Snuffed Out by Valona Jones | Blog Tour with Guest Post and Giveaway

Snuffed Out (Magic Candle Shop Mystery) by Valona Jones

About Snuffed Out

 

Snuffed Out (Magic Candle Shop Mystery)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Savannah, GA
Crooked Lane Books (January 10, 2023)
Hardcover 304 Pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1639102051
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1639102051
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09XM5PKP7

 

Twin sisters Tabby and Sage co-own a candle shop, but will it all go up in flames in Valona Jones’ series debut, perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Bailey Cates. 

30-year-old fraternal twins Tabby and Sage Winslow own The Book and Candle Shop in Savannah. Sage is hot-headed and impulsive while Tabby is calm and collected, making them the perfect partnership. When one of their customers is found murdered, from a blow to the head, that partnership is put to the test.

Blithe McAdam had been seen in a heated argument with shop clerk Gerard, which immediately makes him suspect number one. The twins are convinced of Gerard’s innocence and start digging into Blithe’s past. But no one is cooperating. The neighbor who found the body isn’t talking, medical examiner Quig won’t give any details about the autopsy, and nasty rumors begin surfacing about the drowning of Blithe’s father years earlier — evidence that could seal Gerard’s fate.

Tabby and Sage dig desperately for the truth. But it’s not only their friend who’s in peril. With the clock ticking, the twins find themselves in the grip of an unseen and deadly energy that has seeped into their midst — and in the sights of a ruthless killer.

About the Guest Post

Why Savannah? By Valona Jones

For all of my life, Savannah has been the big city, the gleaming “Oz” of coastal Georgia, if you will. At just over an hour’s drive from my childhood home, trips to Savannah were Very Big Deals. That’s where we went for school clothes, for back to school shoes, and then we were treated to lunch at a restaurant. The only downside for these trips is that Mom stopped at every antique shop along the way, but that’s a story for another day.

One restaurant I loved to visit was Savannah’s Morrison’s Cafeteria because I could get whatever I wanted, and there was no negotiating over vegetables I didn’t want to eat. I was particularly fond of their macaroni and cheese and can easily see how the South now considers Mac and Cheese to be a veggie.

The other restaurant I dearly loved to go to was The Pirates’ House with its dark basements and spooky history. This building hails from 1753, and though the site was first an inn for sailors, it quickly became a restaurant and a meeting place for all who plied the seven seas, seafarers and pirates alike. Situated a block from the Savannah River on Broad Street, this place had tunnels to the River Street. According to locals, men of yesteryear were shanghaied (kidnapped) from this site, awakening to find themselves on a ship at sea.

As with any settlement with a history of nearly 300 years, conflicts and disease took their toll, and ghost stories abound. Savannah is known as the City of the Dead, and it’s one of the oldest cities in America. Factors Walk on the riverfront is where the port city received and shipped goods of all kinds, even people who had lost their freedom. Some say Savannah was built on cotton, rice, and slavery, but I say Savannah was built on her dead.

When I knew I wanted to write a paranormal mystery series, I immediately realized this story world had to be set in Savannah. Yellow Fever epidemics hit the Georgia coast three times: notably 1820 with 895 deaths: in 1854 with deaths assumed to be similar to 1820 but reporting of this pandemic was concealed by those in authority; and 1876 with over 1066 dead in two weeks. In any event, the vast number of corpses overwhelmed cemeteries and funeral homes, leading to mass graves and bodies laid out in tunnels beneath the city. One such mass grave site is known to be in Colonial Park Cemetery, which contains most of the people from the 1820 outbreak. Other sites have been lost through time.

Speaking of lost graves, two Black cemeteries were paved over to become Calhoun Square and Whitefield Square. The entire downtown historic district, along with The Pirate House, is built atop Native American burial grounds. So, many Savannah homes, parks, businesses, and streets are built atop burial grounds.

Anyway, I mention the mass graves and unmarked graves from a time when people would bury their dead in their backyard, because I wanted to have a mass grave under the site of my fictional The Book and Candle Shop. I created a fictional street for the shop, Bristol Street, located not far from Johnson Square. This allowed me to meld history and fiction in a way that fit within the general paradigm of Savannah’s missing and forgotten graves.

As a native Georgian, I felt the tidal pull of Savannah for this story, and my lifetime association with the City of the Dead fostered the certainty that Savannah was the perfect venue for the paranormal A Magic Candle Shop Mystery series. I hope you’ll agree.

 

About Valona Jones

Valona Jones writes paranormal cozy mysteries set in Southern locales. Her work blends mystery and the unexplained, along with a sprinkle of romance. A former scientist, she’s drawn to the study of personal energy. She sharpened her people-watching skills as a lifelong introvert and thankfully had a bank vault full of personal observations when she began to write fiction. Her forthcoming release, Snuffed Out, A Magic Candle Shop Mystery, is slated for January 10, 2023, release. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She lives in coastal Georgia, where time and tide wait for no one. 

Author Links 
Website: https://valonajones.com 
Facebook: https://facebook.com/valonajonesauthor 
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/valona-jones 
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22140872.Valona_Jones 
(Valona is not on twitter, Instagram, TikTok, nor Pinterest) 

Purchase Links
Amazon Kindle - Amazon Hardcover - Nook - B&N Hardcover - Kobo

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

January 12 – The Book Decoder – REVIEW

January 12 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT

January 12 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

January 13 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

January 13 – Jane Reads – AUTHOR GUEST POST

January 13 – Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

January 14 – I'm Into Books – SPOTLIGHT

January 14 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

January 15 – Brooke Blogs – AUTHOR GUEST POST

January 15 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT

January 16 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT

January 16 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

January 17 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

January 17 – Christy's Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST

January 17 – Mythical Books – SPOTLIGHT

January 18 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

January 18 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – REVIEW

January 19 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

January 19 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST

January 19 – The Book's the Thing – CHARACTER GUEST POST

January 20 – Books to the Ceiling – SPOTLIGHT*

January 20 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

January 21 – Melina's Book Blog – REVIEW

January 21 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?

  Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today! 

 

You can comment as a guest, or with your Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, or Google account. To register for Disqus, or to post as a guest, click in the Name box under "Sign Up With Disqus."