Welcome back, Lynn Cahoon!

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Liz here, welcoming Lynn Cahoon back to the blog to talk about writing the Kitchen Witch series. The latest is THREE TAINTED TEAS, about which Kirkus said “This witchy tale is a hoot.” Awesome Lynn! Welcome and take it away!

So why a paranormal cozy mystery? 

I was a Dark Shadows girl. I would run as soon as I got off the bus, swing open the door and sit in front of the television. If there was a commercial, my mom would fill me in on what had already happened. If not, I’d watch and then get the update a few minutes later. It was our thing. That memory still makes me smile. Mom’s been gone six years now, but those afternoons of watching Dark Shadows together is one of my favorite memories.  

But my love of paranormal started in second grade. With a story told in verse. Mark was in the park, in the dark. They went to a lake where there was a shark, but the owl save them and they got away. Not a chilling story by today’s measure, but it’s stayed with me all these years.  

I got the idea for the Kitchen Witch when I was in the hospital during my chemo treatments. I had a fever and went in on a Sunday night. They kept me three days. There wasn’t much on TV, but there was a few hours of Charmed I could watch. Then I could change the channel and watch a couple more on a different station. It kept me sane. But it also put a nugget of a new main character and what type of witch she’d be. 

The Kitchen Witch series is a mix between the Good Witch meets Jessica Fletcher. I try to keep a balance between the magic and the mystery. And of course, there’s a bit of romance. Nothing graphic, but people have relationships in real life and in my books, they have friends and people who are more than friends. And of course, there’s food. 

My main character, Mia opened her catering business in the first book, ONE POISON PIE, but in a small town, she had to do more. Even though Magic Springs is an upscale small town, a lot of business have to have more than one specialty to keep the doors open. So she caters, teaches cooking classes, delivers home meals, has food on site for drop ins to pick up, and, in this book, she tries her hand at wedding planning. 

What could go wrong?  

Comment below with what job you’d like to do if you could start over with your career. Or maybe what job you had that you loved or still love. Or just say hi. One random winner will be chosen to get a signed print copy of THREE TAINTED TEAS. (Non-US mailing addresses will win a digital replacement of a similar item.) 

Here’s a blurb about Three Tainted Teas (Kitchen Witch #3)

Aspiring witch and culinary entrepreneur, Mia Malone, must dispel a deadly plot to wreck her clients’ wedding in this charming continuation of New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon’s Kitchen Witch Mystery series.
 
Business is bubbling at Mia’s catering service and cooking school, Mia’s Morsels, but toil and trouble are not far behind. Mia just accepted her toughest gig yet: last-minute wedding planner for Magic Springs’ own Romeo and Juliet. Though the small town is fairly accepting of magic, two families have been locked in a vicious feud spanning generations. Unfortunately for both families, they’re about to become in-laws! Amethyst and Tok are excited to wed in a few weeks and somehow Mia must ensure the event is flawless.
 
But when she goes to pick up paperwork from the couple’s previous wedding planner, Mia discovers the woman murdered in an apparent attempt to stop the contentious union. Now, not only is Mia a prime suspect, as the new planner she may also be the killer’s next target. Backed by her squad, her charms—literal and figurative—and a protective amulet from her Grans, it’s up to Mia to save the star-crossed couple’s wedding, her professional reputation…and maybe even her life!

Lynn Cahoon is a NYT and USA Today author of the best-selling Tourist Trap, Kitchen Witch, Cat Latimer, Farm-to-Fork, and soon to release, Survivors’ Book Club mystery series. No matter where the mystery is set, readers can expect a fun ride. Find out more at her website http://www.lynncahoon.com. You can find Lynn at http://lynncahoon.com/ or on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Published by Cate Conte / Liz Mugavero

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in the Boston area with her rescue pals.

56 Thoughts

  1. I liked working by myself mostly so I did a lot of data entry work. I don’t know a single program. I just needed someone to show me what to do and I did it.

    I was a Dark Shadows girl too. My husband and I have been to a few of the anniversary festivals. I have even had my cheek kissed by David Selby (Quenton) and went on a cruise with the actors who played Maggie, Crazy Genny and Angelique. I guess you can say I’m a fan girl.

    Thank you for this chance at your giveaway! pgenest57 at aol dot com

  2. This book sounds like so much fun, Lynn, and welcome back to the blog! I am firmly in the best job I’ve ever had – writing mysteries – and I have no intention of stopping.

    1. I wanted to be a librarian in middle school. I spent a lot of my free time there, shelving new books and setting up the card catalogue.

  4. Lots of luck with Three Tainted Teas, which sounds like a wonderful read! Thanks to Elizabeth Peters, I wanted to be an archaeologist when I was a kid. Now I get to dig into the past writing historical mysteries.

  5. I love the cover with the cat playing with ribbons. It almost looks like a wedding ceremony instead of a funeral with the way the beribboned chairs are placed.

  6. Congratulations on the new book! I can’t wait for the opportunity to read “THREE TAINTED TEAS” which most definitely is on my TBR list.

    I, too, loved Dark Shadows. 🙂

    If I were young and able to choose a profession, I would love to do something with photography. Maybe it would involve travel to all the wonderful places in the United States so I could document its beauty in photos. Photography is something I fell in love with in my later years and I love trying to capture what they eye sees in landscapes, critters and events.

    Thank you for the chance to win a copy! Shared and hoping to be the fortunate one.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  7. Oh geez, I was that same run-home-from-school-turn-on-the-tv Dark Shadows girl! Your book sounds great! I’ve often thought being an archeologist would be thrilling, discovering new artifacts.

  8. There were several jobs that as a kid I thought would be fun- actor, writer, archeologist, chef, librarian, research scientist. I’d still like to give author a shot and, while I’m in no way a professional, I like to cook and bake and try new things. I created my own recipe for pink divinity ice cream, since they don’t make it anymore.

    1. I think that’s why I love being an author. I can be any of my characters and do any job I want to, for at least the length of the book.

  9. I loved Dark Shadows after school! I would love to be a Librariam if I started over. Books, books and more books!

  10. Welcome back to the Wickeds, Lynn and congratulations on the release of Three Tainted Teas. I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid–it just took me several decades to get there!

    1. Thanks Barbara! Sometimes it takes a while for our true selves to show up even if you know who you are. At least it did for me.

  12. I enjoyed working as a counselor with individuals with disabilities for 33 years. Our agency helped them go to work for the first time or return to work.

    I had always been interested in working in a library or having my own bookstore. I had worked at my college library for 3 years. The more I learned from helping others start their own businesses, I learned that it was impractical for me. After retiring, I didn’t want another job so I became President of our library Booster Group and did volunteer work through that to help the library. I enjoyed working our book sales.

    1. Hi Helen, I think we’ve talked about this but I worked in Medicaid for 18 years as my first adult job. I loved it. Then I was a grant writer for a non-profit. Best job ever, if you don’t care about money or benefits. LOL

  13. How wonderful! Thank you so much Lynn. Love all your books. I am retired now, but if I had it to do over, I would choose the same career I worked for about 45 years in: I was in charge of promoting international sales for the largest airline, and I was traveling most of my life to visit clients of the airline, or taking travel agents to new destinations, or inaugural flights. I have been truly blessed, and I wish that everyone has an opportunity to travel and learn to love the people, the cultures and the places you will get to know.
    Happy writing, and happy traveling!

  14. I wasn’t a Dark Shadows fan, but love magic in books, tv & movies! It might have started with the King Arthur stories I’ve read since childhood with Merlin & Morgan le Fay. If I could start a new career, I would open a yarn store with a few of my knitting group friends, there hasn’t been a yarn store in Queens NY (except for Michaels) for many years.

  15. Lynn, I love your books and always am exciting when a new one comes out. And, I enjoy a little good witch paranormal thrown in. I would have loved to have been an archeologist or a travel agent. I got to do just a touch of each, but wasn’t able to manage either into full time. I’m a lot too old to start over now, but I sure would be willing to try!

    1. If I could start over again, I would get a degree in Library Science and begin a career working in a library.

  16. If I could start my career over, I would love to be someone’s personal shopper. I love shopping. My degrees were an Associate’s Degree in Elementary Education & a Sociology Degree. I want to help people and enjoy doing it despite a lot of the frustrations hence why I want to be a Personal Shopper.

  17. Oh my, if I could start over now, I would have a job that involved teaching adults and travel. All I wanted to be when I was young was a teacher and that lasted until I spent a few years teaching elementary school! I quickly figured out I much preferred working with adults. Lynn, thanks for all the great books. I love Tourist Trap, Farm-to-Fork and Cat Latimer series. Need to start Kitchen Witch next.

    1. Hi Marcia! I loved teaching adults. I got an offer from a company to travel around and teach but then 911 happened and the world changed for a bit. Glad you’re enjoying the series!

  18. I hope you are completely recovered, Lynn!

    I would want my old Management Advisory job back. It isn’t what it sounds like, it was working for an accounting firm performing hotel and restaurant feasibility studies. Loved it, combined two of my favorite things – travel – often to exotic locations – and writing. Such fun!

  19. Welcome back! I would have loved to be a librarian!! All the books! Thanks so much for the chance! Love your books. What a great book cover!

  20. I worked in a stable one summer as a teen. I would have liked to have been able to make a career of working with horses

    1. I always wanted to love horses, but I couldn’t relax enough to ride well. 🙂 But they are beautiful creatures.

  21. Lynn, I should have mentioned that I loved Dark Shadows, too. In fact, my daughter’s name is Angelique. I fits her very well. She’s beautiful, but has a little bit of an evil streak in her.

  22. I was a teacher for 38 1/2 year until I decided it wasn’t fun anymore and retired twice. Once in Texas with full retirement and then the rest here in Georgia. I had a Bachelor of Arts degree with an art history and English minor. I taught, English, studio art, art history, AP art history, taught computers in the late 1970s, Texas history, and was the newspaper and yearbook teacher. I loved them all. But I wanted to teach history (but all of the coaches taught this) and I wanted to be a librarian (but if you were a librarian, you never left until you retired–good job). If I had to do it again, I would have gone into journalism and stay a yearbook teacher and the newspaper. I loved those and yet I never did that in high school. Back in my day, our high school did not have career paths like they do now. I always read book. In first grade, I got the certificate for reading the most books-202. And they weren’t baby books. My daddy took me once a week to the library for books. And I also taught all of my stuffed animals. So, there you go. So many of the above put librarian, so you see what I mean. I also loved archeology and wanted to be a good witch after my grandfather gave me a book on witchcraft in the early 1960s. My cousins and I used to pretend that we were witches in college.

  23. Your book looks wonderful!
    I feel I had the best job ever. I was a custodian for a elementary school for 28 years. I was blessed to be around children every day. Loved it.

  24. Happy book birthday. I love the cover. I would like to own a book store. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.

  25. What a great book cover. I am a fan of your books, so keep on writing!!

  28. I liked Dark Shadows, too. Especially the early ones. Here at the library where I work, we have the whole series on DVD and they circulate like crazy. We all love a little mystery in life, I guess.

  29. I am quite enjoying my current “job” of reviewing books, but I am going to have to start unsubscribing from newsletters as the flood (currently 16,813) is drowning me.

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