An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder

Author Lynn Cahoon On Tour
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Hardcover
$27.00 US
On sale Jun 24, 2025 | 256 Pages | 9781496752093

New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon makes her hardcover debut with an irresistible new meta-mystery series about an amateur sleuth who doesn’t just solve crimes, she writes about how to do it . . .

TIP #1: WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU COUNTS AS WORK EXPERIENCE
Meg Gates could use a guidebook for life. Indeed, she’s faced some challenges. She dropped out of college to work for a tech startup that failed—and her fiancé just took her bridesmaid to Italy on what was supposed to be Meg’s honeymoon.

Now, at twenty-six, Meg has taken the ferry ride of shame from Seattle back to Bainbridge Island to live with her family. At least she has her rescue cocker spaniel, Watson, by her side. But it’s Meg who could use a rescue—and she’s hoping it will come in the form of a part-time gig doing research for a bestselling mystery writer.

TIP #2: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW – OR WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW
That’s when the lightbulb goes on: Meg will write her own guidebook—a manual on criminal investigation. But before she can impress her new boss with her pet project, the author’s manager is found dead on the rocks beneath the author’s Gothic mansion.

Now it’s time to put her guide to the test, as Meg sets out to clear her employer of suspicion and solve the crime. But there’s one important caveat she’ll have to add to her guide—

TIP #3:  BEWARE OF UNKNOWN DANGERS
Lynn Cahoon is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of cozy mysteries including the Kitchen Witch Mysteries, the Cat Latimer Mystery series, the Tourist Trap Mysteries, the Farm-to-Fork series, the Survivors' Book Club Mystery series, and The Bainbridge Island Mysteries. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers and her books have sold more than a million copies. Originally from Idaho, she grew up living the small-town life she now loves to feature in her novels. She now lives with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town in Eastern Tennessee and can be found online at LynnCahoon.com.

Discussion Guide for An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder

Provides questions, discussion topics, suggested reading lists, introductions and/or author Q&As, which are intended to enhance reading groups’ experiences.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

About

New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon makes her hardcover debut with an irresistible new meta-mystery series about an amateur sleuth who doesn’t just solve crimes, she writes about how to do it . . .

TIP #1: WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU COUNTS AS WORK EXPERIENCE
Meg Gates could use a guidebook for life. Indeed, she’s faced some challenges. She dropped out of college to work for a tech startup that failed—and her fiancé just took her bridesmaid to Italy on what was supposed to be Meg’s honeymoon.

Now, at twenty-six, Meg has taken the ferry ride of shame from Seattle back to Bainbridge Island to live with her family. At least she has her rescue cocker spaniel, Watson, by her side. But it’s Meg who could use a rescue—and she’s hoping it will come in the form of a part-time gig doing research for a bestselling mystery writer.

TIP #2: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW – OR WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW
That’s when the lightbulb goes on: Meg will write her own guidebook—a manual on criminal investigation. But before she can impress her new boss with her pet project, the author’s manager is found dead on the rocks beneath the author’s Gothic mansion.

Now it’s time to put her guide to the test, as Meg sets out to clear her employer of suspicion and solve the crime. But there’s one important caveat she’ll have to add to her guide—

TIP #3:  BEWARE OF UNKNOWN DANGERS

Author

Lynn Cahoon is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of cozy mysteries including the Kitchen Witch Mysteries, the Cat Latimer Mystery series, the Tourist Trap Mysteries, the Farm-to-Fork series, the Survivors' Book Club Mystery series, and The Bainbridge Island Mysteries. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers and her books have sold more than a million copies. Originally from Idaho, she grew up living the small-town life she now loves to feature in her novels. She now lives with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town in Eastern Tennessee and can be found online at LynnCahoon.com.

Guides

Discussion Guide for An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder

Provides questions, discussion topics, suggested reading lists, introductions and/or author Q&As, which are intended to enhance reading groups’ experiences.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

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