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Debby Grahl lives on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, with her husband, David. Besides writing, she enjoys biking, walking on the beach and a glass of wine at sunset. Her favorite places to visit are New Orleans, New York City, Captiva Island in Florida, the Cotswolds of England, and her home state of Michigan. She is a history buff who also enjoys reading murder mysteries, time travel, and, of course, romance. Visually impaired since childhood by Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), she uses screen-reading software to research and write her books.
Her first published book, The Silver Crescent, won the Paranormal Romance Guild Reviewers’ Choice award. Her second book, Rue Toulouse, a contemporary romance set in New Orleans, was a finalist in the National Excellence in Romantic Fiction Award and was selected as a May, 2016, ‘local read’ by Hilton Head Monthly.
Decorated to Death is a holiday mystery cozy. She also has stories in three anthologies, The Haunted West, Never Fear/Christmas Terrors; and Ebb and Flow from the local Island Writers’ Network.
Debby was featured in the January, 2016, Hilton Head Monthly article ‘Intriguing People of the Lowcountry’. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Florida Romance Writers, and First Coast Romance Writers.
Her latest book, His Magic Touch, was released December 5, 2018, by Wild Rose Press.
Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Rue Toulouse by Debby Grahl is a wonderful mix of contemporary romance and sleuth, featuring very complex characters. Caterine Doucette is a fashion designer who meets ex-cop Remi Michaud at a masquerade ball. They come together for one night of passion that changes everything. Caterine inherits the exclusive family boutique, Ma Chérie, but someone in the Doucette household is determined to take her out and she doesn’t know who. Remi works for a private security company, and he comes in to help unmask the person who wants Caterine dead. The attraction between Caterine and Remi grows stronger, but each is held back by a painful past and betrayal. Can they learn to trust each other in a world filled with betrayal, family secrets, and painful revenge?
The characters are very remarkable and the author does a wonderful job of putting obstacles in the way of their romance in the form of past experiences. From the very beginning, the reader gets a glimpse of Caterine’s loss and the sense of rejection when she overheard a conversation that was unsettling and filled with hate. For a six-year-old little girl who’d just lost her parents, it was a devastating blow. The author makes sure that incidents from the characters' pasts, woven into the backstory, enrich their personalities and help in building the conflict that sets the emotional and psychological tone of the narrative. Debby Grahl’s prose is atmospheric and filled with wonderful and insightful descriptions, dialogues that help to move the story forward, and strong plot points. Rue Toulouse is hugely entertaining and filled with memorable characters.
