Lynn is a New York Times and USA Today Best-Selling author of several series including the Tourist Trap Cozy Mystery Series, Cat Latimer Series, Farm to Fork Series, Haunted Life Mystery Series, and the Kitchen Witch Series. She lives in a small river town with her husband and pets. You can follow Lynn on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon. Be sure to visit her Website and signup for her newsletter!
What type of witch do you write (think Bewitch, Sabrina, Charmed, Hocus Pocus)?
Mia and her grandmother are Kitchen Witches – living in Magic Springs where magic is well known to most of the residents. So I’d say Charmed.
Tell us what time frame your stories are in and what setting or world?
The world is a magical realism version of our world. Set in Magic Springs, Idaho, Mia has all the advantages of being in a small town, with larger towns within a few hours drive.
Who is your protagonist?
Mia Malone is our kitchen witch for the series. She is also a chef. Mia’s Morsels provides weekly food delivery (think Home Chef), catering, classes, and to go meals for purchase. She left her job in Boise after catching her fiancé cheating and opened her new business in an old school that she finds out later, is not only the former witch training academy, but also haunted.
Has she/he always known they were a witch? How did they discover their power?
Mia knew magic was real from a young age, but her mother renounced her claim on the power so her grandmother is now training her to take on the family grimoire.
What sets your mysteries apart from other paranormal cozies?
You’ll find a strong community and sense of family in my cozies. And, like all my cozies, it’s always about the food. Mia’s a protagonist that you’d want to be friends with.
How much research do you do to create your story, and how much do you include in your books? Or your story pure fantasy?
It depends on the story. When I add a magical element, like werewolves in THREE TAINTED TEAS, I needed to understand a bit about werewolf lore. And the book before – TWO WICKED DESSERTS, I needed to research grimoires and their part in a witches life. Of course, a lot of my witching world is fantasy but where I can twist the more common lore into a plot point for my store, I do. I have a few spell books around but since Mia’s being trained as a kitchen witch, it’s all about the positive side of magic.
Do you feel the crimes committed in paranormal cozy are very different from a contemporary cozy? I don’t think the crimes are different. Since I’m writing a paranormal story in an ‘almost’ real world, the crimes happen like they do for most crimes. It’s the why or methods that change with adding in the magical world. In THREE TAINTED TEAS, the motivation in the killing could have been a human motivation rather than a witchy one. It does give me more options to play with. And there’s a human investigation along with the magical one, which gives Mia a reason to be investigating the magical side.
I hope all our Witchy Authors are getting you in the mood for Halloween! There’s still more to come, so keep watching for the next post.
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