Could you tell our readers what a typical day in the life of Addie Greyborne is like?

Hmm . . . I’ll have to think about that. Over a year ago that would have been an easy question. I did what most regular working people do, I guess. I got up every morning and went to work at my job at the Boston Library, where I was as a research assistant for the acquisitions department. I loved it because I got to do a bit of sleuthing in tracking down and authenticating rare books and documents that came across my desk. Then the most exciting thing happened. I was chosen to participate in a six-month work exchange program at the British Museum in London. My life back then gave me everything I needed and wanted. I was happy. I had a good job, a beautiful apartment in Boston, and was engaged to the love of my life. David. Excuse me, do you have a tissue? . . . Thank you. Now where was I? Oh yes, a day in my life.

My life took a sudden turn and went completely sideways not long after I returned from London. I had to work late one evening and when I got home, I discovered that we had been the victims of a home invasion and . . . David had been killed during the robbery. It was a dark time for me, and if it hadn’t been for my supervisor Jeremy at the library, well, I don’t know if I’d made it through. He was my rock. Unfortunately, the dark times didn’t end there. Six months later, my father was killed in a car accident. That rocked me to my core. My father and I were very close, you see. My mother had passed away when I was young, and he and my grandmother raised me. He even introduced me to David. They were in the same line of work as insurance company reclamation specialists. While I researched at my computer, they actually did the footwork of traveling to track down missing or stolen rare books and antiquities.

Now you can see why answering your question is difficult. One day just blurred into the next one during that time in my life. Then three months after my father died, I received a letter from a lawyer informing me that I was the sole beneficiary to the estate of a woman named Anita Greyborne. I never even knew I had a great-aunt, but here it was in black and white. It seemed like the answers to my prayers. I needed desperately to get out of Boston and leave my past behind. However, I’d never heard of the town Greyborne Harbor, where the house was located, but the thought of living in a quaint, New England costal village seemed like the perfect place to start life afresh. Besides, the town and I shared the name—Greyborne—so it must have been fate, right?

Honestly, I can tell you that the town didn’t disappoint. I really do hope you have the opportunity to visit one day to see for yourself. It’s almost an entire heritage site. There is street after street of houses and shops, dating as far back as the 1700s and 1800s. Plus, it’s located on a beautiful scenic cove. The whole town is breathtaking to say the least. I still remember pinching myself that first day to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Then I saw my aunt’s Queen Anne Victorian house—mansion was more like it—with room after room containing vintage books and collectables, and later, when I discovered the real treasure trove in the third-floor attic, I was speechless. It was filled with rows of shelves and boxes of rare books, journals, and priceless collectables. Some of the books I came across were just well-loved and had little monetary value. Others were of library or museum quality, so I began sorting through some of the boxes and soon had three stacks. Keep, sell, appraise, and donate. The sell pile grew so large I was at a complete loss as to what to do with them. There weren’t any bookshops in the Harbor and the thought of hauling them back to Boston to one of the bookstores there didn’t appeal to me. I then had, what I thought at the time, was a brilliant brainwave: to open my own shop. That’s when Beyond the Page Books & Curios was born.

To be honest, I can say that there are no typical days in my life anymore. Trouble seemed to have followed me from Boston. Soon after my arrival, my new “bestie”—an expression I picked up in London—Serena, the owner of SerenaTEA next door to my bookshop was arrested—for killing another local merchant. Well, as I tried to explain to her brother Police Chief, Marc Chandler—I hope you didn’t notice my flushed cheeks when I mentioned his name—I had to get involved, didn’t I, especially when all the evidence pointed to the fact that I might have put her up to it?

You can read more about Addie in Murder by the Book, the first book in the NEW “Bookstore” mystery series.

Addie Greyborne loved working with rare books at the Boston Public Library—she even got to play detective, tracking down clues about mysterious old volumes. But she didn’t expect her sleuthing skills to come in so handy in a little seaside town . . .

Addie left some painful memories behind in the big city, including the unsolved murder of her fiancé and her father’s fatal car accident. After an unexpected inheritance from a great aunt, she’s moved to a small New England town founded by her ancestors back in colonial times—and living in spacious Greyborne Manor, on a hilltop overlooking the harbor. Best of all, her aunt also left her countless first editions and other treasures—providing an inventory to start her own store.

But there’s trouble from day one, and not just from the grumpy woman who runs the bakery next door. A car nearly runs Addie down. Someone steals a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Then, Addie’s friend Serena, who owns a nearby tea shop, is arrested—for killing another local merchant. The police seem pretty sure they’ve got the story in hand, but Addie’s not going to let them close the book on this case without a fight . . .

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Meet the author
Lauren grew up devouring the entire Nancy Drew series and then graduated to Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie, Barbara Erskine, Lynn Kurland, and Michael Crichton to name a few of her favorite authors. When it came time for post-secondary education, journalism seemed like the logical choice as she had written for as long as she could remember. Soon after graduation, while working for a small publication, she discovered that reporting wasn’t what fueled her writing passions. As someone with an additionally strong background in professional theatre who had the love of storytelling and captivating and holding an audience, her fiction-writing career began to take centre stage.

Lauren’s imagination is boundless. All of her books, whether they explore different aspects of the paranormal with a dab of romance, fantasy or is a suspense filled cozy murder mystery. Her writing never fails to take her readers on a gripping page-turning adventure.

Connect with Lauren at laurenelliottauthor.com and on Facebook.

All comments are welcomed.