Linda Mitchelmore takes us to Cove End

Today, it's a great pleasure to welcome bestselling novelist and prolific short story author Linda Mitchelmore as a guest on my blog. Linda has written three novels set in the seaside town of Cove End and says there are more books to come, hurrah!

Please tell us about the third novel in this lovely series, Linda?

'The Little B&B at Cove End was a book that was, perhaps, crying out to be written. I’ve lived in a seaside town all my life, where the houses in some roads are given over totally to B&B signs swinging outside. 

'When I first married I toyed with the idea of moving to a bigger house nearer the sea and running a B&B myself. However, my husband would probably have preferred to gouge his eyes out with bent paperclips than have strangers in the house all summer long. So we stayed put and it was only family and friends, and foreign students, who came to stay.

'Write what you know is advice given to many aspiring authors and, while I never have got around to running my own B&B, I do have experience of making people welcome, and changing beds on a regular basis as one lot of friends leaves and another lot arrives, and of always having breakfast choices available. I am best friends with the vacuum and the duster and the Flash.

'I had a "what if" moment when I found myself with another book to write as part of my contract with HarperCollins. "What if" my heroine – Cara - has no other option but to turn her beloved home into a B&B? I know my own daughter would have hated it if I had been in that position, so I added a very reluctant teenager – Mae -  to the mix. So then I had a mother/daughter tension scenario – something I also know about.

Here's a photograph of Paignton Harbour, the inspiration for Cove End

'I added art to the mix because, while I’m not an artist myself, I know those who are, and I’ve collected original art works in a small way for years. Art, I think, lifts our spirits.

'Readers who know my books will recognise Seth and Emma Jago (from a trilogy I wrote for Choc Lit) in this one. And a character from a previous HarperCollins novel – Janey in Christmas at  Strand House – pops up in The Little B&B at Cove End.

'As I was writing THE END to my manuscript I had another "what if" moment. What if people coming to stay at Cove End have reasons for being there – secrets? Hmm -  watch this space!'

Thank you, Linda - I'm already looking forward to reading Book 4 in the series, so please get writing! 

Buy Linda's books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=linda+mitchelmore&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Link up with Linda:
https://twitter.com/LindaMitchelmor and https://www.facebook.com/linda.mitchelmore