Amanda Cadabra and The Twilight Toxin book tour is through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours and includes a guest post from the author and a giveaway at the end of this post. Share, engage with the writer in the comments, subscribe, and visit other tours on the stop with the schedule at the end.
Book Details
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
9th in Series
Setting – Cornwall, and an English village
Publisher : Independently published
Publication date : April 29, 2026
Print length : 422 pages
Paperback
ISBN-13 : 979-8252946870
ASIN : B0GZ3HJ99Z
Digital
ASIN : B0GY11CBMZ
Someone is Watching
A body is discoveredin a troubling location, just as the killer had intended, the crime scene drawing covert witch Amanda and her irascible feline familiar back to the Cornish land of her birth. Inevitably, Detective Inspector Thomas Trelawney is drawn in to help her unravel this perplexing crime.
At the heart of this heinous murder lies an unknown weapon, a device possessing an extraordinary and lethal power. Worse still, the killer remains, somewhere close by … waiting. Who can it be? Can a daring venture into the past, to reclaim a distant memory from the curious Lucy Penlowr, bring Amanda and the inspector any closer to the truth?
Trelawney, determined to solve the case by normal methods, finds every turn a blind alley until a perilous path leads to two fateful hours at a secret gathering. Now, Amanda’s mounting temptation to embrace a dark revenge, and the ultimate test of her burgeoning magical skills, risk everything in a race for survival
Can Amanda and Trelawney unmask the killer and discover the true meaning of The Twilight Toxin?
A British urban fantasy with a side of cosy mystery, a dash of adventure, and a healthy helping of humour, The Twilight Toxin is the ninth standalone whodunnit in the Amanda Cadabra series.
About Holly Bell
Humorous and quintessentially English with excitement and magic.
Cat adorer and chocolate lover, British author Holly Bell’s life changed in a day. A best-selling author friend convinced Holly that she could write cozy mysteries, after many years’ experience with non-fiction, photography and video making.
Holly devoured all of the Agatha Christie books long before she knew that Miss Marple was the godmother of the Cozy Mystery. Her love of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings meant that her first literary creation in this area would have to be a cosy paranormal. Over the series the books have grown to straddle urban fantasy mystery too.
Having derived immense delight from the adventure of writing Amanda Cadabra and The Hidey-Hole and its 8 sequels, and a prequel to date, Holly has more in the pipeline.
Her favourite feline is a black cat called Bobby. He is black. Like her favourite hat. Purely coincidental.
Holly loves to hear from readers. She always responds in person.
Guest Post
Your Book Cover Choices
Mine was easy. But it didn’t start out that way. In the beginning, I had zero budget for a cover, an editor, or a marketer. On the day that changed my life, I had 3 non-fiction books to my name for which I had made my own covers, edited myself and used my website and social media for marketing.
And then I met Tim. Tim was already having success as a supernatural comedy author. I was in awe of anyone who could write fiction. Tim convinced me, in half an hour down the pub with an A2 sketchbook, that anyone can do it. Not enough at the time to pick up my fiction pen, but in due course, he introduced me to the then-new genre of cosy paranormal mystery, with its rapidly expanding audience, as a means to supplement my income. He had time to do the first cover, but none after that.
So, I went in search of an illustrator on Fiverr.com. It is the website where people offer their skills at rates within the reach of all. Yes, the clue is in the name. If you can afford five dollars or pounds, you can find someone in your ballpark for many remote services. I found my first and second illustrators there.
Soon, though, my books had expanded into urban fantasy, and Tim spotted that the covers were not helping my sales, and offered a skills swap: my editorial for his artistic. We kicked around ideas, but nothing fitted. And then …
It was late, my mind was wandering free in the silence of the night, and I found Vondy.com. Like my mind, it was free, and offered cover options for various genres (https://vondy.com/novel-book-cover-generator–4lfiJfZu). It took a few goes, but then, gasp, a set of four that struck a chord!
Tim zoned in on the last one I would have chosen, but he was right. That was the one that he went on to develop, and it set the trend for the rest of the series, including the 9th book, Amanda Cadabra and The Twilight Toxin, which has just come out.
Since then, I have also discovered ChatGPT and other AI free apps. How do they work? For chatting about business or life, just use ordinary language. For images, you give them a ‘prompt’, and they produce one or more images for you to choose from or refine. For example: ‘a book cover for a single-mother romance set in a quiet coastal town with a traditional bakery’. You will immediately see what it got right for your book and what it got wrong, and so you can add to or change your prompt.
Some writers download a free cover, or cover template from somewhere like Canva, too. There are a lot of free or low-cost options out there. Creating a book can be done with zero financial cost, just your time, energy and creativity.
But … ideas for what to write? You have a life story, made up of at least a thousand little and large stories, stories you may even have told many times over the years, without realising you had at least one book there. In fact, I’ll bet from time to time you have been told, ‘You should write a book!’ It is unlikely it will make your fortune overnight, although it has happened, but it will begin a journey that will help in some way, even if just the satisfaction and confidence boost of seeing your book out there in virtual or tangible print, that you can point to and say, ‘I did that.’
Editing? Friends and beta readers you can ask for on social media. Marketing? Setting up a webpage is free, Canva is free for images and editing, CapCut is free for creating videos, self-publishing on Amazon, Draft2Digital or others is free. Audiobook? Record it yourself (I use GarageBand and the audiobook for book 2, Amanda Cadabra and The Cellar of Secrets is just coming out now, and I found my sound editor on Fiverr.com) or hire a narrator at zero cost, just a royalty share. You can even open a shop for your book-related designs on Redbubble; I did mine in a couple of days. And yes, Redbubble is free. This is the golden era for writers. I believe there is no competition. Readers finish one book and want the next, the next story, the next voice, and yours is unique. Maybe the next tale they pick up will be yours.
And if you’re interested in the author process with a lot of stories, you can find them on my blog or, even better, if you want the nitty-gritty, often hilarious inside track, then the newsletter is where you’ll find the secret me!
Meanwhile, whatever your endeavour to give it large with the little you have in the coffers, I wish you every success. Remember everything starts with a dream, a wish, like a wish to have the freedom and independence that financial ease brings, maybe a wish to have your business as something you’ve always wanted, including being an author. Whatever it is, you have it in you. Yes. Really.
Thank you, Sara, for having me as your guest today. Your website here is a pearl, filled with all your generosity, understanding and expertise. You are helping to change lives for the better.
Sarandipity’s response ***Thanks for stopping by and supporting my blog! It was a pleasure to visit with you. Love the advice! I’ll have to implement it myself. And as a side note, I’m well aware of the struggles of self publishing/promoting, which is why I created several ChatGPTs for writers, including an awesome manuscript editor, plot organizer, promotional and marketing, and cover designer.
The Amanda Cadabra Cozy Paranormal Mysteries (in order):
Amanda Cadabra and The Hidey-Hole Truth
Amanda Cadabra and The Cellar of Secrets
Amanda Cadabra and The Flawless Plan
Amanda Cadabra and The Rise of Sunken Madley
Amanda Cadabra and The Hidden Depths
Amanda Cadabra and The Strange Case of Lucy Penlowr
Amanda Cadabra and The Hanging Tree
Amanda Cadabra and The Nightstairs
Amanda Cadabra and The Twilight Toxin
Author Links
Join the newsletter for updates http://amandacadabra.com/come-on-in/
Website https://amandacadabra.com/
Book https://amandacadabra.com/book-9-the-twilight-toxin/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Holly-Bell-923956481108549/
X https://twitter.com/holly_b_author
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/hollybell2760/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hollybellac
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hollybellfantasy/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hollybell-amandacadabra/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18387493.Holly_Bell
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/holly-bell
Purchase Links
Amazon Universal links Kobo Google Google Play Barnes & Noble Apple Books2Read Bookshop.org
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 17 – Salty Inspirations– AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 18 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
June 18 – The Editing Pen – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 19 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
June 20 – Book Hookup – REVIEW
June 21 – deal sharing aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 22 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 23 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 24 – Sarcastically Yours, Jen – SPOTLIGHT
June 25 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
June 26 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 27 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
June 27 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 28 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 29 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 30 – Book1987 – SPOTLIGHT
Giveaway
Prize – Digital Copy of Book 1 in the Series – Amanda Cadabra and The Hidey-Hole Truth, and some swag
