Sunday, February 10, 2013

Murder in the Buff by Maggie Toussaint





With her marriage in the toilet and her reporter job dangling by a slim thread, conservative Molly Darter can’t refuse her latest assignment, that of collecting the family-placed obituary of a dead nudist. To her chagrin, she discovers she knew the dead woman, Barbara Jean McAllister, as the nice lady at the Marshview organic produce stand.

The head nudist insists Barbara Jean’s death was murder, but Molly has no intention of writing more than that obit. Her mind changes when revealing photos of her father and other community leaders consorting with Barbara Jean come her way. To protect her father and save her job, she delves into the dead woman’s life.

Things heat up when her estranged husband’s undercover drug ring collides with Molly’s dead nudist investigation. Will Molly find the woman’s killer, or will the killer find Molly?


I need to stop reading at bedtime when I have to be somewhere the next day.  These authors are keeping me up at night.  I know, kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.  Maybe I should read War and Peace.  I need to get back to a schedule where I’m getting to sleep at a reasonable hour—like two or three a.m. instead of five or six.  I know, Anna Karenina’s coming out soon as a movie.  Maybe I should try to read the book first.

Meanwhile, Molly Darter’s adventures with the nudists—’scuse me—naturalists, kept me guessing who dunnit, while cracking up at her attempts to juggle her family, and life in a small town.  Yes, one where the sneeze analogy I used a couple of weeks ago definitely applies.  If someone at one end of town sneezes, someone at the other end yells “bless you,” and everyone else discusses your sinuses.  Although how those men managed to get away with their antics with Barbara Jean for so long without being discovered is beyond me.  Well, obviously someone knew

The funniest part was her son’s sex education.  Where do kids pick up the things they learn?  And aren’t they great at saying the wrong thing at just the right time?  Ms. Toussaint captures that perfectly.  I’m sure every parent will identify.  Definitely a must read.  Add this one to your TBR list.

Length:  217 Pages
Price:  $5.95

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

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