Gosh! I’m not used to people being interested in my life but here goes nothing. I’m Tabby Winslow of Savannah, Georgia. Our family business, The Book and Candle Shop, is popular with locals and tourists alike. My entire life I’ve lived above the shop with my mom, aunt, and my fraternal twin, Sage. Mom passed away recently, and Auntie O moved to Florida, so it’s just Sage and me holding everything together.

How many times over the years did I yearn to grow up and be The Boss of myself? At least a zillion. Now, as the boss of me, myself, and I, I find there’s a lot that goes along with running a shop that I didn’t know about before. Like making enough money to pay Gerard, our shop clerk. Like keeping the shop fully stocked with inventory. Like needing my twin who’d rather be off doing things with plants.

So here’s what just happened. Our candles received negative feedback. A gal who’d been buying our aromatherapy candles weekly for a few months complained they “didn’t do anything for her.” I realized we’d gone through all of Auntie O’s inventory and that the candle which netted the complaint was one I made. Puzzled, I called Auntie O, our former candlemaker. Much to my surprise, Auntie O said there’s another step. I must infuse the candles with good energy as I make them.

You see, my family are energetics. We give and take energy from those around us. By some good fortune and Savannah’s City of the Dead reality, the land our shop is perched upon is perfect for my family. Our energy recharges naturally at night, except for my sister, but that’s a whole ’nother story. The ability is slightly different in all of us. I also know how to go invisible, while Sage has an uncanny affinity for plant energy.

This candle-infusion step is a big problem for me as I don’t use my psychic abilities anymore, not since the disaster a few years ago. But now, I have no choice. If I want to keep my Bristol Street home and the family business, I have to get over myself. No amount of bellyaching, grumping, or whining softens Auntie O’s stance. I’m thirty years old and should be smart enough not to get mired in another disaster.

I start over in the stillroom, the creative nexus of our shop. I beam positive energy everywhere, so much so that even customers in the shop are ebullient. And you know what? I feel amazing, like I could leap tall buildings. No disasters are in sight.

Or so I thought.

Snuffed Out, A Magic Candle Shop Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy, Paranormal
Release: January 2023
Format: Print and Digital
Purchase Link

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 author
Valona Jones writes paranormal cozy mysteries 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. Her latest release, Snuffed Out, A Magic Candle Shop Mystery, came out January 10, 2023, with book two, Luminary of Death, to follow in the summer. Valona is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She lives in coastal Georgia, where time and tide wait for no one. Visit her at valonajones.com.

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