A Wicked Welcome to Lynn Cahoon **plus a giveaway**
by Julie, sipping a London Fog in Somerville
I’m delighted to welcome Lynn Cahoon back to the blog to celebrate the sixth, and last, book in her Farm to Fork series.
A Fatal Family Feast – Farm to Fork book #6Hi Wickeds! Big thanks to Julie Hennrikus who invited me to come play with you all today.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Lynn Cahoon, cozy mystery author. I’ve been writing in my cozy worlds since the release of the Tourist Trap mystery series in July of 2014. My publisher asked for three books in the cozy coastal California town of South Cove in this bookstore set series and we release them in what they considered a fast release. Now Tourist Trap is up to lucky number 13 (WEDDING BELL BLUES) releasing this year.
I also write the Cat Latimer mystery series, set in Colorado with a paranormal author sleuth who opens a writers retreat in an old Victorian. Although my publisher has stopped the series, I’ve been given the rights to continue these stories, so number 8 will release this fall.
Last year I started a new series, set in the magical mountains of Idaho around a catering director who’s also a kitchen witch (THREE TAINTED TEAS will release in April in The Kitchen Witch mysteries.)
And later in 2022, a new series set in a new age Sedona bookstore will start with an owner who is a cancer survivor and her new book club that likes to solve murders. (TUESDAY NIGHT SURVIVORS’ CLUB, part of the Survivors’ Book Club mysteries.)
Whew, that’s a lot, right? Well, when some things start, others must end to make room for the new. And that’s what’s happening with my Idaho set Farm to Fork series. A FATAL FAMILY FEAST, came out this month and is the last book featuring the farm to table restaurant, The County Seat, and it’s owners and kitchen crew. I loved writing these books (and the three novellas that fill out the series.) It was like going home.
Angie and Felicia open The County Seat in an old building in fictional River Vista which is right across the street from the city park. A park, in the real town where I grew up, that held the town’s founding festival each year. From the street dance that Friday night, a parade on Saturday, and a carnival that set up outside the park where the city now has built a greenbelt, the town and all the surrounding farm residents celebrated the bounty of summer and the coming of fall and the harvest.
The festival was where I met my first boyfriend who was from a totally different ‘group’ than I hung out with. I was the good kid – a book worm who cared if I aced the test or not. Kirk. on the other hand, was one of the guys who hung out across the street before school started because they could smoke there without getting in trouble. But love blooms like a flower in a crack of a sidewalk, not in the right place all the time. And Lynn has a thing for bad boys.
When I was planning out this last book, I knew I had to marry off at least one of my Scooby Do couples. And Angie wasn’t there yet. So it had to be Felicia and the County Seat’s kitchen second in command, Estebe. Felicia is from back east and although we hadn’t talked a lot about her background, she was raised with money. Estebe made his own fortune and, although he’s rich now, you wouldn’t know it. He’s a hard worker with a history of having short temper that can get him in trouble.
The bar hopping scene for the bachelor/bachelorette party is based on what I imagine Boise is like now. The places may change names and locations, but the feel of a big, small town, is Boise’s claim to fame.
Now that I’m not writing in the Farm to Fork series anymore, I’ll have to take my Kitchen Witch crew down to the valley to get my Boise visit fix. Maybe a dinner theater is on the menu. Or maybe a visit to a farm to fork restaurant that isn’t part of a current series anymore. And just so happens to have a St. Bernard mascot sitting outside near the front door.
It’s hard to give up writing a series for the author. Especially in the cozy world where we get so involved in the town and characters. I’m that way when my favorite television shows get cancelled. Especially when there are loose ends.
Readers, what’s one series that you wish had run longer? I’m giving away an e-copy of A FATAL FAMILY FEAST to one lucky commenter.
A FATAL FAMILY FEAST.Angie Turner’s Idaho restaurant, the County Seat, is the perfect site for a picturesque country wedding, but the party planning skids to a halt when the groom-to-be is implicated in a murder investigation…
When Angie’s best friend and business partner, Felicia Williams, picks the County Seat to host her upcoming nuptials, Angie wants it to feel like a family affair–especially since Felicia is set to marry the farm-to-fork restaurant’s talented sous chef, Estebe Blackstone. Unfortunately, the bride’s actual family is far less enthusiastic about the union. They’re pulling out all the stops to cancel the couple’s wedding, even arranging for a surprise visit from Felicia’s ex-fiancé (and her father’s current lackey). But when her ex is killed days before the ceremony and Estebe is framed for the crime, Angie and the County Seat crew must scramble to solve the murder and save the wedding . . .
Lynn Cahoon, author of A Killer Christmas Wish, a Cat Latimer mystery, is a NYT and USA Today bestselling author of the Tourist Trap, Kitchen Witch, Cat Latimer, Survivors’ Book Club, and Farm-to-Fork mystery series. No matter where the mystery is set, readers can expect a fun ride. Find out more at her website www.lynncahoon.com
