes, a Native American, leads the manhunt, and he keeps Baxley close, knowing she’s the key to capturing this powerful criminal.

Baxley’s paranormal talent of dreamwalking, which she uses to traverse the veil of life, draws the unwanted attention of beings believed to be Cherokee folklore. Jonas stole a treasured artifact from them, and they want it back. They hold Baxley’s best friend and two others because they know Baxley can help them. As the clock ticks, Jonas taunts this crime-fighting duo and proves to be a wily adversary.

With the body count rising, Baxley and Mayes realize they are up against an entity who appears to be invincible. Do they have the power to subdue an energy vampire, turn the tide of evil, and save the day?

Maggie Toussaint, Dreamwalker Author, Interview by E. B. Davis

I love Maggie Toussaint’s Dreamwalker series, mysteries with a psychic twist. Main character Baxley Powell can communicate with the dead. When she touches an object associated with the deceased, Baxley can envision scenes the dead portray to her, which makes her a wonderful police consultant.

Each book provides more details, not only of Baxley’s psychic powers and frailties, dealing in psychological games the dead play with her, but also each book digs deeper into her personal life. Maggie enriches her stories with backstory that complicates and relates to each mystery. It is that interaction of the personal and professional that catapults this series forward.  You will appreciate the title of her third book in the series, Doggone It, after reading the book.

Maggie writes mystery, romantic suspense, and science fiction. She has three mystery series, and in each, her writing flows. You will read of Maggie’s books again on WWK because I am a fan who will promote her work until everyone reads and enjoys her work!                                                                                             E. B. Davis

Here is Maggie’s Doggone It book jacket blurb:

Dreamwalker Baxley Powell can’t remember the last time she had such a crappy weekend.

A twilight encounter with a ghost dog left her numb and disoriented, her dreamwalker

abilities are wiped out, and the sheriff just summoned her to a double homicide.

With no access to the spirit world, Baxley bluffs her way through the crime scene where a movie star’s assistant and a charter boat captain were strung up and bled dry. In a

haunted house, no less. Figuring out who killed these people will be a real challenge

without her ability to speak to the dead.

Just when Baxley thinks her powers are returning, her dreamwalks malfunction.

With the sheriff pushing her to solve the case quickly, Baxley teams up

with a dognapping medium to boost her powers.

Suspects include the captain’s good-for-nothing brother, the assistant’s replacement,

and, of course, his stalker. All of Sinclair County is on edge, and the media circus isn’t helping. At stake are the movie’s funding, the sheriff’s job, and Baxley’s senses.

Can Baxley safeguard her abilities and solve the case before the killer strikes again?

   http://maggietoussaint.com/doggone-it/

Book 3 of the Dreamwalker Series

Readers often ask how books come about. I’d really like to know how you arrived at the concept of dreamwalkers. Do you have vivid dreams?

Does anyone remember The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler? The main character Macon hated traveling and yet he ended up writing travel guides that explained how to deal with unpleasantness and difficulty of a trip. In that same vein, I am a person who doesn’t like being scared. I began writing this series to tie together (with my imagination) all of my firsthand observations, my faith, my education, stories I’ve heard, and so on, about what happens after death. I try to present the difficult and unpleasant stuff in a way that my mind accepts and in a way that may help others also dealing with deaths of loved ones.

And in combination with that straightforward approach, I’ve long had an interest in psychics. Just like some folks have an extra gear when it comes to math or music (or any other ability), I believe some folks have extrasensory gears. One of the fun aspects of writing this series is having Baxley explore a new aspect of her extra abilities in each book.

As for me, I’ve had very vivid dreams, some of them outright strange, like the Man with the Saddle on his head that I dreamed about several times as a child. Late adolescence to early forties were the times of most of those dreams. I still dream, but it’s rare these days that I remember them upon waking.

In the opening scene, we learn that Baxley can’t see or communicate with ghosts. Why not?

When you’re driving in your car and you lose your radio station, what do you do? Do you search the airwaves for a new station? Sure you do. In layman’s terms, the distance has become too great for the signal of your first station to reach you, so you have to retune your receiver to another frequency to hear a different channel. Hang onto that thought for a sec.

In the Dreamwalker Series, Baxley comes into the job of talking to the dead all of a sudden. Her father physically can’t do it anymore. The stress and side effects are killing him. Baxley, who has spent her entire 28 years trying to be normal, must now un-suppress her innate ability. Also, due to the sudden onset of her commission, all of her training is on-the-job. When Baxley runs into an earthbound spirit in Doggone It, she doesn’t know how to retune her psychic abilities to receive the input. Therefore, she makes mistakes and takes wrong turns and keeps at it until she gets it right. By the end of Doggone It, Baxley knows how to reach earthbound spirits and ones that have moved on to the Other Side.

Rose is an entity that Baxley encounters. She can’t quite categorize her. Baxley thinks Rose is an undercover angel in the demon world. But Rose doesn’t come across as angelic. She either isn’t an angel, or she’s a great actress. Her favors have a high price that Baxley is forced to accept. Because the spiritual world is usually divided between good and bad, do readers have a problem accepting the ambiguous Rose?

I’ve struggled with Rose’s duality, and I’m sure readers do too. In real life, sometimes we make deals or alliances with people who hold different opinions than we do. That’s what Baxley had to do. The safety and wellbeing of her family mean everything to her, and that’s how she finds herself indebted to Rose, a supernatural being – Rose helps her save loved ones.

Was Baxley’s alliance with Rose a mistake? The consequences will continue to play out in the series. Not knowing Rose’s internal motivation adds conflict and drives the series forward. A writer couldn’t ask for a better plot device.

Baxley describes her aging-hippie parents as trusting and gullible. But isn’t that also their strength?

Absolutely. Trusting and gullible are the hallmarks of people who aren’t deceitful. Consequently, her parents’ home is a mecca for locals with personal problems. Their love is deep, abiding, and all-encompassing. Baxley, who prides herself on being more worldly, thinks she has to protect them from unscrupulous users, but her experiences in Doggone It start to reshape her view of them.

Previous to Doggone It, Baxley is a bit condescending toward her mother. She comes to understand that dreamwalkers need a support system, a community, and her mother’s particular talents, more than just making soup, nurture dreamwalkers. Baxley encounters this in her professional and personal life. Has Baxley been too singular?

You can blame the mom in me for giving Baxley a learning curve to understand the real depth in her mother. Most of us grow up thinking our generation is smarter than the ones who came before, that because of our technology and collective savvy, we don’t need or want advice from folks who’ve already had their turn.

My parents didn’t have the opportunity to go to college, but they made sure all five of us had that opportunity. With that education and a lack of educated jobs in our fishing community, all of us dispersed into the world. One by one, as we had families of our own, we learned how wise our parents were. The circle of understanding continues with my daughters as they raise their families. They are learning the same lessons I learned and that Baxley is learning: all wisdom doesn’t come from book learning.

I was shocked to read, “Roland Powell [Baxley’s MIA special-operations husband, whom readers have never met.] seemed trustworthy, monogamous, and faithful. I’d been wrong about his values.” Baxley still loves and misses him, and she doesn’t reveal why she thinks this. Is it because she and her daughter know he isn’t dead? Did Roland revert to his parents’ values?

Baxley’s job as a police consultant puts her in close proximity to Sheriff Wayne Thompson. Wayne reveals to Baxley things about her “late” husband that are at odds with what she knows. She’d never once doubted her husband, but Wayne’s comments worm into her thoughts causing her to have doubts about the man she loves. Now that she’s more open to her extrasensory perception, she realizes she was walking around with blinders on for many years, years she shared with Roland. Her husband’s absence and status are an ongoing concern in the series, so I won’t say more.

Baxley is idealistic and probably just as trusting and gullible as her parents. Nothing in Baxley’s life is as it “should” be. Why does she have sympathy with Roland’s mother?

Baxley and Roland’s mom share a similar void in their lives due to his absence. As a young mom, she knows how she would feel if something happened to her daughter.

When Sheriff Wayne, the womanizer, gets swept into one of Baxley’s dreamwalks, she thinks he might have psychic talents. Has Wayne sandbagged everyone, or perhaps he doesn’t know he has psychic powers? Perhaps Baxley has more power than she knows?

Wayne’s a good ole boy, which isn’t always a good thing. His relationship with Baxley is complicated. She was his tutor in high school when he was the football quarterback; she was the woman who never succumbed to his charm. With regard to that dreamwalk, readers see firsthand how Baxley’s team rallies to help her recover. The fact that she does recover says a lot for her talent. I don’t want to delve too deeply into Wayne’s intuition, but he’s good at reading people.

A black widower, Stinger, comes to Baxley for help. As it turns out, he helps her. How does Stinger provide support to Baxley?

Remember that line from science class: matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Energy, however, gets used up by activity. Runners get wobbly-kneed at the end of their races, for instance, and they need to refuel. Extrasensory use also burns energy, and Baxley has to have down time after dreamwalks to recharge. Things are different with Stinger. In this story, I used a story condition of mediums being energy generators.

There are two dogs in Doggone It. One is a rescue dog and another is a ghost dog. Would you tell readers about these two wonderful canines?

Many dogs today are used as therapy dogs in nursing homes and hospitals. Just being around these animals brings solace and comfort. In Doggone It, Elvis, a rescued Chihuahua, is a therapy dog. Everyone who holds him feels better. Since paranormal events by nature can be scary, I needed to make sure there was a balance of comfort as well.

Oliver the ghost dog is a jet black Great Dane. Doggone It is about Oliver becoming part of the crew of strays, and I can assure fans of the series that he is a recurring character. He has a role in books 4, 5, and 6, which is the book I’m currently writing.

What’s next for Baxley?

I’m so glad you asked! Book 4 in this series is contracted and will release in 2017. In Dadgummit, Baxley and crew go on vacation to the mountains and get swept up in another murder mystery, this one involving individuals from Cherokee legends.

What’s next for Cleopatra Jones?

I haven’t forgotten Cleo! I get letters from fans requesting book 4 of that series routinely. In the previous books, her best friend, her mom, and her boyfriend were accused of murder. It’s her turn to be in the hot seat, so she’ll have every reason to nose around.

I know you’re a beach chick, but would you favor a shrimpburger over a hamburger?

I love a good shrimp hoagie, which is the closest I’ve come to a shrimpburger. I also love shrimp fried, grilled, blackened, and sautéed. Shrimp salad is great on a hot day, and shrimp paste is something to savor. Shrimp bisque is yummy, and I recommend it. I’m spoiled by the fresh seafood in our small fishing community where you can buy shrimp that slept in the sea last night.

Thank you, Maggie.

                               

                                    

To find out more about Maggie and her books, please go to maggietoussaint.com or just go to Amazon for a reading adventure!

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.