Excerpt & Giveaway – Amanda Cadabra and The Twilight Toxin by Holly Bell
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
Synopsis
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.
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Excerpt
Chapter 1
At The Gates
The dog was always nervous at this point in the walk. The estate perimeter was boarded up. There was nothing to see, and it had long been abandoned to the encroaching wild grasses and ivy. Even so, Flussy always made sure to hurry past the gates on the opposite side of the track, not even sniffing to ‘read’ the news of other dogs or foxes who had passed by.
But today was different. Flussy began pulling on the leash as she and Martin neared the plank-obscured entrance, straining towards it.
‘Flussy?’
Suddenly, she wrenched the leash from Martin’s hand and pelted towards the gate, barking frantically.
‘What? Flussy!’ Her owner took her seriously and, seeing a loose board, swung it across to look up the driveway. Blessed with long sight, Martin peered at the great house. All but one window was blind, but in a lower one, the tall shutters had been opened. It was just possible to make out a table … and … something … on it. Could it be? Surely not. But Flussy was growing more vociferous by the minute.
The first task was to calm the dog. Martin picked up the quivering animal, ran with her past the borders of the property and held her, speaking soothingly to her. Finally, Flussy was quieted enough for the call.
Martin was an organised man. On his phone were the numbers of the gas and electricity supplier, the water board, his doctor, his dentist, the fire brigade, and the police station.
The phone was answered at once.
‘Hello, Bodmin Police Station, how can I help?’
‘Hello, my name is Martin Hicks and …. Well, er, yes, I think I did go to school with your … Yes, I’m actually calling about …. Well, yes … no … I … I’m not sure if it is an emergency. Look, it could be nothing, I really can’t be at all sure, but Flussy has been going mad …. No, she’s not my wife; she’s my bi–. My dog. Look, I don’t know if I’ve found anything. It’s just … that is I think … it’s a body.’
***
Detective Inspector Thomas Trelawney, of the Devon and Cornwall Police, on permanent loan to the Met on special, low-key assignment to Sunken Madley, poured milk into his perfectly brewed tea. He walked back to his desk, where a shaft of mid-morning sun was cast across his handwritten notes. He was hoping that a reviving beverage and a dip into the tin of shortcake biscuits, presented to him by his kindly landlady, might give him some inspiration.
Trelawney took his mug over to the window. It was a receptacle he rarely used, but, unusually, he hadn’t got around to washing up any these past three days, and it was the last one. A gift from Joan the postlady and Jim, her husband and local caterer, it bore the legend, ‘I like big busts and I cannot lie’. Trelawney felt that, while humorous and given from the right place, it somewhat lacked the gravitas due to his station-cum-office-cum-flat in the quaint English village of Sunken Madley.
Trelawney’s notes were various attempts at analyses of the series of murders that had taken place in the village during the past two years. Try as he might, any connections continued to elude him. Not that he’d had as much time with it as he’d have liked. Trelawney was also on secondment to Barnet Hill Police Station, which kept him busy. Although the inspector, as was understood by his superior there, always deferred to the priority of any matters pertaining to the village, and, of course, Amanda.
Amanda Cadabra.
Amanda Cadabra, who had got under his skin from that first moment in the cottage ….
About the Author
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.
