When I was thinking about the setting for my cozy mystery series, The Mollie McGhie Cozy Sailing Mysteries, my thoughts turned to our time visiting Cedar Key on the northwest coast of Florida. It’s a cute little tourist town full of historical sites, fun shops, inviting restaurants, and art galleries, all surrounded by the water.
I based the fictional town of Coconut Cove in part on Cedar Key. They both have palm trees and coconuts scattered about.
You can charter boats and go out on fishing trips. Competition between fishing charter businesses plays a big part in the second book in the series, Bodies in the Boatyard.
There are lots of great places to stop and have a drink. I can’t remember the name of this place in Cedar Key, but the local bar in the fictional town of Coconut Cove is the Tipsy Pirate.
Sailboats anchor near Coconut Cove, just like they do in Cedar Key.
And no town — fictional or real — would be complete without a few cats hanging about.
If you want to read more about our visit to Cedar Key and the surrounding area, check out this post on my other blog, The Cynical Sailor.
What inspires your creative pursuits?
Ellen Jacobson 
Awww, kitty! Love those inspirational pictures. I’m a little paranoid of coconuts falling on my head if I ever walk under a coconut tree now! I’m inspired by dreary Mid-West days.
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I’ve had coconuts fall awfully close to me. It’s a bit scary to see one slam onto the ground and realize it could have hit you.
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It must be nice to have a model in your head to think about as you make up your stories. This place looks fun to visit.
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It does make it much easier 🙂
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