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If you love reading books then you’ll want to take advantage of downloading a copy of Saving Anna from Netgalley, to read, enjoy and review.

Saving Anna book coverSaving Anna, Book 2 in the Jake Talbot Investigates mystery thriller series, is available to anyone who’s signed up to Netgalley and wishes to read quality books they would like to review. It’s free to join Netgalley and it’s free to download your copy. Saving Anna will be available to download for one month until 1st April 2016.

Click now to download your copy

Saving Anna

Detective Inspector Jake Talbot hates working undercover. Yet, when ordered to Dorset to observe a sinister cult for the Ministry of Defence, he accepts, because the group’s beliefs pose a direct threat to his disabled sister, Anna. The MOD also need his friend Frankie’s exceptional computer skills, skills he’s prohibited from using except on the Ministry’s behalf. Bitter from previous dealings with them, Frankie refuses to work for the government, but is willing to assist Talbot.

Neither man knows what they’re meant to be looking for, but observation turns into investigation when they discover a woman’s body draped over the gravestone of one of Talbot’s ancestors. Soon after, a dangerous piece of evidence slips into Talbot’s hands, the plotters’ desperation to get it back becoming the catalyst for murder.

As they uncover a conspiracy that links psychic manipulation, drugs, and death, the two friends grow from master and apprentice to partners in detection, protecting each other from increasing hazards. The trail leads them into deeper shadows, where Talbot’s old enemy waits to wreak a revenge that is as shocking as it is painful.

It will take all of Talbot’s detective skills, and Frankie’s brilliance and imagination, working together, if they are to bring down the criminal conspiracy and defeat his enemy.

Set on the beautiful Dorset coast, this gritty psychological thriller races to a chilling conclusion in which Frankie and Talbot must face the cost of saving Anna.


 

Editorial Reviews

Saving Anna is an incredibly engrossing story, which takes you on a continued adventure with Inspector Talbot and Frankie … Tactful, cunning and enthralling. Very entertaining.’ – Y. Correa, author of MarcoAntonio and Amaryllis and founder of All Authors Magazine

‘This is a marvellous addition to the series. Toni Allen is a compelling new talent, captivating readers with her ability to make us care deeply about her characters.’ – Felita Daniels, Lilac Reviews

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Saving Anna and Visiting Lilly

I’m proud to announce that Visiting Lilly now has a sequel, Saving Anna.

When I first wrote Visiting Lilly I knew that my main characters, Detective Inspector Jake Talbot and Frankie Hayward, had many mores stories to tell, but I didn’t have a publishing contract, so the ideas sat on the back-burner. As soon as I was published by Booktrope they asked if I had any other novels I’d already written, to which I replied, ‘yes,’ and then quietly slipped in that I’d already scratched out a first chapter of Saving Anna, a new mystery with the same lead characters.

I was advised to prioritise finishing Saving Anna, and to build a series. Finish it? I’d hardly started writing it at that stage. Yipes! But hey, if the publisher wants more, then the publisher shall have more. Who was I as a fledgling novelist to refuse such an offer? As time went by I quickly learnt that this is how it works in the world of being a ‘real’ writer. While we were editing Visiting Lilly I was busy plotting and writing Saving Anna.

Having agreed to write a series, I had to come up with a name for it, so that readers can easily see that the books are associated with each other, and that they’ll find a story about the characters they’ve already become familiar with. After much deliberation I decided on Jake Talbot Investigates which gives a fair idea of what a reader will find between the covers. I then realised that the series title is a little long to hashtag on Twitter, so look out for #JTI as I’ll be using this abbreviation in tweets.

Saving Anna book coverVisiting Lilly is based in Farnham, Surrey, but I spend some of my time down in Dorset, and am very passionate about the local wildlife, history and scenery. For Saving Anna I decided to shift location and have Talbot and Frankie travel to Bridport, Dorset, to carry out an investigation. In truth Talbot starts off being requested to only observe a cult, the Temple of Purple Light, and report back to the Ministry of Defence, but he’s determined to find out what they’re up to as their beliefs pose a threat to his catatonic sister, Anna. Furthermore the MOD also need Frankie’s exceptional computer skills, skills he’s prohibited from using except on the Ministry’s behalf.

Neither man knows what they’re meant to be looking for, but observation turns into investigation when they discover a woman’s body draped over the gravestone of one of Talbot’s ancestors. Soon after, a dangerous piece of evidence slips into Talbot’s hands, the plotters’ desperation to get it back becoming the catalyst for murder.

As they uncover a conspiracy that links psychic manipulation, drugs, and death, the two friends grow from master and apprentice to partners in detection, protecting each other from increasing hazards. The trail leads them into deeper shadows, where Talbot’s old enemy waits to wreak a revenge that is as shocking as it is painful.

How far will Jake go to save his sister?

Each book in my Jake Talbot Investigates mystery series is a stand-alone novel, a complete story in itself. I’m now busy writing Book 3, Finding Louisa, which brings the action back to Farnham. A little girl has gone missing from the ponds and wooded acres of Puttenham Common. As they work on finding Louisa, Jake Talbot and Frankie unearth shocking evidence that links back to an old case.

We’ll be running promotions to celebrate the launch of Saving Anna, so come along and join me on Twitter @Listansus and watch out for the #JTI hashtag.

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VL 4 Traditonal detectives

As you’re probably aware by now, Book 2 in my Jake Talbot Investigates series, Saving Anna, is due for release REALLY soon. I’m so excited by the approaching launch of my new book that I thought it would be great to offer book 1 for free between 9th – 13th November. Grab your copy!

This is a terrific opportunity to meet British Detective Jake Talbot and join him in unravelling the mystery of a romance that crosses the boundaries of time. Why doesn’t anyone want young Frankie Hayward to visit an old woman named Lilly? Why is the Ministry of Defence interested in Frankie? Can Jake manage to set aside the unhappy memories of Christmas past, and keep working through the festive season: or will he crack under the strain?

Find out in Visiting Lilly

 

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If you haven’t picked up your copy of Visiting Lilly yet, then now is the time to do it as I’m running a free download offer on Kindle until June 23rd.

US Visiting Lilly on Amazon US

UK Visiting Lilly on Amazon UK

Visiting Lilly free promoWhat reviewers have to say about Visiting Lilly:

“The story has a certain edge of the genres Hard-boiled and Noir Fiction”

“At last, a detective novel with a really unexpected twist!”

“Once I started to read this I just couldn’t put it down…A totally gripping and compelling read from start to finish.”

The second book in the Jake Talbot Investigates series, Saving Anna, will be available later this year, so don’t forget to follow me here or at https://www.facebook.com/ToniAllenAuthor to hear all of the latest news and updates.

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Happy New year!

At the end of 2014 I was interviewed by the highly talented Ally Bishop at www.upgradeyourstory.com on blogtalkradio.

We talk writing and tarot. Have a listen, and not only will you hear my dulcet tones, but also enjoy a few tarot tales and ghost stories.

2015 is going to be a year of change and I’m planning big things, with a new website under way, and loads of interactive events for you to join in with. More podcasts, webinars, and Google hangouts are all planned.

On some of these I’ll be teaching tarot, so if you have specific areas of tarot reading you’d like to learn about, let me know.

Keep up to date with how my new website build is shaping up by following my blog, or chasing after me on social media. Let’s keep in touch in 2015.

 

 

 

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My novel Visiting Lilly takes place in the lead up to Christmas so I’ve made a seasonal book trailer. It’s a page turning mystery thriller which can be read at any time of year and is available on Amazon where it’s receiving 5 star reviews.

By the way, it’s readers and reviewers who are calling it a page turner: the feedback I’m having is amazing. One guy told me he hardly ever reads novels, but couldn’t wait for his tea break at work to get back to his ereader to find out what happened next. One woman I spoke to said a scene in Visiting Lilly had her in tears, because it was such an accurate portrayal of a situation she had experienced.

Keep an eye out because before Christmas I’ll be running some discounts and rock botom prices. Perfect for stocking fillers.

 

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Visiting Lilly by Toni AllenI’m thrilled to receive a 5 star review for Visiting Lilly from fellow mystery writer Robert J. Ray, author of the Matt Murdock Mysteries.

Robert J. Ray says of Visiting Lilly:

Professional Tarot guru Toni Allen joins the ranks of mystery writers with a debut novel that whisks the reader on a journey in quest of the Astral Plane, where two lovers—a lovely elderly lady in a care home, and an isolated young man who remembers their past—do their utmost best to keep their love alive. Allen’s work is fascinating because she conceals this unlikely search for love beneath the bones of a police procedural. The setting is not hurried, touristy London, but the idyllic outskirts of Surrey. Welcome to the genre!

Robert J. Ray is author of the Murdock Mysteries and The Weekend Novelist Series

Robert J. Ray books on Amazon

The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel

The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery

Bob and Jack’s Writing Blog

Toni-small

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