#FASHION WITH TESSA--GUEST AUTHOR LYNN CAHOON

Photo by Neesa Rajbhandari

If you visited the town where New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lynn Cahoon 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. Learn more about Lynn and her books at her website. 

Do you buy used clothes?

Fashion alert: Vintage Duds, a-new-to-you shop, selling designer clothes has opened in my fictional town of South Cove, California. Sherry King and Pat Williams are the newest business owners in my tourist trap town.  The store is filled with classic and modern designer creations, and Sherry has even added a small runway area for trunk sales that allows her to play New York Fashion week whenever she buys out an up-and-coming starlet’s closet. Or more likely, an on-the-way-out-of-Hollywood has-been’s clothes.

Either way, the clothes aren’t new off the delivery truck. Some have been worn once, some a little more often. I love walking through a local resale shop here in St. Louis. Some of my finds have lasted me longer than items I picked up new at mall stores. I’m a cheap shopper; I’ll admit it. I have great taste. I can point out whatever’s most expensive on the store floor. Sadly for my closet, I can’t bring myself to pay full price for anything. My wallet on the other hand, thanks me.

I shop clearance, out of season, and, yes, I’ll admit it, I also shop resale. Goodwill stores are too overwhelming. Too many bad choices, too much stuff to sort through. Even though I’m cheap, I’m also picky. I want to look professional and sharp in my new-to-me items. 

This season, I’m planning on hitting the charity resale shop to see if I can snag a little black dress for upcoming conferences. Whatever I’m wearing when you see me in NYC or Raleigh, NC at different conventions, you can count on one thing: I didn’t mortgage my house to buy the dress. 

So it’s your turn to dish. Are you a closet re-sale shopper? Do you love finding a garage sale where the woman used to be your size? Or does the thought of buying used creep you out a little?  (Read Joe Hill’s A Heart Shaped Box, and you may never let a used piece of clothing near you again.)

Dressed to Kill

Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books, and More in the tucked-away town of South Cove, California—is not particularly thrilled to be portraying a twenties flapper for the dinner theater murder mystery. Though it is for charity…

Of course everyone is expecting a “dead” body at the dress rehearsal…but this one isn’t acting! It turns out the main suspect is the late actor’s conniving girlfriend Sherry…who also happens to be the ex-wife of Jill’s main squeeze. Sherry is definitely a master manipulator…but is she a killer? Jill may discover the truth only when the curtain comes up on the final act…and by then, it may be far too late.

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