GUEST POST and GIVEAWAY
Death by a Whisker
(A Cat Rescue Mystery Book 2)
(A Cat Rescue Mystery Book 2)
by T. C. LoTempio
Death by a Whisker, the second book in the Cat Rescue Mystery series by T. C. LoTempio, has just been released.
This book tour and giveaway is brought to you by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
More books by this author: Meow If It's Murder (read my blog post), Claws for Alarm (read my blog post), and Crime and Catnip (read my blog post).
Description
Getting used to life back home in Deer Park, North Carolina, Sydney McCall and her right-hand tabby, Toby, are helping her sister Kat run the local animal shelter. Syd and Kat are all excited about the prospect of the shelter’s newest fundraiser: shopping channel queen Ulla Townsend. Shelter admin Maggie Shayne vehemently refuses to have anything to do with the woman, but the fundraiser ensues as planned. That is, until Ulla turns up dead in the middle of the event.
The cause of death is determined to be an allergic reaction, but Syd and Toby are sniffing out something fishy. When Syd met Ulla, it was clear she was distasteful and rude. And right before the event, Syd spotted some behind-the-scenes drama between Ulla and her manager. As they begin to investigate, they realize there is no shortage of suspects, and Maggie is at the top of the list.
Now Syd and Toby must claw their way to the truth before everything goes paws up at their animal shelter in Death by a Whisker by national bestselling author T. C. LoTempio.
Excerpt
As I passed by the signing table I noticed that Ulla was frowning and scratching her arm. She leaned over and whispered something to Wendy, who immediately got up and headed toward the back. Then she smiled at the person standing in front of her and asked who he wanted the book inscribed to. As she signed it, I noticed she seemed to be having trouble breathing. Suddenly she tossed the pen and book aside and jumped to her feet, almost knocking her chair over. I set the flyers down and hurried over to her. “Ms. Townsend, are you all right?”
She pressed two fingers to her sternum. “I-I’m not sure,” she said in a strangled tone. “My chest feels so tight…maybe I need to splash some water on my face.”
She turned toward me and I frowned. Her lower lip looked a bit puffy, and the flush on her neck had now morphed to a bright candy-apple red. “Do you need me to come with you to the restroom?”
She shook her head. “Just tell Wendy and Savannah where I am,” she murmured. She raced down the hall to the bathroom and I heard the door slam.
There was an excited buzz in the room. As I debated whether to say something, Wendy suddenly appeared at my elbow. “Where’s Ulla? Why isn’t she at the table?”
“She said she felt sick – her chest was tight. She went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face.”
Wendy let out a strangled cry. “A panic attack. Just what we need in the last twenty minutes.”
I frowned. “It didn’t seem as if it were a panic attack.”
“Oh trust me, it probably was. She does this all the time-although it’s usually to get Ken’s sympathy.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “Her lip looked a bit puffy, and she really was having trouble breathing.”
Wendy ran a hand through her short do, glancing over at the people who were milling around the table, craning their necks and whispering excitedly. “I guess I’d better do some damage control.” She turned toward the crowd and said smoothly, “Not to worry, folks. Ulla will be back in a few minutes…I hope,” she muttered under her breath to me and then she hurried off in the direction of the bathroom.
Tara came over to me, concern etched on her face. “Is Ulla sick?”
I frowned. “I’m not sure. It seemed that way. I think I’ll go check on her as well.” I hurried down the hall, and I could hear Tara saying to the remaining people, “Don’t worry, Ulla will be back shortly. In the meantime, there’s plenty of goodies at our café.” As I passed the side door it suddenly swung open and Savannah breezed in. Her gaze swept me up and down. “You look concerned. Is something wrong?”
“Ulla didn’t feel well. She went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. She doesn’t have high blood pressure, does she?”
“One twenty over eighty since I’ve known her. Her pressure’s fine. She just manages to raise other people’s.” Savannah said, and then she frowned. “How bad is she? I wonder if I should call Ken.”
“He’s not here?”
Savannah shook her head. “He and his wife left about fifteen minutes ago.” Her lips twisted into a wry smile. “Neither one of them looked very happy. Man, would I love to be a fly on the ceiling of that Mercedes. Come to think of it, he might appreciate an interruption.”
Savannah put the phone to her ear and moved off. I shifted the tray in my arms and was just about to enter the playroom when the bathroom door banged open and Wendy emerged, pale and wide-eyed.
“Someone call nine-one-one,” she shouted. “Something’s terribly wrong with Ulla. I-I don’t think she’s breathing.”
Praise for the Book
“The author provides plenty of suspects for you to dish about their suspicious behaviors and activities, and the finale is a whopper of a reveal!” ~ Linda Langford at Chatting About Cozies
“This was a highly enjoyable cozy mystery. I loved how this book was perfect if you are an animal/cat lover.” ~ Dani, Touch My Spine Book Reviews
“This was a quick fun read that will appeal to mystery lovers.” ~ Kristi
“Death by a Whisker is the 2nd book in the enjoyable cozy mystery series. The story is well told and the plot kept me guessing.” ~ Lisa Morin
“Death by a Whisker is a fast-paced, enjoyable read that will have the audience yelling for more. It is highly recommended to anyone who loves animals, town gossip and stories that keep them guessing.” ~ The Cozy Review
Guest Post by the Author
Cats Make Great Detectives, Too!
As a writer of cozy mysteries featuring extremely communicative cats (Nick in the Nick and Nora Mystery series, debut December 2014, Toby in the Cat Rescue series, debut March 2016), I must confess to being partial to mysteries that feature cats! (Not that I don’t like dogs, or give dogs equal time, I do, I do! But when you own a twenty-two-pound blogging cat, your loyalties are naturally going to gravitate toward the feline end!)
Here are a few of my favorite feline cozies!
Magical Cats Mystery series by Sofie Kelly
This series centers around Kathleen Paulson, a librarian from Boston, and two stray cats with special powers, Owen and Hercules, in fictional Mayville Heights, Minnesota. Kathleen has moved to Mayville Heights from Boston after her fiancée marries a waitress after an argument, and ends up adopting two strays, a tabby named Owen and a tuxedo named Hercules. Turns out the cats have magical powers: Owen can turn invisible and Hercules can walk through walls! Which provides quite a bit of humor! There is also a bit of romance in the form of uptight detective Marcus Gordon. Plenty of quirky characters and homespun charm! Kathleen finds herself a murder suspect in the first volume setting up the romantic tension between herself and Detective Gordon for future adventures.
In my favorite entry, Final Catcall, Kathleen’s ex-boyfriend Andrew shows up, desperate to win her back, but Kathleen’s unsure just where she stands with Detective Marcus. And when a local theatre festival relocates to Mayville Heights and its insufferable director is found shot, Kathleen (and her cats) are in the thick of a puzzling mystery once again.
The latest in the series, Faux Paw, revolves around the arrival of an art exhibition at the Mayville Heights library. Thanks to the overbearing curator and high-tech security system that comes with it, Kathleen’s life has been completely disrupted. Even Owen and Hercules have been affected, since their favorite human doesn’t seem to have a spare moment to make their favorite fish crackers or listen to Barry Manilow. But when Kathleen stops by the library late one night and finds the curator sprawled on the floor - and the exhibition’s most valuable sketch missing - it’s suddenly time to canvass a crime scene.
The charm of this series lies in the quirkiness of its main characters and, of course, the two cats with their seemingly supernatural abilities. A great series!
Cat in the Stacks Mystery series by Miranda James
Set in the fictional town of Athena, Mississippi, the action centers around librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel. Diesel is quite large for his size, but very lovable, and Charlie walks him on a leash and takes him pretty much everywhere he goes. Unlike the cats in the Magical Cats Mystery series, Diesel is more of a sidekick for Charlie than an active participant in the mystery solving – although he does lend a paw from time to time. The series has many charming characters, some of which have even been put into a spin-off series by James. My favorite is The Silence of the Library, which revolves around a library exhibit to honor YA novelists – in particular, one octogenarian, Electra Barnes Cartwright, the author of the beloved Veronica Thane series. Once news of the author’s appearance goes viral, another rumor surfaces – that of five unpublished manuscripts – drawing out one rabid fan who will stop at nothing short of murder to get hold of the rare books. Series book devotees will find the references and facts about actual series books interspersed throughout the book interesting, and it adds to the mystery. Charlie and Diesel should be around entertaining us for many years to come.
The latest in the series, No Cats Allowed, has Charlie facing trouble at the workplace. The new library director, Elwyn Dillard, is a brash, unfriendly Yankee who’s on a mission to cut costs - and his first targets are the archive and the rare book collection. Dillard quickly raises the hackles of everyone on staff, including Charlie’s fiery friend Melba - whom Dillard wants to replace with someone younger. But his biggest offense is declaring all four-legged creatures banned from the stacks. With enemies aplenty, the suspect list is long when Dillard’s body is discovered in the library. But things take a turn for the worse when a threatening e-mail throws suspicion on Melba, and Charlie and Diesel have to put in overtime to clear her!
Mrs. Murphy Mystery series by Rita Mae Brown (& Sneaky Pie Brown)
What can you say about a mystery series co-authored by a cat? The first adventure, Wish You Were Here, published in 1991, introduced us to Mary Minor Haristeen (aka Harry) and her constant companions, Mrs. Murphy, a tabby and Tucker, a Welsh Corgi. Harry is the postmistess of the town of Crozet, Virginia, a job that puts her in an excellent to figure out who is murdering, in ghastly fashion, various pillars of her community. Postcards are sent to a wealthy contractor shortly before parts of his body are found in a cement mixer and then to a storeowner whose corpse, tied to a railroad track, is cut in three parts by the express. The cards alert Harry and friends to a plot that will take more lives before they discover the treasure that inspires the violence. Quirky is the middle name of most of the characters in this long-running series, and Brown always gives a brief rundown of all the characters at the beginning of each book, apparently to keep readers from becoming confused at the large cast.
My pick of the series is The Litter of the Law. Autumn has descended and crops are being harvested all over Crozet, Virginia, ideal conditions for a scenic drive for Harry and husband Fair. Bucolic views are all well and good, but Harry’s nose for trouble leads her straight to a cornfield’s macabre scarecrow - an all too real murder victim that frightens all but the noisy crows! Nothing, however, frightens the irrepressible Mrs. Murphy, because we all know that while it’s Harry who receives the credit for the crime solving, it’s really Mrs. Murphy and her friends, Pewter the cat and Tucker the dog, who are the real detectives!
And while I don’t like to toot my own horn, I feel I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a brief shout out to my own series. First is the Nick and Nora Mystery series. Nora Charles is an ex-true crime reporter who leaves her high pressure job on a Chicago newspaper to return to her hometown of Cruz, California, to take over her late mother’s specialty sandwich shop. Along the way she makes the acquaintance of a tubby tuxedo cat she names Nick. Nick belonged to a PI who may or may not be dead, and the cat seems to have extraordinary abilities of his own. He’s remarkably adept at sniffing out a clue, and he can spell them out with his favorite toy, Scrabble tiles! The first book in the series is Meow If It’s Murder.
Cat Rescue Mystery series by T. C. LoTempio
Then there is Toby in the Cat Rescue Mystery series. Toby might not spell out clues for his human, Syd McCall, but he’s very adept at pointing her in the right direction and in the latest, Death by a Whisker, even manages to rescue her from a tight situation.
I hope that you’ll be inclined to try one of these wonderful mysteries. And there are more, lots more to come!
About the Author
Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.
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