Four Charming Spells from Guest Lynn Cahoon

Edith/Maddie here, writing from nearly April north of Boston.

The prolific Lynn Cahoon has a charming new book out, and she’s giving away a copy to a lucky commenter! Take a look at this cover.

Here’s the blurb: Before Mia Malone can sip tea at Time for a Cuppa, the charming new shop in Magic Springs, Idaho, her life changes course in downright supernatural ways. First her blossoming catering business and cooking school get a boost with the addition of an enchanting cake decorator. Then she catches the attention of the tea shop owner herself, local coven member Mahogany Medford, who’s set on immersing Mia in a twisted mystery that appears all but unsolvable without a special kind of help . . .

Still reeling from the recent loss of her mother and believing there was more to the abrupt death, Mahogany urges Mia to cast light on the truth. But old secrets might come back to haunt her in an investigation that demands conjuring up phantoms from the past on the property of Mia’s Morsels. Now, wearing Gran’s protective stone and empowered by a circle of trusted confidants, Mia must reveal who—or what—killed Ms. Medford as another deadly surprise brews!

Uprooting Everything While Still Writing

Hi, I’m Lynn Cahoon and I was born in Idaho. Moved to St. Louis after a time. Now, I live 10 miles from the North Carolina border in eastern Tennessee. My next (and final) move will be to a cottage by the sea.

I write cozy series set in California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, and Arizona. And I’ve got one that keeps hanging around my head that will probably be set on the North Carolina coast in my all-time favorite vacation spot – the Outer Banks. I like to travel and have talked to my husband about my  bucket list. He’s not interested in most of my plans, except Scotland and New Zealand.

Then the year (or two) of No Travel occurred so I’m just now getting back to going to readers events and signings. The last event I did in 2020 was in February and Nashville had a tornado a few days after I left town. (It wasn’t my fault, really.)

Anyway, I did a couple of events in 2021 and then four in 2022. This year I’m doing a lot more. As I’m writing this, I’ll be driving to Suffolk Mystery Festival tomorrow. Then the next week, flying into Arizona for a writer/reader convention. With two local(ish) events in North Carolina and Kentucky on my schedule for after that, I’ll end my FOUR CHARMING SPELLS release tour.  With the local event I attended in February, I’ve already surpassed last year’s trip count.

I have a trip to California and a family trip to OBX planned. Like I said, I love traveling, but I’m looking forward to May when I’ll be at home for at least a month.

So what does this travel discussion have to do with writing? A lot. One, as an author, we visit readers where they are. I love meeting new readers and have made several long-distance friendships from events like the ones I’ve attended. At one event, I met up with a cousin for dinner that I hadn’t seen in forty (?) years. Building a reader base is part of the job description so as my promo button says – TRAVEL IS MURDER.

But also, I start thinking about plots and settings and new series as I travel and see new things. The Kitchen Witch series is set in Magic Springs, Idaho. The actual town may be fictional, but the Sun Valley area isn’t. It’s beautiful in all seasons and was (is) a popular place for California movie stars to buy ‘cabins’ and hang out in the mountains. My husband swears he met Bruce Willis and Demi Moore in the bar they owned when my husband was locating utilities in the area. It was before we were married so I can’t verify the tale.

My first visit to Sun Valley was for a high school state convention for Future Homemakers of America. I was a state officer. After we had our meetings, we ran to the outdoor hot tub and climbed in. It started to snow. The woods were quiet, and it was magical. Until we had to get out and run to our rooms.

Magic Springs is a place where you’d expect magic to be real. And in my town, half the locals attend the coven but not my main character. She likes being independent. Her focus is getting her catering business going. Her grandmother is busy whipping up potions in her bathtub. Yep, it’s that kind of place.

So what about you? Are you a homebody or a traveling soul?  Leave a comment and enter to win a signed print copy of FOUR CHARMING SPELLS (US Only – but if you’re outside the US and win – I’ll send you a digital copy of another book.)

Lynn Cahoon, author of FOUR CHARMING SPELLS, a Kitchen Witch mystery, is a NYT and USA Today author of the best-selling Tourist Trap, Kitchen Witch, Cat Latimer, Farm-to-Fork, and Survivors’ Book Club mystery series. No matter where the mystery is set, readers can expect a fun ride. Find out more at her website www.lynncahoon.com