BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR LYNN CAHOON

Multi-published author Lynn Cahoon writes stories that focus around the depth and experience of small town life and love. Learn more about Lynn and her books at her website/blog. 

Who slept here?

Growing up in Idaho, finding historical sites to visit is sometimes a challenge. We have wide-open spaces for camping and clear blue lakes and rivers for fishing, but most of our historical sites deal with the exploration and development of the west and the state.

Spaulding Mission is one of those sites. The long ago mission and school was said to be the farthest a white couple had gone inward from the west coast at the time. When a fellow traveler who settled a little closer to the coast in Walla Walla, Washington hadn’t heard from the couple, he set out to visit. Only the little house had been burned to the ground and the white settlers killed. The story is told to Idaho fourth graders every year.

Idaho’s first government was set in a historic mining town. Still active, Idaho City, though no longer the capital, now serves as a mountain tourist town.

We also had a lot of Lewis and Clark ‘stayed here’ sights.

Imagine my surprise when I moved to St Louis and they also laid claim to the Lewis and Clark adventure. However, my new home has more experience in dealing with and supporting historical sites. Probably because more history occurred here. We have the first prison ever in Illinois—even before Joliet—or at least a wall of the old prison. We have statues depicting the Lincoln Douglas debate and even a life size statue of the largest man to ever live.

History. My new hometown is steeped in the stuff.

My new series, The Tourist Trap mysteries, deals with history in a small tourist town. South Cove is home to one of the first Spanish missions and if Jill’s right, the wall in her garden is the original foundation for that mission. But there are a lot of people hoping that she’s wrong.

Check out Mission to Murder to find out more about the Spanish Missions dotting the California coastline.

Mission to Murder, a Tourist Trap Mystery

In the California coastal town of South Cove, history is one of its many tourist attractions—until it becomes deadly…

Jill Gardner, proprietor of Coffee, Books, and More, has discovered that the old stone wall on her property might be a centuries-old mission worthy of being declared a landmark. But Craig Morgan, the obnoxious owner of South Cove’s most popular tourist spot, The Castle, makes it his business to contest her claim. When Morgan is found murdered at The Castle shortly after a heated argument with Jill, even her detective boyfriend has to ask her for an alibi. Jill decides she must find the real murderer to clear her name. But when the killer comes for her, she’ll need to jump from historic preservation to self-preservation …

Buy Link