My name is Lou Prescott. I was born in South Carolina but spent most of my life in Northern Minnesota. Since the death of my husband, I've found myself at loose ends, so when my niece offered to sell me the quaint seaside bookstore she owned in Holiday Bay, Maine, I jumped at the opportunity to restart my life somewhere new.

My journey to date has been a bit rocky but my rescue cat Toby and I are making it work. The first thing we did after settling in was make a few additions to the bookstore including a coffee bar and pastry counter, as well as a cat lounge with a rescue and adoption feature. This allows Toby and I to match his buddies from the street with their perfect human.

So far, my favorite part of my new endeavor is a reader group who meets on Tuesday nights. The murder mystery book club started off as a typical read and discuss type forum but quickly segued into an actual mystery club when a member of our group was found dead. When it became obvious that the death of our friend and neighbor wouldn't be easily solved, the bibliophiles who'd gathered decided to exchange their reading hats for their sleuthing hats and pitch in.