Residents of historic Ellicott City are used to seeing their 18th century mill town featured as a picturesque backdrop in advertising brochures and television commercials.
Now, a local author is injecting some magic into the mix, setting her new fantasy novel among the cobblestone streets and antique houses of fictional "Millcott City."
"It's such a great town," said first-time author Charlotte Lawrence, owner of Renaissance Books on Main Street, whose fantasy-mystery novel, "The Rag Bone Man," features amulets, crystals and tarot cards.
The Millcott City of her novel is a bustling town of artisans, tourists and neo-hippies situated between Baltimore and the mythical town of "Metro-Station." The story involves a young woman who owns a New Age book and herb shop. In the novel, she encounters a mysterious book and a strange man who invades her dreams.
Woven throughout the narrative are descriptions certain to seem familiar to local residents.
"Up the hill and around the bend from the town, an old mill was still operating," Ms. Lawrence writes. "Because the tiny town was built into a little mountain, narrow streets ran up and down steep hills, and some of the buildings had walls of stone steps and granite in place of backyards."
Local stores and landmarks, such as The Forget-Me-Not Factory, Feathers and Lace and the B & O Railroad Station Museum, also make guest appearances, under different names. The climax takes place during Midnight Madness, one of the town's biggest seasonal promotions.
Ms. Lawrence changed the names of all stores mentioned in the book in an effort to be diplomatic. "I didn't want to make anybody angry," she said.
But some readers may recognize them anyway. The Forget-Me-Not Factory, for example, is known as the "Pinocchio Factory" in the book but, like its real-life counterpart, features a tutu-clad bear that blows bubbles from the store roof.
The story also features a three-story house with a spiral staircase on Main Street, patterned after an actual residence.
Ms. Lawrence said she became enchanted by the house when she noticed a collection of crystals in its windows.
"The place was seething with crystals," she said. "All different shapes and sizes. It was filled with a lot of energy and a lot of vibes."
In the book, Ms. Lawrence calls it "The Crystal House."
Despite the book's magical elements, store manager Simone Bennett said it contains enough realism to attract readers outside the fantasy genre.
"It mixes in a lot of psychic phenomena, but it's not so outlandish that you couldn't figure out how it was done," said Ms. Bennett, who helped edit the book. "Some of it could happen to anybody."
A Pikesville resident, Ms. Lawrence fell in love with historic Ellicott City nearly 20 years ago. "I used to come here back in the '70s for mythological jewelry," said Ms. Lawrence, who opened her New Age and fantasy book store in 1987.
But it was not until two years ago that Ms. Lawrence got the idea for a book.
"I was on my way to work and it popped into my head," she said. " 'I'm going to write a book.' "
She began writing the book in sections, dispensing them to friends who advised her on content, character development and plot.
"I wrote it in serial form and I would get the critiques back," she said. "Other people read it and told me, 'It's a good story. You ought to publish it.' "
Last year, Ms. Lawrence completed her manuscript and submitted it to Llewellyn Publications, a St. Paul, Minn.-based publisher of occult and fantasy books. She was surprised when she received a call from the company within a week.
"I thought it would take about three months to hear about the manuscript," Ms. Lawrence said.
The company agreed to publish "The Rag Bone Man," and her second book, called "Holographic Dollhouse," which continues the story. Ms. Lawrence now is working on her third novel.
"I'm always trying to do something creative," she said.