Truffles Celebrates Movember

November highlights testicular cancer and prostate cancer for men with a movement called Movember.  During this Movember movement, people are encouraged to grow mustaches to show their support.

Truffles wanted to show her support for this event, but figured that as a little girl she should sport a pink 'stache :)

See You at Daytona, Boys!

♫ Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again ♫

Oops, sorry! You caught me singing! Hey everybody, Truffles here and I am one happy kitty today, even though Mommy is pretty bummed. It's the final day of the NASCAR season!!!

Let me tell you, the shenanigans around here some Sundays are downright embarrassing to a dignified feline such as myself. For meowing out loud, last week Mommy's favorite driver Kevin Harvick won the race and she screamed so loud that I came racing out of the bedroom to see if she was alright! Thought she was being murdered or something...geez.

But by 6:00 tonight it'll all be over until February...quiet and tranquility will reign again. It could be a loud afternoon though. Harvick has a chance, a slight chance, of winning the Sprint Cup Championship. (Most likely Jimmie Johnson will win. Oh, the swearing that goes on around here when he wins! I'm not even 3 years old people...impressionable ears!) Harvick is currently third in points and could definitely take second. He said last week he'll only win the Championship if he locks JJ in the port-a-potty, but engines break, right? Anything is possible.

So everybody is on pins and needles around here.

I'm thinking a long afternoon nap in the back bedroom is my plan for the day. Keep it at a dull roar, Mommy. Guess I should be thankful that she didn't make me wear one of her silly Harvick hats!



Do any of you kitties have to put up with crazy humans during sporting events? Let's commiserate while I wait for this day to be over.

Cat's Meow Mailbox #10

Cat's Meow Mailbox is inspired by the great weekly recap book memes (Mailbox Monday, Waiting On Wednesday, It’s Monday! What are you reading? and Sunday Post)

Guess what I did this week? I put my Christmas tree up :) I've always been an early bird when it comes to decorating for Christmas and usually start the week before Thanksgiving. Unlike many others, I've never believed in waiting until after turkey day. Christmas is my favorite time of year and I find the season so very short, so I always want to enjoy my tree and decorations for as long as possible. Not knowing how Truffles would react to a tree in the hosue (would she try to climb it or knock it down?) I figured I'd better get an even earlier start. It's sitting in it's place undecorated, and she hasn't laid a paw on it, so decorating will begin in full swing this week :)

Last week on Mochas, Mysteries and More:
* Book Review: A Potion to Die For by Heather Blake
* Veterans Day 2013
* Interview with Kate Kingsbury, Author of Mulled Murder (A Special Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery)
* Help Find Tiny Tim a Home for Christmas
* Deathbed & Breakfast Book Tour with Bart J. Gilbertson
* Wordless Wednesday: Bitchy Resting Cat Face
* Ho-Ho-Ho Read-a-thon Wrap Up Post & Mini Reviews
* Murderous Matrimony Book Tour with Joyce & Jim Lavene
* Book Review: Freezer I'll Shoot by Victoria Hamilton
* Paws for the Philippines: The Power of One
* Caturday Cinema: Grumpy Cat Visits Disneyland

Bought:


Feline Freebies:

  

Review Requests:

   

NetGalley:

     

Caturday Cinema: Grumpy Cat Visits Disneyland

Warning: The following video may be too much cuteness for some people to handle. Viewer discretion is advised.

Paws for the Philippines: The Power of One

The news coming from the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan is just heartbreaking. With so much human suffering, sadly the plight of animals, both domestic and wildlife, is left on the back burner. I strongly believe that animal welfare in a disaster is an integral part of disaster relief. As part of the Blogger Disaster Response Network, I've been asked to share this infographic highlighting what the Power of One can do to assist World Vets in its relief effort: 

Book Review: Freezer I'll Shoot by Victoria Hamilton

Blurb: Trying to escape her overbearing mother, vintage kitchenware enthusiast and soon-to-be columnist Jaymie Leighton retreats to her family’s cottage on Heartbreak Island. While there she hopes to write an article about the Ice House restaurant, owned by good friends and neighbors, siblings Ruby and Garnet Redmond. Once an actual icehouse, the restaurant is charmingly decorated with antique tools of the trade, including a collection of ice picks.

One night, while working on her article, Jaymie overhears an argument and, ever the sleuth, sets out to explore. But when she stumbles upon a dead body her blood runs cold. It’s Urban Dobrinskie, whose feud with the Redmonds is no secret, and he’s got an ice pick through his heart. Now Jaymie’s got to sharpen her sleuthing skills to chip away at the mystery and prove her neighbors’ innocence—before someone else gets picked off….

My Review: The Vintage Kitchen Mystery series has been a favorite of mine from the beginning particularly for the fact that I see so much of myself in Jaymie Leighton. She's an old-fashioned girl living in a modern world, content to live her own life in spite of judgments from others, and dotes on her beloved rescue pets. In this third book in the series she's entering a new phase of her life as she works on writing her cookbook. In order to break into the publishing world she's writing a food column for the local newspaper and has started a foodie blog, the same approach I'm taking with regards to my cat writing aspirations.

Jaymie gets the opportunity to take a break from her meddlesome mother by staying at the family cottage on Heartbreak Island to supervise the installation of a new sewage system for the cottage. Unfortunately this leaves her without the use of a bathroom, so she depends on her neighbors Garnet and Ruby Redmond (owners of the Ice House restaurant) for the use of their facilities. Late one night while working on her first column for the local paper about antique ice picks, she's debating going over to the Redmond's bathroom when she hears shouting outside, and finds the body of Urban Dobrinskie dead in the yard. Earlier that evening while having dinner at the Ice House Jaymie had witnessed an altercation between Urban and the Redmonds, and she recognizes the ice pick stuck in his body as the same one she had seen in the restaurant that gave her the article idea in the first place.

Jaymie soon discovers there is no shortage of suspects, and many people she thought she knew well are harboring some pretty big secrets. By the end she finds herself and her three legged Yorkie-Poo Hoppy in grave danger at the hands of a killer.

This series has a stellar cast of secondary characters, and I'm particularly intrigued by the blossoming love triangle between Jaymie, boyfriend Daniel, and Detective Zach Christian. I have strong feelings as to who she has a greater chemistry with, and I'm anxious to see how this aspect of Jaymie's life plays out. The next book in the series can't come fast enough for this reader!

About The Author

Victoria Hamilton, nationally bestselling author of the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series, is the pseudonym of Donna Lea Simpson, bestselling author of romance and historical mystery novels.

 

Victoria starting reading mystery novels at the age of 12 and devoured Agatha Christie mysteries, as well as those of Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. She still adores mysteries, especially the cozy mysteries of Janet Bolin, Krista Davis, and others.

 

She loves to cook, and collects teapots and teacups, as well as vintage kitchen utensils and bowls. She also enjoys crafts, especially cross-stitching and crocheting, and spends summer days in the garden, drinking tea or wine. Besides the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series Victoria also writes the Merry Muffin Mystery series (Bran New Death – September 3rd) and the Teapot Collector Mystery series which debuts with Tempest in a Teapot, out June 3rd, 2014.

 

Author Links:
Amazon Page
Victoria Hamilton Mysteries website: http://www.victoriahamiltonmysteries.com
Facebook – Victoria: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorVictoriaHamilton
Facebook – Vintage Kitchen Mysteries: https://www.facebook.com/VintageKitchenMysteries
Blog: http://www.vintagekitchenmysteries.blogspot.com
Twitter: @MysteryVictoria

Purchase Links:
Amazon         Book World                B&N               Book Depository

Murderous Matrimony Book Tour with Joyce & Jim Lavene

I’m a Coffee Girl 

By Jessie Morton of the Ren Faire Mysteries 

I’m a coffee girl. I don’t know how people get through the day without a good, hot, strong, cup of coffee. I love Renaissance Faire Village, but I couldn’t live here if there was no coffee. 

Lucky for me there are two coffee shops. The closest to me is the Monastery Bakery. That’s where the members of the Brotherhood of the Sheaf work. They make excellent coffee and breads. My usual breakfast is a nice mocha and a cinnamon roll. Yum! 

Sir Latte’s Beanery makes good coffee too, but they’re a longer walk from where I live in the Dungeon with my fiancée, Bailiff Chase Manhattan. Sometimes I stop in there later in the day for a pick-me-up.  

The Village is great place to live and work—if you’re crazy or a craftsperson. The crazy residents of the Village are the madmen, and the goatherds. Maybe the knights at the Field of Honor too, come to think of it. Who would want to joust six times a day? 

It’s great for people who make crafts like Mary Shift, our Gullah basket weaver, and her husband, Roger Trent, who makes beautiful glass items. We have about ten-thousand people a day who pass through our Main Gate. Sales are good! 

I hope the Village is going to be a good place for a wedding too. I’m getting married here in less than two weeks. I’ve seen plenty of beautiful Renaissance weddings, don’t get me wrong. I have a few doubts about my own, but as long as I’m marrying Chase, it can’t be too bad, right? 

At least that’s what I’m telling myself.  

I hope there’s enough coffee to get me going on my wedding day. Maybe that’s the answer to the blue ghost who’s ruining my love life, and my future in-laws who hate me. 

Wait. I don’t think even coffee can take care of those problems. 

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Murderous Matrimony

(Renaissance Faire Mystery)

6th Book In Series, E-Book

Release Date: November 15, 2013

Available For Pre-Order Soon

Synopsis:

In less than two short weeks, Jessie Morton will marry Chase Manhattan at Renaissance Faire Village and Marketplace. But so much can go wrong in that short time. A man is murdered in Jessie’s new Arts and Crafts Museum and her assistant is being scrutinized for the deed. Chase’s brother and parents have arrived and are still against their marriage. Wanda’s ghost is busy making Jessie’s life miserable. The Ren Faire wedding of her dreams may never take place. Can Jessie talk Chase into eloping before it’s too late?




Joyce and Jim Lavene write award-winning, bestselling mystery fiction as themselves, J.J. Cook, and Ellie Grant. They have written and published more than 60 novels for Harlequin, Berkley, Amazon and Gallery Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They live in rural North Carolina with their family.

Visit them at www.joyceandjimlavene.com

      Website: http://www.renaissancefairemysteries.com/

Blog: www.romanceofmystery.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyceandjimlavene

Twitter: @authorjlavene

Amazon : amazon.com/author/jlavene

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