I’m lucky enough to have author Lynn Cahoon join me today.  She is the author of the Tourist Trap cozy mystery series and I just finished up her first two books and am anxiously awaiting book 3!

Welcome Lynn

Thanks for having me over to StoreyBook Reviews!

As I pondered what to write this blog about, I got thinking about friendship, and family, and community. The one thing I love about writing the TOURIST TRAP mysteries, is I get to build relationships and family for my characters. Jill, my heroine, hasn’t been the most successful in relationships. So moving to South Cove, she’s looking for a sense of belonging. A sense of community.

Sometimes that’s hard to get in a new to you town. I remember being the new girl in elementary school five times. It sucks. Especially when you’re known for the rest of your school career as the girl who threw up in third grade science class when the teacher talked about the heart pumping blood.

I still get woozy thinking about the whole process.

That was my first indication that the medical field was not a good career choice. I still get light headed when people talk about how the body works. I believe it’s like electricity. I don’t have to know how it works to appreciate a light on a dark night. Or any of the ways my body works.

But back to community. South Cove, my fictional town set on the central California coast, is one of those towns where everyone knows your business. Sometimes before you do. And now that Jill is dating the local police detective, everyone is watching her, expecting her to be ‘hooked-in’ to all the gossip.

I adore the way the town is growing. Adding people, I mean characters, book by book. Some are Jill’s missing pieces to the mosaic of her life, like her Aunt Jackie. Others, as far as Jill is concerned, could just go missing. Like the guy who runs Antiques by Thomas – Josh Thomas is a whiner. And not shy to express his views to anyone within ear shot.

But that’s what happens when people live together. You take the good and the bad and figure out a way to live with both. My ex-husband never learned that. He wanted everything to be perfect or we’d have to move to the next neighborhood, where things would match his vision. Until they didn’t.

I wanted to put down roots. To have my kid go to the same school, with the same kids, until he graduated. I finally made that happen for us. Now, I live across the country in a small historic town. Our community is large, expanding, and healthy. Just like South Cove.

Community doesn’t just mean the people you live by. You can develop a community with your friends, hobbies, or job contacts. Jill’s been developing her own community of support during the last five years. And for once, she feels like she belongs.

Or she did. Until someone killed Craig Morgan. The guy she fought with, not once but twice in the days before his death.

Now she might as well wear a t-shirt that says – Suspect #1.

Lynn

About Lynn

USA Today and New York Times, best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon is an Idaho native. If you’d visit the town where she grew up, you’d understand why her mysteries and romance novels focus around the depth and experience of small town life. Currently, she’s living in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. She lives with her husband and four fur babies.

Goodreads * Twitter * Facebook * Website * Amazon author page