Lynn Cahoon | Second careers

Jill Gardner, my heroine in GUIDEBOOK TO MURDER quit her job at the law office, picked up her life, and bought a coffeehouse/book store in a small coastal California tourist town.

Risky you say? I don't think so. We are drawn to actions that at the time seem foolish to those around us. But maybe, just maybe, it's a life path correction that needed to be taken.

Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken has always been my favorite poem. What would happen if we did take the less traveled road, the one that called to our soul? Some people are better at listening to the universe and choose well the first time. I, on the other hand, have always been one who learns from experience. Like my first marriage. Or a failed business.

Thomas Edison said a failed light bulb is one less way it wouldn't work. Sales courses tell you it takes 25 no's to get a yes. Twenty-five rejections. Now that's persistence.

I'm on a second career path right now. I built my work experience in a large social service agency. When I left, I tried to run my own business but realized I didn't like marketing. Funny that now, as an author, marketing is a requirement. So I'm learning my life lessons.

Jill Gardner hasn't regretted her stop and reset. And, honestly, neither am I.

Have you ever changed your life in a small or big way?

In the gentle coastal town of South Cove, California, all Jill Gardner wants is to keep her store--Coffee, Books, and More--open and running. So why is she caught up in the business of murder?

When Jill's elderly friend, Miss Emily, calls in a fit of pique, she already knows the city council is trying to force Emily to sell her dilapidated old house. But Emily's gumption goes for naught when she dies unexpectedly and leaves the house to Jill--along with all of her problems. . .and her enemies. Convinced her friend was murdered, Jill is finding the list of suspects longer than the list of repairs needed on the house. But Jill is determined to uncover the culprit--especially if it gets her closer to South Cove's finest, Detective Greg King. Problem is, the killer knows she's on the case--and is determined to close the book on Jill permanently. . .

About Lynn Cahoon

Lynn Cahoon's a multi-published author. An Idaho native, her stories focus around the depth and experience of small town life and love. Lynn's published in Chicken Soup anthologies, explored controversial stories for the confessional magazines, short stories in Women's World, and contemporary romantic fiction. Currently, she's living in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. She lives with her husband and four fur babies.