C.J. Toca enjoys writing suspense and mystery fiction with an eye toward spiritual or mystical aspects of life.
So it should be of no surprise that The Secret Heir contained both a spiritual and mystical component. If readers enjoyed that aspect of the book, Toca’s next work, the prequel, The Vacant Seat is a spiritual mystery, setting the stage for the adventures and relationships between Stefania, Thomas, Greschenko and Anatoly and others in The Secret Heir. As some reviewers have pointed out, hints abound in The Secret Heir relating to their past adventure and relationships, and new ones to come in the sequel to The Secret Heir, The Lost Painting, coming in 2025.
Toca enjoys settings which are somewhat unique and not often used, such as rural and urban New Jersey, rural Scotland, Malta, the Cape Verde Islands, Brazil and Turkmenistan, rural Arizona, and Mexico, in The Secret Heir. The Vacant Seat transports the reader to Italy, but also again to rural Scotland, and Brazil, Toca’s intent is to paint a description of the locales to hopefully transport the reader there. Toca enjoys reading fiction and non-fiction, is an Anglophile, and religion, art, and history buff.
