Toasting Tina

Jane Stuart and Winky #5

by Evan Marshall

When a romance authors' convention turns deadly, literary agent Jane Stuart finds herself cast as suspect and sleuth...

Tina Vale, the new vice president and publisher of Corsair Books, made more than a few enemies as she slept and schemed her way to the top. Now Tina has a score to settle with Jane Stuart. Nearly twenty years ago, Jane married Tina's former lover. Now that Tina's in charge, she aims to make Jane pay by canceling her client's million-dollar contract. This leaves Nathaniel Barre's fledgling career in shreds... and puts sizeable dents in Jane's bank account, her reputation, and even her cherished memories of her late husband.

As the local hotel struggles to accommodate the annual RAT (Romance Authors Together) convention and a cat show, Jane tries to conduct business, win Winky a ribbon, and come to terms with Tina's bombshell. But soon she has even more on her plate. When Tina fails to show up for her own awards ceremony, she is found dead in her bath, electrocuted with one of her prized antique toasters.

There are nearly too many suspects to count: Salome Sutton, the romance diva Tina had dethroned; Jory Mankewitz, the would-be business partner she betrayed; Nathaniel Barre, who stood to lose everything if Tina canceled his contract; Tina's disturbingly familiar assistant, Shelly Adams, who has secrets buried within secrets; publishing mogul Rafe Parker, and Tina's current lover, who worried that Tina's lack of discretion would put a very expensive end to his marriage.

But chief among them is Jane herself. And so, with the reluctant blessing of her boyfriend, police detective Stanley Greenberg, she begins to unravel the mysteries behind Tina's many enemies... and find out which one hated her enough to kill....

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

304 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Evan Marshall is president of The Evan Marshall Agency and author of The Marshall Plan For Novel Writing (Writer’s Digest, 1998), an international bestseller on novel writing now in its 20th anniversary edition. He is the author of 10 commercially published mysteries, Manhattan Mysteries Series and Jane & Winky Series which was named “Miss Marple Lite” by Kirkus Reviews. His books appeal to fans of Janet Evanovich, Lilian Jackson Braun, Agatha Christie and Alexander McCall Smith. You can reach him at evan@evanmarshallagency.com.

Reviews

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not sure when I picked this one up if I would like it or not as I am not a big fan of books that have a pet that helps the main character solve the mystery, especially the ones that have the animal talking in them. In this book though the cat did not help with the mystery at all that I found. There were very little mention of the cat so was surprised when I realized that the cat was suppose to be part of the team that would solve the case. The writing style is one that I liked, just enough action going on to keep me turning pages to see what would happen next, kept me in suspense until the end to find out who did it. I liked it enough to go looking for one of the other books in this series.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite a 4, but good. I didn't see the original release date, just the Kindle but this is an older series. I'm too lazy to go find my copy and check but my guess is the 90s. It holds up fairly well, even so. Evan Marshall knows of what he writes, as I keep seeing his name listed in the acknowledgments of some of my favorite cozies-- agent who reps a lot of cozy mystery with cats writers. Yay, Evan! Anyway, except for some mean just to be mean characters, I enjoyed this; solution was quite the surprise but it worked. Having just seen "The Lost City," I especially enjoyed the scenes at the Romance Writer's convention.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for my mystery club's "murder with an unusual weapon" theme. This book fit the the theme and that's about all I can say about it.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library find.
Light read for a lazy, rainy day!
Fun!
A wide range of characters introduced! Some enjoyable and some nasty! I guess you can say they are diverse.
Well developed and fast paced book.
Don't miss!

[Diane Large · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute cozy mystery with an unusual murder weapon.

[Tracyfromthemermaidcove · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t read cozies to have an animal tortured!

[Dan Beliveau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read.

[Jacque · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really like this book. who would have thought that tina's killer would have been Nat one of Jane's newest authors. I thought tghe killer could have been a number of different people in the beginning. Tina Vale had so many enemies. Who would have thought that her daughter Shelly was involved with Nat who killed Tina. Jane came very close to being killed herself. I was happy with the ending also

[Kimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must look for more of these. Mysteries, cats, and knitting? Yes please!

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, easy read with some interesting characters. Does reference previous book, which makes you curious what happened before.

[Donna Maroulis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, not exactly stimulating reading but it passed the time - cute, kind of.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 - Very Good

[Zeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,7🌟