Author Genre: Romance, Mystery & Thrillers
Website: Toni Anderson - Romantic Suspense Author
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Twitter: @toniannanderson
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Author Description:
New York Times and USA Today international bestselling author, Toni Anderson, writes dark, gritty Romantic Suspense novels that have hit #1 in Barnes & Noble's Nook store, the Top 10 in Amazon and Kobo stores, and the Top 50 in iBooks. Her novels have won many awards. ?
A former Marine Biologist from Britain, she inexplicably ended up in the geographical center of North America, about as far from the ocean as it is possible to get. She now lives in the Canadian prairies with her Irish husband and two children and spends most of her time complaining about the weather. Toni has no explanation for her oft-times dark imagination, and only hopes the romance makes up for it. She's addicted to reading, dogs, tea, and chocolate. ?? If you want to know when Toni's next book will be out, visit her website (http://www.toniandersonauthor.com) and sign up for her newsletter. If you want to read other fascinating stories about life in a city that, during winter, is sometimes colder than Mars, friend her on Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/toniannanderson).
SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author
Congratulations on your book: Cold In The Shadows. What do you have on the drawing board next? Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?
Up next is book six in the COLD JUSTICE SERIES titled COLD HEARTED. I’ve been pretty close-mouthed about this project, a little nervous about getting it right. Needless to say it features an FBI agent from Lincoln Frazer’s BAU team, a romantic conflict, and several dead bodies. I’m hoping for a May release date.
You have a good following on twitter. Since you started before the social media buzz, what impact has social media relationships had on your current success? How did you build your following in your niche? How much has it changed your book launch process?
There’s no short answer to this question. Basically I’ve built my readership one person at a time. I’m a relatively slow writer so the main thing for me has been sticking to one genre—Romantic Suspense. Before Facebook I used to frequent a lot of yahoo groups/loops and meet readers during online chats. Facebook and Twitter make it much easier to connect with people and I love that. Nowadays social media plays a significant role in my book launches but it’s such a fluid thing—what works for one release sometimes falls flat for another. The one thing I like to do is get people to sign up for my mailing list so they never miss a sale or a new release.
Do you do any book signings, interviews, speaking and personal appearances? If so, when and where is the next place where your readers can see you? Where can they keep up with your personal contacts online?
I do signings occasionally, but I’m not doing any this year. I have a tremendously busy 2016 on a personal front and will be traveling for six months of it. That might change though. The best place to keep up with me is via my website (http://www.toniandersonauthor.com) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/toniannanderson)
You have great covers. They carry a theme and your brand with them. How does your book cover creation process work? Do you hand over the basic theme or do you have more of a hands-on approach? Do you get your readers involved in its development?
Thank you! I have used a few different designers and I’m happy with the results. For my COLD JUSTICE SERIES books I told my designer (Syd Gill) I wanted some sort of banner like thing and really strong branding across the series. She came up with the idea of the jewel colors and using a setting/theme image on the bottom and then we use the top to try and evoke a feeling of either a thriller/mystery/suspense story with a strong romance. We spend a lot of time tweaking tiny details. Sometimes the process goes quickly, sometimes it doesn’t, but we are always happy with the results.
Many of your novels have been converted into audio books. What has been the impact on your regular sales? Has the audio books gained a new audience for you?
Audiobooks is a whole different market and one that is growing in popularity, so yes, I believe it has helped sell my books in other formats.
You have written novella called HER LAST CHANCE. Can you tell us if it had an impact on the sales of your novels? Are shorty’s one of your styles of writing or are they created to give readers a sample of your work? Do you feel short reads are a product of our email and smart phone age?
I’ve written one novella and I’m also writing some extra scenes for certain characters. Short is not my preferred style of writing, I prefer big stories with complex plots. I wrote the novella (HER LAST CHANCE) because during the editing process of HER SANCTUARY I deleted an entire love story between two secondary characters. While I couldn’t fit an entire novel around these characters, I could give them a HEA with their own novella and give readers an update on life on the ranch that they’d been demanding. As for reading on smart phones…it is definitely happening more and more. Frankly, I’m just happy that people are reading!
I like the idea of Author bundles. You are a part of a novel collection called Dangerous Connections Box Set. What was the impact on your other sales? What was the main objective of bundling your works with other authors? How did you put something like that together?
Author bundles help cross promotion between authors of similar types of books. The really cool thing about this DANGEROUS CONNECTIONS box set was that we wrote new epilogues for each book that connected the different author’s Romantic Suspense worlds together. It was a very cool idea and process.
You have put together a couple sets of your novels: Her ~ Romantic Suspense Series Box Set: and Cold Justice Series Box Set. What was the impact on your other sales? What was your main objective in bundling your novels?
Bundling serves two purposes. One, avid fans get the chance to buy multiple books at a cheaper price than the individual books sell for and, secondly, some readers actively prefer the box set format.
What is the objective for your newsletter? Do you try to build a list of readers? Do you see a carryover to the sales of your novels?
My newsletter is where I inform my readers about new releases and sales. So, yes, I see carryover sales. I’m happy when people sign up as it gives me a direct link to readers, which is every author’s dream.
You have published a couple of your books in German. How is your audience abroad? Does marketing online help in this situation?
My German/Romanian books are traditionally published and I haven’t seen any sales figures for them so I’m not sure about my audience abroad. Does online marketing help foreign sales? Well, social media is worldwide and a great way of reaching people wherever they live. Obviously the language barrier is a problem but a lot of people in Europe, and beyond, are far better at English than I am at any other language.
Author's Book List
Cold In The Shadows
- Cold Justice Book 5CIA Officer Patrick Killion is on a secret mission to hunt down the ruthless female assassin hired to kill the Vice President of the United States. The trail leads him to the Colombian rainforest and an earnest biologist, Audrey Lockhart, whose work on poison dart frogs gives her access to one of the deadliest substances on earth—the same substance used to murder the VP.
When Audrey is attacked by the local drug cartel, Killion steps in and hustles her out of harm’s way, determined to find out what she knows. His interrogation skills falter somewhere between saving her life and nursing her back to health as he realizes she’s innocent, and he ends up falling for her. Audrey has a hard time overlooking the fact that Killion kidnapped her, but if she wants to get her life back and track down the bad guys, she has to trust him. Then someone changes the rules of their cat and mouse game and now they’re the ones being hunted—by a cold-blooded killer who is much closer than they think.
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Cold Fear
- Cold Justice Book 4A relentless FBI profiler hunts a vicious killer.
When old evidence turns up on a fresh corpse, ASAC Lincoln Frazer is determined it won’t delay the execution of a convicted serial killer. But when more young women are brutally slain, it becomes clear—this new killer is intimately familiar with the old murders.
A dedicated emergency physician hides a dark secret.
Former Army Captain Dr. Isadora Campbell helped her mother conceal a terrible crime. After her mother’s death, Izzy resigned her commission and returned to the Outer Banks to raise her rebellious teenage sister. But it doesn’t take long for Izzy to suspect that someone knows exactly what she did, all those years ago.
If they work together, maybe no one else will die.
With pressure mounting to reopen the old case, Frazer will use any means possible to catch the killer. Thrust together during the investigation, he and Izzy find themselves reluctantly attracted to one another, and begin an affair. Meanwhile the killer is much closer than they think. Izzy’s confession of her secret drives Frazer away as he struggles with her deception. By the time he realizes he’s fallen in love with the stubborn woman, the killer has her. Now the race is on to save Izzy, and any chance of a future they might have together.
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Cold Light of Day
- Cold Justice Book 3Physicist Scarlett Stone is the daughter of the man considered to be the most notorious Russian agent in FBI history. With her father dying in prison she’s determined to prove he’s innocent, but time is running out. Using a false identity, she gains access to the Russian ambassador’s Christmas party, searching for evidence of a set-up.
Former Navy SEAL, now FBI Special Agent, Matt Lazlo, is instantly attracted to Scarlett but life is too complicated to pursue a politician’s daughter. When he discovers she lied to him about her identity, he hunts her down with the ruthless efficiency he usually reserves for serial killers.
Not only does Scarlett’s scheme fail, it puts her in the sights of powerful people who reward unwanted curiosity with brutality. The FBI—and Matt—aren’t thrilled with her, either. But as agents involved in her father’s investigation start dying, and the attempts to stop Scarlett intensify, Matt and his colleagues begin to wonder. Could they have a traitor in their midst?
As Scarlett and Matt dig for the truth they begin to fall passionately for one another. But the real spy isn’t about to let anyone uncover their secrets, and resolves to remain firmly in the shadows—and for that to happen, Matt and Scarlett have to die.
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Cold Pursuit
- Cold Justice Book 2Single mom Vivi Vincent is thrust into her worst nightmare when she’s trapped inside a mall during a terror attack along with her eight-year-old son. With the help of Jed Brennan, an FBI special agent on enforced leave, Vivi and her son survive the assault. But the danger is far from over.
Vivi’s son may have witnessed critical details of the terrorists’ future plans and is targeted for death, but he’s mute, and he’s traumatized. Still someone launches a strike against the FBI’s safe house, and Jed fears the bad guys have an inside man. No longer knowing who to trust, he hides mother and son in a log cabin deep in the heart of the Wisconsin Northwoods. There Jed and Vivi try to figure out how to unlock the information inside her son’s head. What they don’t bargain for is the red-hot attraction that flares between them, or the extent of the sinister plot that threatens to rip apart not only any chance of happiness they might have together, but also the very fabric of American society.
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A Cold Dark Place
- Cold Justice Book 1Justice isn't always black or white. Sometimes it's cold and dark.
Former CIA assassin Alex Parker works for The Gateway Project, a clandestine government organization hell-bent on taking out serial killers and pedophiles before they enter the justice system. Alex doesn't enjoy killing, but he's damn good at it. He's good at dodging the law, too--until a beautiful rookie agent has him wondering what it might be like to get caught.
FBI Special Agent Mallory Rooney has spent years hunting the lowlife who abducted her identical twin sister eighteen years ago. Now, during an on-going serial killer investigation, Mallory begins to suspect there's a vigilante operating outside the law. She has no choice but to take him down, because murder isn't justice. Is it?
When Mallory starts asking questions, The Gateway Project management starts to sweat, and orders Alex to watch her. As soon as they meet, the two begin to fall in love. But the lies and betrayals that define Alex's life threaten to destroy them both--especially when the man who stole her sister all those years ago makes Mallory his next target, and Alex must reveal his true identity to save the woman he loves.
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Her Last Chance
- Her - Romantic Suspense Book 2Marsh & Josie first appear in HER SANCTUARY. This is their story
Eighteen years ago the Blade Hunter found his first victim on the streets of New York City.
As a child Josephine Maxwell was attacked and left for dead. She learned the hard way that life is a constant struggle for survival. She can’t waste time pining over a man she can’t have. Now the killer has returned, and the only person who can save her is the FBI agent she deceived and betrayed six months ago.
Now he’s back to finish the job.
Special Agent-in-Charge Marshall Hayes has made it his life’s work to fight on the side of law and order, even though it cost him the only woman he ever loved. The return of a serial killer gives him the excuse he needs to force his way back into her life. But in order to catch the killer and safeguard Josie's life, he has to break all the rules and risk losing his heart again.
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Her Sanctuary
- Her - Romantic Suspense Book 1Running for her life, ex-FBI agent Elizabeth Ward escapes to Montana with a new identity. She craves peace and solitude, but instead finds handsome rancher, Nat Sullivan.
Nat is trying to hold his ailing family together, while struggling to keep the ranch from bankruptcy. The last thing the cowboy needs is a beautiful stranger reminding him there is more to life than work.
But Elizabeth isn't what she seems. And when a murderer and rapist track her down to the remote ranch, they all find out about the power of revenge.
Revenge or Redemption. Which would you choose?
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Storm Warning
Sorcha Logan is looking for peace.
Recently returned to her hometown on Scotland's craggy coast, Sorcha wants to tame the spirits that made her flee. When she finds a corpse in the surf, however, she can't suppress the memory of discovering her father's body. Nor can she suppress the ghosts that haunt her—or the town's conviction that she's dangerous, and a witch.
Ben Foley is looking for a killer.
An American DEA agent, Ben is in town to investigate the suspicious death of his partner. He's sure that Sorcha knows more than she's letting on—but the more time he spends with the sexy suspect, the less he can fight their illicit attraction. And the less certain he is she's involved with a drug cartel.
But can Ben protect Sorcha from being set up? Or worse—killed?
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Edge of Survival
Dr. Cameran Young knew her assignment wouldn't be easy. As lead biologist on the Environment Impact Assessment team, her findings would determine the future of a large mining project in the northern Canadian bush. She expected rough conditions and hostile miners—but she didn't expect to find a dead body her first day on the job.
Former SAS Sergeant Daniel Fox forged a career as a helicopter pilot, working as far from the rest of the human race as possible. The thrill of flying makes his civilian life bearable, and he lives by his mantra: don't get involved. But when he's charged with transporting the biologist to her research vessel, he can't help but get involved in the murder investigation—and with Cameran, who awakens emotions he's desperate to suppress.
In the harsh and rugged wilderness, Daniel and Cameran must battle their intense and growing attraction while keeping ahead of a killer who will stop at nothing to silence her…
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Sea of Suspicion
Marine biologist Susie Cooper traded her life in America for a dream job on the rugged Scottish coast. Now all she lacks is the right man to start a family with. After their first meeting, she knows sexy Detective Inspector Nick Archer isn't what she's looking for. He's the type of guy whose idea of commitment is staying the whole night.
Nick has returned to St. Andrews for one reason only—to fulfill his vow to find his wife's killer. Relentless in his twelve-year quest for justice, he has no problem using Susie to get close to his primary suspect: her boss. But the passion between them smolders, and as it ignites, Nick finds himself torn between his past and his present—with Susie.
When one of her boss's students is murdered, Nick's investigation draws Susie into a web of madness and betrayal. They will have to learn to trust each other if they're going to catch a killer…and come out of this alive.
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The Killing Game
Wildlife biologist Axelle Dehn isn’t about to let anyone harm her endangered snow leopards—not the poacher intent on killing them, nor the soldier who wants to use them as bait. But Axelle is unknowingly entangled in a conflict that stretches back three decades, a conflict that could spark a war between two of the world’s great nations.
?British SAS soldier, Ty Dempsey, is on a mission to hunt down an infamous Russian terrorist in a remote region of Afghanistan. Dempsey hasn’t failed a mission yet, but when Axelle is kidnapped by the Russian, he is forced to choose between duty and his heart. He risks everything to save the determined, prickly woman he’s fallen for, but in doing so sparks a deadly series of events that threaten to expose the most successful spy in history. A spy who will destroy anyone who gets in his way.
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Dark Waters
- The Barkley Sound Series Book 2Danger once again laps at the shores of Barkley Sound, the Graveyard of the Pacific…
Since her rocky childhood and its abrupt, brutal ending, schoolteacher Anna Silver hasn’t given her trust easily. But when her estranged father gets in over his head—again—and winds up dead, his last message to Anna is as clear as it is insistent: she’s in danger and Brent Carver, the man with whom he shared a prison cell for five years, is the only person she should turn to for help. With nowhere else to go and with her father’s killer on her trail, Anna flees to what she hopes is safety.
Tucked into the west coast of Vancouver Island, Brent Carver’s isolated home hasn’t seen many visitors. And his friend’s daughter is the last person he ever expected to grace his doorstep. She’s in trouble, and he can’t deny her protection…just as he can’t deny his attraction to the independent beauty. As their passion sparks into flame, the perfect storm brews off the coast of his island home, bringing with it a sadistic killer hunting Anna and the secrets she’s come close to uncovering.
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Dangerous Waters
- The Barkley Sound Series Book 1Known as the Graveyard of the Pacific, Barkley Sound is notorious for surging swells with the power to pull helpless victims into its merciless abyss…
Sergeant Holly Rudd arrives in the coastal community of Bamfield after local divers discover a body with a knife jutting from its chest in the waters of Barkley Sound. As she investigates the crime, Holly soon realizes the sleepy town is rife with secrets. But what unsettles her most is the residents’ insistence that she bears a striking resemblance to the victim of a murder from three decades earlier. She shrugs off the uncanny likeness as a coincidence. But her simmering attraction to Finn Carver, one of the divers who discovered the corpse, isn’t so easy to ignore.
Finn, a former Special Forces soldier, knows it’s best to keep his distance from Holly. Yet it isn’t long before they both give in to the consuming desire they share. And as the danger escalates, Finn and Holly must rely on each other to thwart the plans of a cold-blooded killer who’s intent on keeping the past buried.
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Thank you, James, for the interview!
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