The Purrfect Evening

 

Snuggled up with my favorite kitty and a new magazine with my favorite singer on the cover.

Life is good.

Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is:

Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (They may be silly or cute).

Bear Witness by Lark O. Jensen - Blog Tour with Character Guest Post and Giveaway

 

No nine-to-five cubicle career will suit Stacie Calder—the naturalist much prefers working in the great outdoors. Specifically, the spacious and spectacular Alaskan wilderness, whose rugged charms she shares with sightseers on the top deck of the tour boat where she works. But one May afternoon, Stacie’s passengers see more than glittering glaciers, frolicking harbor seals, climbing bears and soaring seabirds…they also witness a man lying dead in the frigid Alaskan waters. And it seems likely that someone gave him a fatal push.

Stacie didn’t know the unfortunate victim, but he sure wanted to know a lot about her. He spent most of his final afternoon bombarding her with questions quite awkward to answer. And when he wasn’t in her hair, he was arguing incessantly with the boat’s beleaguered crew. Which makes for a suspect list about as long as the passenger manifest. Furthermore, as police helicopters relentlessly circle her boat in search of any clues, Stacie is shaken to find herself on that suspect list.

Before the tour boat reaches shore Stacie—accompanied by her beautiful blue-eyed husky, Sasha—must deduce just who sent the testy tourist tumbling into the turgid waters and have the authorities take custody. Because if she can’t, then the killer might aim a fatal ice-cold stare at Stacie.

Character Guest Blog Post by Stacie Calder, protagonist of Bear Witness, the first Alaska Untamed Mystery, which supposedly was written by Linda O. Johnston under the pseudonym Lark O. Jensen:

Wilder than Wildlife

            Me, a detective? Even an amateur one?

            That certainly wasn’t something I anticipated.

            My name is Stacie Calder. I’m a naturalist by love, education and profession. I moved to Alaska a couple of years ago because of the wonderful wildlife here that is mostly different and more rampant than in the lower forty-eight. I want to see as many creatures as I can.

            Even more, I love to point them out to others, and so I took on a job during the summer and warmer months at a tour boat company that sails from the Juneau area called ClemTours. I was assigned to be the primary tour guide on the ClemElk, one of the company’s six boats. My boss there is Palmer Clementos, one of the owners’ children who each captain a tour boat. All of the Clementos children are named for Alaskan towns.

            I of course brought along my best friend, my wonderful husky Sasha. Her name means “defender,” and along with being a wonderful companion, that’s what she does.

            And oh, how I love my job! I get to mostly stay on the boat’s top deck and use my microphone to describe where our passengers should look to get the best views of the nearby wildlife, which is often, early in the season, mama seals and their babies on ice floes. Lots of birds in the air including kittiwakes. And other wildlife visible on the near shoreline and the distance including black bears and wolves.

            I enjoy working with Palmer and his assistant Steph Porter. Then there’s my own assistant Lettie Amblex, who helps narrate the tours with me. She knows wildlife well despite not having as consistent a background as I do. Others on the boat also have become my friends, though I can’t say the deckhands Rafe and Al and I are particularly buddies. But I always enjoy grabbing a cup of coffee on the lower deck from Betsy Jones, at the galley.

            Then there are the passengers. It’s always fun to meet them and answer their questions and attempt to make sure their tours are fun. Only—well, there are a few who show up a lot, and I learned that some of them are studying what we do so they can open their own competing tour company soon.

            And one of them—well, I noticed one day that he’d disappeared. At least I couldn’t find him on the boat, and neither could anyone else, not even when we returned to our port.

            The next day, my wonderful dog Sasha, using her excellent sense of scent, discovered him lying onshore in an inlet we’d visited before. He was dead. Apparently murdered.

            And since the authorities seemed to think one of us did it—most likely Palmer—I had to help find the truth.

            That’s how I met Officer Liam Amaruq of a new wing of the Alaska State Troopers, when he winds up officially looking into the murder. He doesn’t like my being nosy and interfering, and yet we somehow seemed to start growing closer.

            Do I figure out whodunnit? Well, you’ll have to read BEAR WITNESS to find out.

About the author: 

Lark O. Jensen is the pseudonym of Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer. Lark has written Bear Witness, the first Alaska Untamed mystery for Crooked Lane. Linda has written the Barkery & Biscuits Mystery series and the Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink and the Pet Rescue Mysteries and Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. Linda also writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, and her stories often involve dogs.

Author Links:

Website: www.LindaOJohnston.com

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

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May Retro Country Rewind #MewsicMovesMe

It's been a few years since we premiered our mewsic feature "Retro Country Rewind," a look back at favorite songs that hit #1 during that month from 30, 35, 40 plus years ago. In this new year we'll be delving into #1 hits from 1972, 1977, 1982, and so on. Let's take a look at May for this freebie week in the Mewsic Moves Me blog hop...

50 Years Ago - 1972, Lost Her Love On Our Last Date, Conway Twitty

Yes, this is the Floyd Cramer piano classic with lyrics written by Conway...

45 Years Ago - 1977, Play Guitar Play, Conway Twitty

40 Years Ago - 1982, Always On My Mind, Willie Nelson

35 Years Ago - 1987, The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder, Michael Johnson

35 Years Ago - 1987, It Takes a Little Rain (To Make Love Grow), Oak Ridge Boys

We hope you enjoyed our choices this week!

Let us know if you have a favorite...

Mother's Day #CaturdayArt #SundaySelfie

Meows from Mudpie!

Since I'd like to have a little extra quality time with Mommy for Mother's Day, I asked her if we could do just one blog post this weekend, combining our Caturday Art project with my Mother's Day message/Sunday Selfie.

Happy Mother's Day to all the pawsome cat moms out there!!!

And now our weekly answers for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

1. I am running low on patience. And I never had any in the first place!

2. I never run out of squeezies. I wouldn't live to tell about it!

3. I work best when I'm alone. I can't concentrate with a lot going on around me.

4. The changes in my life over the last 6 months caught me by surprise.

Remembering Paula

Paula Gregg revealed her devastating diagnosis of pancreatic cancer on April 18, and on May 2 she was gone. 

I knew Paula as a fellow cat blogger, doting cat mom to her beloved Persians Truffle & Brulee, and President of the Cat Writers Association. She was Managing Editor for the Cat Blogosphere, organized Secret Paws, an annual event that made so many blogging kitties happy, and put together a Cats of the World Weekly Planner for many years. She was tireless and passionate about the many projects she was involved in. I never had the pleasure of meeting her in person but it was obvious in our online communications that she was a true southern lady.

I felt a connection to Paula for two reasons. First, we both had a beautiful, furry Truffle in our lives. Second, over the past couple years Paula devoted her time and energy to taking care of her elderly parents. The past year was especially difficult for her as her mother Faye struggled with Alzheimer's. Faye succumbed just before Christmas, and in those last difficult weeks her father had a lengthy hospital stay as well. I don't know how many times Paula posted on Facebook that she would come home late at night after a hard day and seek comfort in her cats.

So many times I thought about reaching out to her, just to say that I understood what she was going through, and to let her know how much I admired her grace through it all, but I never did. Now I wish that I had. 

Times like this are a painful reminder of how short and precious life is. The little things we stress over are really so insignificant when something like this happens. We need to appreciate each and every day - even the not-so-great ones - and cherish the time we have with our loved ones, because we never know what tomorrow will bring.

Paula will be greatly missed by her family, friends, cats (who are safe with their breeder), and everyone who knew her. The outpouring of love for her in the pet blogosphere has been beautiful to witness. I hope she realized how many lives she touched.

Working Girl #MewsicMovesMe

Meows from Mudpie! 

The theme of this week's Mewsic Moves Me blog hop is work songs, in honor of the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker/ May Day.

I consider myself a working girl now that I snoopervise Mommy as she works from home, so she said I could put together our playlist...as long as I started with Conway.

No surprise, right???

We hope you enjoyed our choices this week!

Let us know if you have a favorite. 

Enjoying My Warm Sunny Door #SundaySelfie

We're joining our friends at The Cat On My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop!