Caturday Art: Happy Easter!

This will be Truffles' first Easter in her forever home...what do you think the Easter bunny should bring her?

Check out more artsy kitties here.

Murder in the Dog Park/Dog Spelled Backwards by Jill Yesko: Guest Author & Giveaway

The Woman Who Almost Didn’t Love Cats

It may horrify you dear readers to find out that I grew up in a cat-a-phobic family. Both my mother and father disliked cats. My mother was frightened  and my father didn’t like pets—period.

No wonder I grew up suspicious of cats. Gretchen, a shy playmate from elementary school, had hands that bore scars of repeated scratches from her three cats. What kind of animal would do that to gentle Gretchen?

Fast forward thirty years. I fell in love with a man who had a cat. Oh dear, I thought, how am I going to manage this?

At first the cat (a chocolate-colored long-haired former stray named Kitten) and I ignored each other. Sitting in opposite chairs we engaged in epic stare downs. We had an unspoken agreement; we weren't friends, but weren’t enemies either.

One afternoon I awoke from a nap to find Kitten next to me. My boyfriend walked in, took a long look at both of us and proclaimed: “you two need to work this out.”

From that moment Kitten and I became friends. He enjoyed our daily brushing sessions. I discovered a special spot on his head that made him purr like a small motor. I even came up with up nicknames for him (I thought the name Kitten lacked imagination). I called him Bob, as in, “he’s not a bobcat, he’s a bobkitten.” He came running when I yodeled his name and accompanied me on my evening walks.

Over the next year, Bob began paying more attention to me than my boyfriend. Bob knew I’d fallen for him, it just took he a little while to acknowledge it.

When the boyfriend and I broke up, he asked me to take Bob.I thought long and hard. It didn’t seem right to take the cat he had adopted off the mean streets of Albuquerque. I agreed to care for Bob for six months while my ex traveled out of the country.

I cried the night the ex-boyfriend came to get Bob. As much as I wanted to keep him, I knew deep down that he had to go back to my ex.

Bob has since gone to cat heaven. I’m grateful to Bob for being my first cat. I couldn’t have had a better teacher. I’m now a cat lover. To think, it almost didn’t happen.

Murder in the Dog Park
Mystery
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Baxter World Publishing (May 28, 2012)
ISBN-13: 978-0985485207
File Size: 242 KB
Print Length: 128 pages
ASIN: B00A10IU7O

Synopsis
Discovering a brutally murdered boy in a rainy dog park sends misanthropic private detective Jane Ronson on a journey through Baltimore’s gritty underbelly. Aided by a sexy cop, a bad-ass bull terrier, and an only-in-Baltimore cast of characters, Jane must use her computer-hacking and street-fighting skills to save her only family member from being framed as the killer.

Dog Spelled Backwards: An Unholy Mystery
Mystery
Paperback: 210 pages
Publisher: Baxter World Publishing (August 17, 2013)
ISBN-13: 978-0985485214
File Size: 1355 KB
Print Length: 118 pages
ASIN: B00FDXQVO8

Synopsis
Private investigator Jane Ronson suffers from oppositional defiant disorder, the uncontrollable urge to punch first then ask questions later. When a rabbi with a shady past offers her a bag of cash to spy on a rival rabbi, Jane jumps at the chance to make what think will be easy money. To get her cash, Jane impersonates an Orthodox Jewish woman and infiltrates a black market kidney ring in Baltimore’s Orthodox community. Between Russian gangsters and double crosses, Jane is number one on everyone’s hit list. To save her life, she forms an alliance with a religious woman and confronts a family.

About This Author
Jill Yesko’s 20+ year writing career has included stints as a sport writer, NPR commentator and investigative reporter. She’s written about everything from body piercing to human pyramids in Spain. After a solo trek around the world, Jill was profiled as an “adventurous traveler” in O, the Oprah magazine. Before becoming a writer, Jill was a national-class cyclist and graduate and cartographer. A New Jersey native, Jill now patrols Baltimore’s dog parks with her basset hound.

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Burnout Book Tour with Teresa Trent: Guest Author & $25 Giveaway

How to Solve a Mystery

by Teresa Trent

Throughout history people have loved mystery stories. A mystery is nothing more than a puzzle that the reader enjoys putting together piece by piece. It seems like the entire picture is there in front of them and yet there is always just one piece missing.

· They might try a piece of the same color, but it doesn't quite fit into the form of the opening.

· They might try something that has the right amount of bumps and notches in it, but the color is all wrong.

· Then, all at once the reader lands upon the one piece that was meant for that part of the puzzle. The entire picture in front of them with all of the wonderful details.

One of the great joys of reading a mystery is picking out those little pieces that other readers might not take notice of. When I was a child my family would sit down to watch a television mystery and my father would announce the murderer within the first scene. That in itself is pretty annoying, but the worst part was my dear dad was always right. What did he know that the rest of us didn't? Here are a few guidelines to solving a mystery.

Look for the small details. Look for a small seemingly inconsequential detail that the author includes about a character. Maybe your character smokes a certain brand of cigarettes that are then found at the murder scene. But maybe it's something a little more difficult like a character mentioning in an offhand manner that they were an orphan. The story races on it seems to circle around other characters who could be the murderers or the victim and then you come to find out that someone has a long lost child. You have to go back and find the orphan. It's the little details that almost always point to something much bigger.

Watch out for characters that you really like or can strongly identify with. Chances are the author has put that character in to either break your heart and kill him off . This character is also a perfect candidate to be the villain in disguise. So many times the antagonist is the least likely suspect in the story. You have a scene with a man, a bank president, a Boy Scout, who is helping the little old lady across the street. As you observe the scene you immediately dislike the con man, you may dislike the bank president, you're okay with the Boy Scout and that sweet little old lady reminds you of your grandmother. Watch out grandma's packing heat. It's those lovable characters that get you every time. 

Look for something that connects your victims. Sometimes it's really easy to figure out how the victims are connected, and other times it is not so easy. We have a young woman who was murdered in Philadelphia and then we had a man who was murdered in Santa Barbara. What is the connection? Maybe you don't find out until later they share the name Leslie. Something will almost always connect the victims even if it is a madness in the killer's mind.

Look for things that the sleuth misses. I love making my main character, Betsy Livingston, miss something. I know full well that my readers will pick up on this and are seriously bothered about it until Betsy figures whatever it is out. Of course this device can also be used to lead the reader down the path of the red herring or false clue. Either way, pay attention to all the little things.

Your last choice? Now if all of these tactics to solving mysteries still hasn't brought you to the identity of the murderer you can always go for the ultimate crime-solving, mystery-busting tactic ... Turn to the last page.



Burnout (Pecan Bayou Series)
Cozy Mystery
E-Book File Size: 895 KB
Print Length: 202 pages
ASIN: B00ISDZK8S

Synopsis
It’s November in Pecan Bayou, Texas and while the town is getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday a deadly fire breaks out at the newspaper office. When Rocky, the editor is nowhere to be found, Betsy refuses to believe he has perished in the fire. The entire town is coming down with the stomach flu and Betsy must deal with her husband’s new found celebrity as an on-air weatherman filling in for and under-the-weather Hurricane Hal . Leo loves all the attention he’s getting, especially from the sexy administrative assistant who works at the station. Is their new marriage in trouble already? Find out in the fifth book of the Pecan Bayou Mystery Series. All the characters you’ve come to know and love are back and you’ll find plenty of the Happy Hinter’s recipes and tips included at the end of the book.

About The Author

Teresa Trent writes her Pecan Bayou Mystery Series from Houston, Texas. With a father in the army, her family moved often finally settling in Colorado. Living in Texas for the last 18 years she loves the people and even the weather. Teresa includes Danny, a character with Down Syndrome in her Pecan Bayou family and in real life is the mother of an adult son with Down Syndrome/PDD. Creating the character of Danny and all of the other inhabitants of Pecan Bayou has been a joy for her. Even though she lives in the big city, her writing is influenced by all of the interesting people she finds in small towns and the sense of family that seems to be woven through them all.

Author Links:
Webpage: www.teresatrent.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teresatrentmysterywriter
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5219581.Teresa_Trent
Twitter: @ttrent_cozymys

Purchase Links
AMAZON 

Book Excerpt

An hour later, Tyler and I walked into the Harvest Dance with our arms full of every baked item we could get our hands on from the grocery store. The tables were already covered in sparkling autumn colored table cloths with tasteful pumpkin and scarecrow centerpieces. It was stunning, and I hated to plop a box of Tasteeo Cupcakes on top of it all.

Phyllis, dressed in a mustard turtleneck with a maroon silk scarf tied around her neck approached. “What is this?” Her face turned white, and then was replaced with a complimentary fall color of scarlet red.

“Uh…” I stammered. “I had a little difficulty with the pumpkin squares, but you know kids. They’ll eat anything sweet, right?”

I waited for her to reassure me, but she seemed to be at a loss for words.

“You want me to open up these boxes, Betsy?” Tyler asked.

“Yes, if you would. I’m sure Mrs. Hamlin has lovely plates for us to put these on.”

Phyllis gritted her teeth and turned toward Tyler. “There are some paper plates over there.”

She turned back to me and took hold of my arm squeezing tightly on my bicep with her tastefully manicured nails.

“I specifically told you to make the pumpkin squares. If I wanted a hodge podge of junk food I would have simply stopped down at the Circle K Convenience store.”

Another mother stepped by with her freshly groomed son in tow. “Lovely tables Phyllis,” she said with a little wave.

“Thank you Shelley. We work very hard to make it a wonderful experience for our children.” Somehow I knew she wasn’t including me in that statement.

“I tried to make the pumpkin squares, but we’ve had flu at our house, and … I lost track of time, and they burnt.”

 “Then why didn’t you just make another batch?”

 “There’s not a can of pumpkin left in the entire town.”

 “Yes, there is. I have four cans of pumpkin in my pantry. All you had to do was call me.”

The principal walked by. “Beautiful job, Mrs. Hamlin. Don’t know what we’d do without you.”

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Conversations with Truffles: Sports Page Edition

Mornin' everybody, it's Truffles! I'm just checking out the sports page.

Truffles: Hey Mommy, there's an article here about your favorite NASCAR driver!

Melissa: I know, sweetie. It's because he won the Southern 500 on Saturday night, remember?

Truffles: I remember. You yelled and screamed a lot.

Melissa: Well, that race was a pretty big deal. Plus now he's a lock in the Chase for the Championship, since he's the first driver this year to win two races. The end of the race is on YouTube, do you want to watch it again?

Truffles: No thanks, Mommy. I'm outta here.

Melissa: Party pooper. I'll just watch it again myself then.

Blog the Change for Animals: Giving Nolan a Second Chance #BtC4A

I had something completely different planned for this month's Blog the Change, but it all got sidelined when this little guy showed up in my Facebook news feed:

Meet Nolan. Share Nolan.

Can you imagine living on the street as a cat with only half of your limbs? Visualize trying to hobble through the Wyoming snow, barely able to hold yourself up with your one front leg and one back leg. You can’t chase prey; you can’t even jump up into a dumpster in a desperate attempt to find some old moldy scraps thrown out by humans. You can’t run away from danger, or climb to safety. Every day, you get hungrier and hungrier, thinner and thinner, until you barely have the energy to move. Your body begins to shut down. You have given up on life.

And then, finally, someone finds you. They take you to a shelter, and they send you to a rescue. People give you food. They hold you. They tell you everything will be okay. And as you look up their faces, purring, more grateful than you have ever been in your whole life, you start to believe them. Because this is Second Chance, and now you will know what life should be like: filled with love; filled with hope.

Please donate to Nolan today – he needs your help! All donations are tax-deductible. If you can’t donate, please SHARE his story!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2C66QQFY6N9PW

I could not get this little angel out of my head and started going through subsequent posts on the Second Chance Sheridan Cat Rescue's Facebook page. Here is what I learned:

Nolan was found with only two legs, and he had cuts and bruises covering his entire body, making it look like “he climbed up into an old car hood for warmth and was chopped up by something like a fan belt when the owner started the car.” He had severe frostbite on his ears and tail; the tip of his tail fell off after his bath because the tissue was dead. He also tested positive for FIV.

Then came the worst news of all. The lady who found him and took him to the shelter had just witnessed him being tossed out of a car. His legs had already been cut off. They believe that one leg was cut off about three months ago, and the other leg was cut off a month ago. He is terrified of men.

He has been stabilized and currently Nolan is scheduled for surgery tomorrow, April 16th. The vet will pull the extra skin over his front stump so it's not so exposed and remove his broken tooth. He also has a hernia, but they are leaving that alone for now because it's not causing him pain and cutting open his tummy would be too traumatic to his system right now.

I'm not going to spend time questioning what kind of a monster could do such a thing because it makes me too angry to coherently put words together. Such a "human being" shouldn't even be alive as far as I'm concerned. The most important thing we can do is make sure that Nolan lives the rest of his life knowing nothing but love, joy, and happiness. 

If you’d like to donate to the Rescue to help Nolan, you can do so on Paypal. They also have an Amazon wish list. He recently received a cosmic catnip toy which the shelter called "the most amazing thing that has ever happened to him." (Check out their Facebook page for amazing video of him.) At the top of their wish list right now is Whiskas Purrfectly Fish, the only wet food he'll eat. He loves belly rubs and head bops.

Please share Nolan's story wherever you can. Thank you.

Interview/Review: Memoirs of a Cool Cat by Joy Cool & Lambert the Cat

Memoirs of a Cool Cat is a rolicking, tender account of a cat family’s experiences in the home of the human who loves them. Lambert the Cat recounts how he and his feline cohorts came to live in Cool Cat Utopia. He bravely describes his battles with plamacytic-lymphocytic stomatitis, gently derides his sister’s bouts with OCD, and moves the reader to tears at the loss of a beloved companion. Memoirs is sprinkled liberally with photos of Lambert and his loved ones, as well as his gymnasium, his toys, his custom-made food, and the bathtub that lurks in ambush. You will devour this book like the made-from-scratch diet Lambert and his homies thrive on!

Cool Cat Utopia begins when Joy adopts Lambert as a companion for her elderly cat Sheeb, who is suffering from kidney failure and a broken heart following the death of her brother. She ends up coming home with a companion for Lambert (so he won't be lonely once Sheeb is gone), and a long-haired tortie lady. (So here we all were, a yelling, flatulent little mob, in one large carrier.) From there readers are given an unforgettable glimpse into this new little family as they learn to deal with each other's quirks and special needs. At times this book had me laughing out loud, and then it had me sobbing. (Just wait until you read sweet Weasel's story.) Watching these three cats, as well as new additions, take care of each other and love each other, prove without a doubt the depth of love these perfect little creatures are capable of for each other and their human companions.

Mixed into this book are the author's insights on a wide variety of pet topics, ranging from adoption to nutrition to creating a feline-friendly environment in your home. I was incredibly honored to have the chance to interview Joy about her thoughts on these topics and many others, and was thrilled to learn that she is currently working on a sequel!

Truffles and I adored this book and we highly recommend it to cat lovers everywhere. We hope you enjoy the interview and that you snatch up your own copy of the book as well!

Interview with Author Joy Cool

What made Lambert decide to dictate a book about his adventures?
I love to write, I always have, and I was having a pina colada in my cat-friendly condo one day with a friend and shooting the breeze, and Lambert did something or other that was gregarious as usual, and we started "putting words in his mouth," just claiming he was saying this or that, and we decided he did have a way with words. And then one or the other of the other cats was doing something I decided to catch in a photo, and my friend remarked that I really should share some of the photos, b/c the condo was such a good cat environment -- one thing sort of led to another, and I promised her that I would start writing in my spare time. I decided to do it in Lambert's voice because he communicated so much to me -- they all did, they all DO, don't they? And once I got started, it took on a life of its own -- writing about myself, from another's perspective, just great fun!

I read in your biography that a good part of your animal shelter volunteer work involved socializing feral and abused cats for adoption success. What did that entail?
Ah, socializing feral cats. Abused cats actually revert to being feral, distrusting humans because they've been hurt by them. And nobody wants to adopt a cat that huddles under a piece of furniture spitting at them. But if you have the patience to get close to them gradually, and give them time to arrive at their own conclusion that you won't hurt them, nearly any cat can become a cuddle-bunny. Some faster than others, some with blinding speed. My favorite method was when the cat was sequestered in a bathroom or a large cage, so that I could actually go into the cage, or the small room, and just sit with the cat, in its own environment. The first week, I would just sit there for a while, talking to it and meeting its eyes with a slow blink of my own. Then I'd softly run my hand down its back and then get off before it could try to strike. Then I'd leave my arm outstretched, with my hand maybe a foot away from it, and just continue talking, looking, blinking. I talk with a question mark at the end of every sentence, an opening, an "I'm-on-receive" setting, as it were, rather than announcing anything that they had to accept. This may sound hokey, but I had really good results. The next time, usually a week later, that I showed up and started asking them from outside the cage how they were doing, most of them responded to me, and it only took two or three sessions to get them to approach me, and then the sky was the limit, you just go on from there. They were usually let out to mingle with the other cats within a couple of weeks. Oh! -- I forgot to say, the first time, I'd wear heavy leather work gloves, because sometimes they would go after me. When that happened, since my hands were protected, I'd just let them fasten on, and continue softly asking them, e.g., "Are you biting me?" And they'd stop. And I'd use their name, a lot. Get to be their personal acquaintance. Sometimes I'd get so attached I'd have to go into another room when they'd find their permanent family, because I'd really miss them.

Your condo sounds like a feline paradise! What are some things we can all do in our homes to make our decor more cat-friendly?
I actually miss that condo! I got married three years ago and moved into my husband's house, and my cats adopted his dog. :-) And as cat-friendly as the condo was, the sun room we have at the back of the house is a paradise! The cats love to watch the birds eat from the birdfeeder right outside the window, and to stretch out on the couch in the sun. I think one important thing is to have furniture -- either special cat furniture or people furniture that you don't mind the cats getting on -- just inside a window, so that the cats can watch the neighborhood dogs walk by, birds and other animals scurrying around, clouds, sun, etc. And cat trees that they can climb are wonderful, and the exercise is good for them. My cats enjoy doing various calisthenics on the carpeted basement stairs. They're the kind of stairs that you can see between; they don't have the rear face of the step, only the stepping part, so the cats do chin-ups and hang under them with their arms around the step, all kinds of things. AND, this is very important, NO room "fresheners," or other perfumed things, they're actually bad for humans and animals. There are certain herbs that are cat-friendly, but the chemical things aren't.

You advocate for a species-appropriate diet for our cats. Do you have any recipes or feeding suggestions to share?
I used to use a recipe that I found on a Canadian website called felinefuture.com, and make my own food. It was a very good recipe, using raw ground meat and carefully balanced supplements. The important thing to realize is that cats are obligate carnivores, they simply do not need carbos. Any, ever. They eat protein and fat. Eating the convenient cat kibble has been the ruin of many a cat's health; they become overweight and get diabetes. I feed my cats Rad cat food now, which is made of the very same ingredients I used to use and is available frozen at organic pet food stores. It isn't cheap, not at all, but it's the absolute best already-made cat food I've ever seen in my life.

You have had some extremely special needs cats in your life...how have you coped with it all emotionally?
I'm sure you can resonate with what I'm going to say about pouring your heart into a special-needs pet. Even when you know their time is not going to be long, you make it as good for them as you can, which of course involves getting emotionally invested -- I mean, how could you not? And they know it. The very toughest part is knowing when you need to let them go -- you keep them going as long as they have quality of life, and they let you know when they need to stop. The decision from hell, always too soon, always too late, at the same time, but you just stay in very close touch with them, listen to what they're telling you, and let them have their long rest when they tell you to. There will always be that ache in your throat even just thinking back to it, but that's what emotional investment entails. As with loving any living being, you decide that loving and being loved is infinitely richer than being safe.

You've also had some frightening experiences with your own health...how are you doing now?
Thank you for thinking of me, Melissa, I really appreciate that! I'm living without an ileum. I'm not sure it's ever been done for this long -- I'm in my twelfth year. I can't absorb fat or the fat-soluble nutrients, which I won't bore you by going into in detail, will just say that living with a sub-basement Vitamin D level is NOT easy. I went from having the bone density of a 21-year-old at age 50 to being a hair away from osteoporosis in my hip several years later, the one thing I was sure I'd never have to worry about, being a serious, lifetime, heavy weight-lifter. I still do the weights, though, and so far I haven't broken anything. I've developed chronic hives and eczema, and my thyroid kicked the bucket from the first few years of everything tearing through me. The famine response of the eating disordered without the eating disorder! The fatigue is nearly overwhelming, but I've got the best husband in the world! I was able to retire a year and a half ago, which I never saw coming before, and we keep plugging along. In fact, we sing and play guitar together (I started learning when I was 59), which is the second-most-fun thing two people can DO together!! And I've become an avid -- if flawed -- gardener. Making pretty things grow is a lot of fun. And I seem to have taken up interior and exterior decorating -- we totally redid our kitchen, which I designed. Life is just rife with opportunities for self-expression, it seems.

I'm almost afraid to ask this, but are all of the cats in your book still with you? Any new additions?
I (we, because my husband Cap had become very closely attached as well) lost both Pandora and Lambert last year, Pandora to an extremely aggressive dental tumor that came out of the blue sky and Lambert after years of kidney cancer. Swishy Girl lost her battle with skin allergies several years ago. They're all hard, but Lambert nearly tore us to pieces. All of these updates will be recounted in Lambert's sequel, God willing and the creek don't rise. Tut Tut was wandering around so bereaved after Lambert's passing that we went back to the cat shelter where I volunteered and got another old guy, Joey, to keep him company. He has completely stolen our hearts, of course.

Cat's Meow Mews & Mailbox #31

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)

I've spent much of the week in a head cold-induced stupor but did get a good project done. I'm participating in the BlogPaws Spring Clean Your Blog series and this week submitted my blog to the community for honest, gentle feedback. One very useful suggestion to come out of it was the creation of tabs/pages. Now right under my blog header there are separate pages for Product Reviews, Truffles Interviews, Caturday Art, and Remembering Tara posts. I also created a new Contact page. I think it gives my blog a more professional look, plus it gathers together some of my favorite collections of posts in one place.

Last week on Mochas, Mysteries and Meows:
* Portly to Playful is Possible with #HillsPet
* Feeding Frenzy, a Guest Blog Post by Liz Mugavero
* Truffles Interviews...Creme Brulee from JJ Cook's Death on Eat Street (w/Review & Giveaway)
* #ThrowbackThursday: The Memorial Wall
* Fortune Cookie by Josi Kilpack Blog Tour: Top 10 List
* Caturday Art: Wish I Wasn't Here

May 2014 Berkley Prime Crime/Obsidian Releases:

       

NetGalley: