Slay in Character by Lynn Cahoon

Staying in character can be murder when Cat Latimer and the members of her writers’ retreat head for a ghost town…
 
Cat and the members of her writers’ retreat have just arrived in Outlaw, Colorado, an “Old West” tourist town complete with inhabitants dressed up as famous figures from history. But this authentic slice of Americana takes a murderous turn when a college student masquerading as a 19th-century saloon girl becomes history herself.

Was she the intended target? Or did she take a hit meant for someone else? With a cast of suspects to choose from—including some notorious gunslingers and the sleazy town founders—Cat must unhorse the real culprit before a real-life ghost story is given a killer twist…

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lynn Cahoon took time out of her busy schedule to sit down with The Big Thrill and discuss the latest installment in the Cat Latimer Mystery series, SLAY IN CHARACTER:

What do you hope readers will take away from this book? 

A desire to explore new and different places. Ghost towns are a peek back into the past. And Old West towns allow us to imagine a life where the law was a little less formal and learning to survive was part of your education.

How does this book make a contribution to the genre? 

Cozies are fun reads. Now, I hope it makes the genre more willing to open the crack between genres a little bit, but mostly, I want SLAY to be remembered as a fun read.

Was there anything new you discovered, or that surprised you, as you wrote this book? 

How much cozy readers like cats. I’ve been asked several times if my book had a cat in it (besides the main character). With this cover, the publisher kept asking about the cat, so Angelica showed up at the ghost town. The cat really lightened the mood of the book and I’m glad she decided to show up.

No spoilers, but what can you tell us about your book that we won’t find in the jacket copy or the PR material? 

I like the growth of one of the retreat participants. I think she was on her way to a turning point in her life, but with the events in the book, she’s forced into growing up faster than she might have otherwise.

What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer, and why?

I always go back to Stephen King saying that he didn’t care if he wrote literary fiction. He wanted to tell a good story. That’s my goal with each and every book. Have I told a good story?

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Lynn Cahoon is the author of the New York Times and USA Today best-selling Tourist Trap cozy mystery series. Guidebook to Murder, book 1 of the series, won the Reader’s Crown for Mystery Fiction. She also pens the Cat Latimer series available in mass market paperback with SLAY IN CHARACTER coming in late 2018. In addition to releasing Who Moved my Goat Cheese in March as part of the new Farm to Fork series, Killer Green Tomatoes released July 3rd, 2018.

To learn more about Lynn, please visit her website.