By Claire Sachse
claire.sachse@tryondailybulletin.com

Susan McNabb will be at The Book Shelf in Tryon, signing copies of her book, Tryon Diaries: Tales from the Friendliest Town in the South, on Saturday, Jan. 31 from 4-5:30 p.m.

A former Ashevillian, McNabb settled in Tryon in 2011 after 27 years in Los Angeles working as a model and commercial actor.

She now writes a weekly column for the Tryon Daily Bulletin called Tryon Diary, which chronicles her adjustment to small-town life. Her book is a collection of these columns from last year. Her columns publish on Thursdays.

“Susan’s columns offer a unique perspective on the life and people of Tryon,” said Tryon’s mayor, Jim Wright.

“While she grew up in Asheville, just up the mountain from Tryon, her life outside North Carolina gives her a great ability to bring comparisons to life here,” Wright said.

Wright calls McNabb’s humor “as subtle as a sharp razor blade” when viewing subjects such as Tryon’s relationship to native Nina Simone, the Mule Club and rented goats.

“Bulletin readers love her columns for many reasons,” said Betty Ramsey, publisher of the Tryon Daily Bulletin. “She has a way of bringing the personalities in Tryon to life in such an endearing way. She highlights the charm of small town living that gives readers, especially those who moved here from larger cities like she did, someone to identify with and join with in her love of Tryon, her new home.”

McNabb is co-founder of Tryon Writers and a member of the North Carolina Writers Network and often reads her work at Tryon’s bimonthly Literary Open Stage.

A year ago, McNabb’s debut novel, an adult vampire romance called Drop Dead Gorgeous by Suki McMinn (her pen name for romantic fiction) was released to impressive reviews.