Mollie Hunt's Blog, page 29

COMING SOON: CRAZY CAT LADY CHARACTER SPOTLIGHTS

Photo by Qin Rong on Unsplash

Have you every wondered why Special Agent Denny Paris decided to become an animal cop? What Frannie does when she’s not volunteering at FOF and helping Lynley solve murders? Whether Seleia is really the perfect granddaughter Lynley thinks she is? Have you ever hankered to know a bit more about Lynley’s “hippie” period or if she has any regrets?

Now you can find out. The Crazy Cat Lady Character Spotlights are a series of flash fiction backstories featuring the cast of the Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mysteries. 

Do you have a favorite character from the series? A hero you might like to know better? Or perhaps a villain? Leave a note in the comments, and I’ll be happy to reveal a secret or two.

 

WE HAVE A WINNER OR 5!

 

When I put out the call to name and describe a character in my upcoming series, the Tenth Life Cozy Mysteries, I had no idea how many people would answer, nor how imaginative and thorough their entries would be!

All I said about this girl was that she is a teenager who loves horses, texting, and the boy next door. Her mom and dad, Aiden and Nao Smith, are neighbors of the leading character, septuagenarian Camelia Collins. They live in Ocean Cove, Oregon, a tiny forgotten town on the west coast.

There were so many amazing suggestions that Tyler and I had a tough time deciding which to choose. In fact, besides selecting one main winner, we ended up with five second place winners as well, from which we’ll be taking parts of their suggestions to weave into the character’s full persona.

Now without further ado, the winner of the Ghost Cat of Ocean Cove Character Contest!

Congratulations and huge thanks to Jeanne Owens! Let me introduce Yui Smith!

Jeanne writes:

This is how I see her.

Her name is Yui.

She has black hair cut in a pixie bob, and she dyes one strip on the right side a different color every week, usually pink, green, or blue depending on her mood.

She’s very smart, but since being teased about it in elementary school, she hides just how smart she is from the other kids, so she doesn’t intimidate them or get teased more. She has a couple of close girlfriends. She is friends with the boy next door, but also has a crush on him but is afraid to say about it. She’s also a bit of a tomboy and is fairly athletic. She likes to help out around the community, especially when it comes to animals, and horses in particular. She is also a little spiritually sensitive, ever since she was little, but doesn’t mention it to anyone for fear of seeming weird.

And here are our second-place winners and the clips we’ll be using in the coming Ghost Cat stories:

Joanne Hodgdon: She likes to rescue injured wildlife and has rehabilitated neighborhood squirrels and birds. She talks to the wounded creatures and is pretty confident that they understand everything she tells them.

Marilyn Smith: She has never met an animal she didn’t immediately love, and they adore her. She’s very friendly and curious.

Marsha Karr Cole: She loves to read, paint watercolors, hike, volunteers at an animal shelter and tends to be a bit klutzy. She has deep brown hair and bright blue eyes.

Kristin Cochran Schadler: She’s a skilled equestrian who has competed at the fair for years. **Kristin, book 2 of the series will have lots to do with a county fair, and this fits right in!

Dot Stewart: She’s brilliant, observant, mature for her age, wise in an innocent kind of way, animals are drawn to her, as are older adults. She’s an old soul in a young body, a little psychic.

Photo credit: Anh Duc

I’ll be adding one attribute of my own: Yui wears glasses!

Yui doesn’t have a big role in Ghost Cat of Ocean Cove, but expect to see much more of her in the subsequent books. Thanks to everyone who participated. Tyler thanks you too and is now ready for a nap.

 

CRAZY CAT LADY NEWS: NEXT UP – ADVENTURE CAT!

There is a new Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery in the works!

Adventure Cat takes up five years after the Cat’s Cradle short story where Lynley saves a kitten stuck in a gym bag and ends up running for her life. The bag is later revealed to hold more than a kitten. What happened to the bag? What happened to the kitten? The story is just beginning.

By now, we’ve all heard about adventure cats, those fantastic felines who venture out into the wilds with their people. They go on boats, hikes, buses, and trains. They cross rivers and mountains and whole continents, wherever their person may lead. The Friends of Felines Adventure Cat club does nothing so spectacular however, choosing to cruise the quiet parks of Portland instead. It’s fun to take a cat on an outing, and Lynley is pleased as punch that, not one but three of her clowder, are leash trained.

Then disaster happens! Dirty Harry slips out of his harness and goes galivanting up the Mt. Tabor hillside. He leads Lynley on a merry chase, but finally she catches up, finding him in the arms of an enigmatic woman named Carry.

Carry lives in the bungalow on the top of the hill, surrounded by an amazing garden planted entirely in red. Carry has a cat of her own, Hermione. Lynley instantly recognizes Hermione’s unique markings as those of the kitten she rescued five years previous under some very strange circumstances.

Your Opinion Matters!

I’m considering a new look to my Crazy Cat Lady covers. I still plan to feature artwork by cat artist Leslie Cobb, but my cover designer has come up with the idea of adding a shadow of the picture into the plain colored portion of the cover. Which one do you like better?

Next Question!

Adventure Cat is already on it’s way to my Beta Readers! From there is should be smooth sailing to publication. Though I customarily launch new Crazy Cat Lady mysteries on National Cat Day at the end of October, this one may be coming early. What do you think? Should we break with tradition and have a summer launch?

The Ghost Cat Character Contest…

Remember way back in December when I ran a contest to name and describe an ongoing character in my upcoming Tenth Life Cozy Mystery Series? No, I haven’t forgotten, just waiting until I was immersed in the book again before making my choice. This was the call I sent out:

“I am looking for a name for a character who plays a small part in my new cozy, The Ghost Cat of Ocean Cove. All I know about her so far is that she is a teenager who loves horses, texting, and the boy next door. Her mom and dad, Aiden and Nao Smith, are neighbors of the leading character, septuagenarian Camelia Collins. They live in Ocean Cove, Oregon, a tiny forgotten town on the west coast.”

I received many wonderful and creative entries and am currently going through them to find the one that seems just right. The winner will be notified as soon as I decide, and the formal announcement will come out in my next newsletter. If you haven’t entered already, there is still time.
Reply to molliehuntcatwriter@gmail.com by April 1st to be entered.

Cat’s Cradle, a Crazy Cat Lady Short Story:

Shots fly when Lynley tries to rescue a kitten from a vacant warehouse.

Lynley Cannon knows the sound of a cat in trouble, so when she hears plaintive mews coming from a gym bag on the floor of a vacant warehouse, she has no choice but to respond. Lynley isn’t the only one after that gym bag, however. As shots fly, Lynley and Kitten run for their lives.

And now for the promo stuff:

You can find Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer on her blogsite: www.lecatts.wordpress.com

Amazon Page: www.amazon.com/author/molliehunt

Smashwords Page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/CatWriter

Draft2Digital ebooks: https://www.draft2digital.com/book/

Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/MollieHuntCatWriter/

Fire Star Author Page:  http://prairierosepublications.com/authors_2/mollie-hunt\

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7768987.Mollie_Hunt

@MollieHuntCats

Sign up for Mollie’s Extremely Informal Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/c0fOTn.

Thank you for supporting independent authors and artists.

HOW MUCH DOES THAT FREE KITTEN COST?

Here is the most complete, informative, humorous, kind, and well-written article I’ve seen about the real cost of a cat. Written for the Fear Free Happy Homes website, Ramona D. Marek, MS Ed gives you everything you need to know about the financial side of taking the best care of your furry feline friend.

The Cost of Cat Companionship

Ramona D. Marek, MS Ed, is an award-winning writer and 2017 recipient of the prestigious Fear Free Pets Award. She writes about pet care, health and behavior, and cats in the arts. She’s also the author of “Cats for the GENIUS.” Her feline muses are Tsarevich Ivan, a joie de vivre silver tabby Siberian, and Natasha Fatale, a full-time diva dressed as an “anything but plain” brown tabby. You can read more about Ramona and her work at  www.RamonaMarek.com .

I received permission from Ramona Marek to reblog this article.

POEM: IN THE CAT GARDEN

Artwork Credit: Irina Redine

IN THE CAT GARDEN

Cat in the garden

does not question whether she is

wild or safe.

News comes on scented air;

some relevant,

most not.

If there is danger

she will deal.

When danger passes

she will assess the damage

and move on.

Meanwhile she cares for basic needs:

eat  poop  love.

Sun on her back

in the garden.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: READ A BOOK!

Read a book!

A year ago, many of us went into isolation. With a pandemic looming on the horizon, we didn’t mind a few weeks of lockdown if it kept us safe. Well, it’s been a year and we’re still here. What better way to spend the time than reading a good book?

Everyone has a different opinion of what makes up that proverbial “good book.” Maybe it’s non-fiction, something that teaches something. Or history, a way to learn from our past. Maybe you like biographies that give a peek into the lives of the rich and famous. Or maybe, just maybe, you’d rather take a break from realism and enjoy a fiction read.

This has been the toughest year on record. Besides a pandemic that’s shaped our lives in ways we could never have predicted, we’ve had civil unrest, opposing politics, violence in our streets, and insurrection in the very heart of our country. We’ve had droughts and fires, tornadoes, and now the country, all the way south to Texas and west to Oregon, is experiencing an unprecedented freeze. In my opinion, it’s time to cuddle around the fire with a cat or two and read something fun.

May I offer, for your consideration, my cozy cat mystery series!

Ta-Da!

The Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series, by Mollie Hunt

Lynley Cannon is the crazy cat lady, but she’s not quite crazy yet. Follow Lynley’s adventures as the sixty-something cat shelter volunteer finds more trouble than a cat in catnip, taking crazy to a whole new level.

Books 1, 2, 3: Read Free with Kindle Unlimited!

Cats’ Eyes, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #1: Look what the cat dragged in! When Lynley’s old kitty Fluffo discovers a stolen uncut diamond, Lynley finds herself accused of murdering the thieves.

Copy Cats, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #2: When Lynley exposes a breed cat counterfeiting ring, she becomes the target of a serial killer who murders with a grisly cat-like claw.

Cat’s Paw, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #3: Two suspicious deaths at an elite art retreat send Lynley running back to Portland, but murder follows in her wake.

Cat Call, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #4: Lynley takes over as cat handler for a TV pilot only to find the show is hexed and murder is waiting in the wings.

Cat Café, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #5: A body is discovered on the floor of the cat café, and all the black cats are missing!

Cosmic Cat, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #6 (2019): When a superhero cosplayer falls to his death at a comic con, Lynley is left holding the bag— and a cat! Winner of the CWA Muse Medallion for Mystery, 2019-2020

NEW RELEASE! CAT CONUNDRUM, Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery #7 (2020): A locked room. A dead man. The cat is the only witness, and he isn’t talking.

Prefer something a bit more fantastical? Books 1 and 2 of the Cat Seasons Tetralogy are also available.

Read for free on Kindle Unlimited!

Cat Summer (Book 1 of the Cat Seasons Tetralogy, 2019 Fire Star Press): Sentient cats save the world from an evil older than history—twice! Winner of the CWA Muse Medallion for Scifi-Fantasy, 2019-2020

NEW RELEASE! Cat Winter (Book 2 of the Cat Seasons Tetralogy, 2020) Magical transformations, daring rescues, a journey through time and space—the fate of the universe rests in Slayter’s black, feline paws.

Have a great day!

So whatever your taste in reading material, relax and enjoy. Here’s wishing you the best day possible!

The Story of Jaimz, a cat Abandoned

Read my story of Jaimz, my current foster cat, reblogged from the Katzenworld site.

The Story of Jaimz, a cat Abandoned

AN ALTERNATIVE LOOK AT CAT COZIES

Now for something completely different…

If you are reading this, you already know that I write cat mysteries. I also read them. I would much rather settle in with a Lillian Jackson Braun or a Shirley Rousseau Murphy than any other reading material you could name. I belong to several cozy groups where we discuss the merits of a genre that intrigues without scaring, swearing, or sex. Most participants can’t speak highly enough of the sub-genre: the cozy cat mystery.

But not everyone feels that way. I recently read an article by Karen G. Anderson who comes at the cat-writing phenomenon from a uniquely different perspective. Though I disagree with her on several counts, I found it well written and entertaining. Knowing that she is a cat person at heart helped me enjoy the blogpost so much that I got her permission to reblog it here.

Karen has some valid points. There is currently a plethora of available cat mysteries, and they vary widely in quality. Some writers who are jumping on the bandwagon of kitty popularity prove within the first few pages they know nothing about cats. Others feature cats so skimpily it’s hard to consider their stories as cat-writing at all.

Read on, agree or disagree, but if you comment, no rudeness, please.

Fuzzy. Persistent. Persnickety. Annoying. Allergy-inducing.

I’m referring here not to felines, but to the literary subgenre of cat mysteries.

Don’t get me wrong: I love cats, and am currently owned by four. But I don’t care for most of the crime fiction that is centered around them.

When a woman at a party or at the office (it is always a woman) begins to rave about the latest installment of a cat mystery series, I shudder. It is much the same feeling I have when I hear the cat door slam and Betaille, our Himalayan/Abyssinian cross, marches into the kitchen carrying a struggling rat. I think: Another one? Arrrgh.

Why is it that I enjoy cats, but can take or leave most cat mysteries? Because as much as I like the furry little guys, I prefer to interact with them in small doses. I don’t care to spend three hours being entertained by one.

Cats, after all, are decorative and diverting, and they are at their finest in cameo appearances. There is no question that a muscular black panther signals intrigue, while a regal white Persian connotes wealth, power and even cruelty. Striped tabbies: domesticity. Tattered street cats: tough customers. Siamese: fey elegance and sensuality.

Do you really want a cat involved in the work of detection, though? Perhaps once, as a clever twist. But throughout an entire series? It’s hard enough for a writer to keep a human sleuth fresh and interesting in a string of books, much less a sleuth who sleeps 20 hours a day and is better at leaving prints than spotting them.

Obviously I’m in the minority. Writers and their publishers are churning out cat mysteries faster than barnyard moggies can produce kittens — and are considerably more successful at finding homes for them.

Even strangers to the realm of felonious felines know that the queen of cat mysteries is, without question, Lilian Jackson Braun. Her book The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (1966) launched a series in which cats have eaten Danish, seen red, played Brahms, known Shakespeare, sniffed glue, gone underground, talked to ghosts, lived high, known a cardinal (no, not the kind with wings), moved a mountain, blown the whistle, said cheese and seen stars. Behind her by just a whisker is Carole Nelson Douglas, writer of four outstanding Irene Adler historical mysteries (Good Night, Mr. Holmes, etc.), who is now producing a series about Midnight Louie, a feline sleuth who gambles his nine lives on the mean streets of Las Vegas. But for the first such mystery series, you have to reach all the way back to the Depression era, when D.B. Olsen started a series about a crime-solving cat named Samantha. Beginning with The Cat Saw Murder (1939), Samantha assisted amateur sleuth Miss Rachel Murdock as well as the Los Angeles Police Department. On the tail of Samantha, the husband-and-wife writing team of Richard and Frances Lockridge produced a 26-book series (beginning with The Norths Meet Murder, 1940) set in New York City, in which three very hep cats — Martini, Gin and Sherry — were background and conversational elements at the home of detectives Pam and Jerry North.

There was a time when cats stayed on the mystery writer’s desk and out of the writer’s manuscript. (Raymond Chandler referred to his black Persian, Taki, as his “secretary” but did not immortalize the cat in crime fiction — although Robert Altman’s 1976 film version of Chandler’s The Long Goodbye had private eye Philip Marlowe owning a cat). Yet today even hard-boiled writers such as Donald Westlake say that cats influence their writing. Westlake claims that a particularly unpleasant family cat named Emily was the inspiration for some of the evil (human) characters he has devised.

Most of today’s cat mysteries are what I think of as “clawzies,” a variation on cozies in which the cat or its person is an amateur sleuth, and the action takes place in a domestic or small-town setting. Perhaps what I’m longing for, instead, are “purrlice procedurals,” in which a cat makes its home in the cop shop, or a subgenre (I like to think of it as “hair-balled”) in which the cat functions as a private eye or an adjunct to a licensed P.I. There is some hope for this fantasy, when contemporary authors such as Robert Crais and George P. Pelecanos are giving their investigators feline companions.

With cat mysteries proliferating like Tribbles on Star Trek, I’m taking a firm stand: They are best in small doses, and most of the current series have gotten way out of hand — not unlike most feline-oriented households I know. (“We already have 10 of them, dear, no one will even notice another few.”) Enough, I say. You can feed me a can of Fancy Feast the day that a cat mystery series ever wins an Edgar Award.

On the other hand, who can resist the cream of the crop? Read on to discover five cat mysteries that had even a finicky reader like me purring. You might enjoy curling up with one — assuming, of course, that your cats allow you to share their sofa.

1. The Cat Who Robbed a Bank(2000), by Lilian Jackson Braun, is the 22nd adventure of a famous Siamese cat named Koko and her owner, ex-journalist Jim Qwilleran. (A second Siamese, Yum Yum, joined the team in 1968.) Don’t let the cute cat names — or the remote setting in the fictitious town of Pickax, Moose County — fool you: Braun crafts a fine mystery. She was an Edgar nominee in 1986 for The Cat Who Saw Red and an Anthony nominee the following year for The Cat Who Played Brahms. In Bank, a wealthy jeweler staying at the town’s newly refurbished hotel is found murdered. His young female assistant has vanished, along with the jewels. Qwilleran and his insightful cats have a lot on their hands and paws — including a bookmobile hijacking and an attempted bank robbery — in this amusing mystery.

2. The Man with My Cat (1999) is Paul Engleman’s wickedly funny take on the cat mystery subgenre. It opens with Phil Mooney and his wife Frankie on the doorstep of a Chicago cat shelter, trying to summon up the nerve to unload a Maine Coon cat named Phull — a charmless and destructive beast they have inherited from Phil’s dad. They wind up taking Phull to the local vet instead, in the dim hope that neutering may discourage him from spraying the Mooney household from top to bottom. But when they return to pick up the cat, they discover that he’s been stolen — and a nasty fellow who cost Phil his career with the city fire department appears to be mixed up in it. The Man with My Cat is a wise-cracking urban mystery with the hard-bitten “sez who? sez me!” ambiance of a Mike Royko column. It will be treasured by anyone who’s ever had a love/hate relationship with a cat.

3. Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit (1999) is the latest in Carole Nelson Douglas’ series about Midnight Louie, a sleek black tom cat who sleuths in Vegas. Douglas started her Louie series with the relatively tame Catnap (1992). Since then, Louie has been almost as busy as Braun’s Koko and Yum Yum, though he tends to get his paws a lot dirtier as he prowls parking lots along the Strip. Jumpsuit finds Louie and his human partner, PR maven and amateur detective Temple Barr, playing ghostbusters. Elvis Presley sightings are spooking a construction crew and threatening to delay the remodeling of a Vegas hotel Barr represents, and someone with a distinctive Memphis drawl has taken to calling up a local radio talk show. Is it a publicity stunt for a nearby Elvis theme hotel? When two murders occur, and a young ingenue who plays the role of Priscilla Presley is attacked, Louie and Barr team up with a troupe of Elvis impersonators to find out if the King really lives.

4. Forget Harry Potter. If you want to be enchanted by a book for all ages, try Sam the Cat Detective, by Linda Stewart. Published in 1993 by Scholastic as a trade paperback, it is currently out of print. Stewart tells a classic urban noir tale — with all the key roles, from gumshoe to bimbo, played by cats. Sam, the P.I., is a handsome Russian blue who, with his human partner, runs a specialty bookstore. His client is Sugary, a sultry longhaired cat from the building’s penthouse who comes to Sam for help after her owners are burglarized. The thieves took off with a jade necklace that one of her owners had made for a customer; it’s not insured, and her owner faces financial ruin. After negotiating his fee — half a pound of lox, plus expenses, and a small can of tuna in advance — Sam goes to work. He enlists a few toughs (like Spike, a big black cat who lives upstairs, and Butch, who lives in an adjacent alley) and checks out the buzz on the street with a feline fatale by the name of Angie (“Tan-colored. Tough. You go to see Angie, man, you better sharpen your nails”). This book is a gem, right down to the cover illustration by Chuck Leslie. It shows Sam on a dark street corner with his shadow, cast by the streetlight behind him, sporting a tough-guy fedora.

5. A Cat of One’s Own (1999) is the 17th book in the popular series about ailurophilic actress and amateur detective Alice Nestleton, written by Lydia Adamson. (Adamson is the nom de plume of Frank King, who also employs it for an animal-oriented series involving veterinarian Deirdre Nightingale and for a bird-oriented series with sleuth Lucy Wayles; in addition, King wrote a dog-oriented series under his own name.) While most cat mystery series follow a particular feline/detective team, Adamson sticks with one sleuth but cleverly introduces a new cat — or cats — in each book. In A Cat of One’s Own, Alice has helped her recently widowed friend Amanda select Jake, a distinctive brindle cat, from the local shelter. When Jake is catnapped, Amanda pays $15,000 in ransom — but then is found murdered with Jake, unharmed, by her side. Alice, who was watching the ransom pick-up, becomes a murder suspect. This New York series has more drama and passion than the usual cat cozy, plus a fascinating array of feline breeds and personalities.***

No guide to feline crime fiction would be complete without at least acknowledging the rest of “the cats who come back” — the major series that have followed in the prints of Braun’s, Douglas’ and Adamson’s cat tales:

The “Big Mike” series by Garrison Allen. Mike (or Mycroft) is a 25-pound Abyssinian who lives with Arizona bookseller and amateur sleuth Penelope Warren. He debuted in Desert Cat (1994) and has appeared in Dinosaur Cat, Royal Cat, Stable Cat, Baseball Cat and, most recently, Movie Cat (1999). One reviewer compared Allen’s clever plots and nimble pacing to the work of P.G. Wodehouse.

The “Samantha” series by D.B. Olsen (the pen name used by Dolores Hitchens). More than a quarter-century before Lilian Jackson Braun developed her first “The Cat Who” novel, Los Angeles resident Hitchens wrote a 13-book series about Rachel Murdock, a little old lady sleuth, and the crime-solving cat Samantha, who accompanied Miss Murdock on her world travels. Hitchens also wrote a distinguished hard-boiled mystery, without cats, called Sleep with Slander (1960). (All of these books are out of print.)

The “Mrs. Murphy” series by Rita Mae Brown and a feline co-author. (Yes, this is the same Rita Mae Brown who wrote the 1973 feminist classic, The Rubyfruit Jungle). This witty, whimsical series features a tiger cat, Mrs. Murphy, from Crozet, Virginia. In the seventh and most recent book in the series (Cat on the Scent, 1999), Mrs. Murphy collaborates with another cat, named Pewter, as well as a corgi and the town postmistress to investigate attempted murder and a mysterious disappearance, all set against a backdrop of a Civil War re-enactment.

The cat mysteries of Marion Babson. While Babson has not done a major cat series, the fur flies in several of her books, including Nine Lives to Murder (1994). Bruce F. Murphy, in The Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery, describes Nine Lives as “perhaps the ultimate cat mystery because it completely abandons realism and puts into effect the fantasy of every real cat lover, that of being a cat.” The detective in this case is Winstanley Fortescue, a Shakespearean actor who survives a murder attempt, but ends up switching bodies with Monty, the theater’s resident cat. While the cat in the actor’s body lies in a hospital bed, the feline Fortescue hunts down his own would-be murderer.

The “Joe Gray” series by Shirley Rosseau Murphy. This new series featuring Joe Gray, a tomcat, and Dulcie, a library cat in the Bay Area town of Molina Point, led to some wary hissing in the world of kitty lit. That’s because Murphy’s cats are not only fully conversant in English, but literate as well. This violates what had been the literary cats’ prime directive against inter-species communications. However, it has led to a lively series, opening with Cat on the Edge (1996), and now up to a fifth installment, Cat to the Dogs (2000). I confess I’ve approached these books with real caution. Of course, I have no trouble believing that cats talk to one another, but I have difficulty understanding why they would stoop so low as to speak to mere humans. | February 2000

KAREN G. ANDERSON is a contributing editor of January Magazine. She has four cats, who are hard at work on The Mystery of the Refrigerator Door.

A WOLF BOOK FOR A WOLF MOON: Review of WOLF TIME

The first full moon of the year is known as the Wolf Moon. This year’s Wolf Moon occurs today, Thursday, Jan. 28, at 2:16 p.m EST. The name’ source is a mystery. It may have come from the Old Farmer’s Almanac, a notation that wolves were often heard howling at this time of year, or it may have an older, more mythological basis. Whatever its origin, there is no better time to tell about a book with wolves at its very heart.

Wolf Time , by Barbara J. Moritsch

About Wolf Time: “When wildlife biologist Sage McAllister responds to an odd scratching noise outside her cabin door, she is stunned to find two full-grown gray wolves sitting on the deck. Surprise turns to disbelief when the wolves telepathically ask her to tell their story. Her assent triggers an extraordinary journey of time travel and shape-shifting when she merges with the wolves—experiencing the pure joy of life in the wild, as well as the terror and mortal danger posed by the darkest aspects of human nature. Through her travels, Sage witnesses the astonishing connections that exist among all beings, reunites with her own human pack, and has a chance to help humans make peace with a majestic and essential species.”

My Review:Fanciful, uplifting, gorgeous, funny, and fearsome, Wolf Time will inform your understanding of our wild brothers and sisters in ways you have yet to imagine.

Reading Wolf Time is like journeying into a different world, one where the bond between human and animal is blurred, where compassion forges relationships in wild places.

This beautiful and terrifying saga of one species’ fight to survive in the face of human prejudice is told as brilliantly as a fairytale.  Moritsch takes the reader first into the hearts of wolves and those who love them, and then into the bitter minds of those who hate and kill. But this story goes beyond good vs. evil. The fight for liberty and justice, for the basic right to be alive, is one we should all be able to relate to during these trying times.

This is not always an easy story to read, yet Moritsch has written it with love and understanding.  Her human characters learn and grow, and her portrayal of the wolves and their society goes beyond anthropomorphic; it is an insight into a true alien culture. Whether your taste is fantasy, mythology, speculative fiction, or you just like reading about our dogs’ wild kin, Wolf Time will fulfill.

About the Author:

Barbara J. Moritsch holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, respectively. She has worked for the U.S National Park Service as a ranger-naturalist and ecologist in Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Death Valley, and Yosemite national parks, and Point Reyes National Seashore, and has worked as a consulting botanist, an environmental education instructor, and a wildland fire-fighter.

Ms. Moritsch published her first book, The Soul of Yosemite: Finding, Defending, and Saving the Valley’s Sacred Wild Nature in 2012; has written extensively for the on-line National Parks Traveler; and has published articles in Natural Areas Journal, Park Science (National Park Service publication), and the National Parks Traveler’s Essential Park Guide. She is a member of the International League of Conservation Writers (ILCW) and the Northwest Independent Writer’s Association (NIWA). She lives in Idaho with her husband, four horses, two dogs, and one cat.

Some other Reviews for Wolf Time:

“A magical blend of fact and fantasy, revealing the depth of the author’s understanding and love of this much maligned animal. This novel, revealing the true nature of the wolf–courageous, intelligent and loyal–will surely help to dispel the underlying fear or hatred that leads to their cruel persecution. It is a terrific book, and deserves to be read by many.”

— DR. JANE GOODALL

“Wolf Time is a masterpiece and a reminder of what the Native American people have always pointed to: the fact that humankind has not woven the web of life, we are one thread within the web. What we do to the web determines either our survival or our peril because all life is connected. Wolf Time is a must read story for healing our relationship with Mother Nature and all life!”

–DR. TERERAI TRENT, Author of The Awakened Woman

“An endearing, if sometimes painful, read for animal lovers and a wake-up call for everyone else. Its dreamy prose and shocking statistics…will draw in teens and adults.”

— KIRKUS REVIEWS

 “A story of the deep connection wolves once had with humans but lost. Through myth and fantasy woven together with facts, the truth about wolves is revealed. Barbara paints a picture of the dire challenges wolves face today and how the disconnection between humans and nature contributes to these problems. Her novel offers a glimmer of hope, inviting humans to listen to the voices of these incredibly important social animals, and to let go of their fears, so there can be space for people and wolves to share the land.” 
— JIM AND JAMIE DUTCHER, Founders, Living with Wolves

“Wolf Time speaks to us, like a sweet, mysterious, sonorous howl emanating from distant mountains as dusk approaches. As a seasoned naturalist Barbara Moritsch has long given wilderness a poetic voice. Now, in this touching and deeply personal tribute, she does it again–honoring some of the most charismatic creatures on earth: the lobos of Yellowstone.” 
— TODD WILKINSON, American environmental journalist and author of Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek, An Intimate Portrait of 399, the Most Famous Bear of Greater Yellowstone

Buy Wolf Time here.

Review: A CAT ON THE CASE, A Witch Cats of Cambridge Mystery #3

ANOTHER WINNER FOR CAT COZY FANS (and the rest of you, too)

Clea Simon’s “A Cat on the Case” has everything I could want from a cozy cat mystery: thrills, chills, a bit of romance, a bit of witchcraft, a bit of murder, and a whole lot of cats.

Told basically from the cats’ point of view, this 3rd in the Witch Cats of Cambridge series chronicles the life of Becca Colwin, a young witchy wanna-be. Becca imagines she has powers, but in reality, it all comes down to her cats. Like most dedicated cat cohabitors, Becca thinks her cats are special, but she has no idea just how special they really are. The three littermates descend from a long line of magical cats. Laurel, the Siamese, can put ideas into people’s heads. Harriet, the eldest, a floofy Persian, can form objects out of thin air. Clara, the little calico, is just beginning to learn the extent of her mystical skills, but she knows her purpose—to protect Becca at all costs.

After Becca’s new next-door neighbor is murdered, Clara shades herself, becoming essentially invisible to the human eye, in order to bodyguard Becca as she tries to help young music student Ruby. Ruby has got herself mixed up in a plot that goes way over her head. What does Ruby know about the murder? Is she an innocent bystander, or is she involved? With Becca’s life in danger and no clue who to trust, Becca is blessed to have the aid of the cats.

As a cat person who loves cozy mysteries, I enjoyed everything about “A Cat on the Case.” In spite of their paranormal abilities, Clea writes the cats in such a way that they come across as real, true felines. Even as they do their magic, their behavior remains completely cat. Romance, witchcraft, history, music, and cats, cats, cats make this book a fun and fulfilling read.

Witch Cats of Cambridge

Pre-order now and “A Cat on the Case” will be auto-delivered to your Kindle on January 26, 2021.

From the Amazon page: “When a panicked stranger shows up at Charm and Cherish, Becca Colwin feels compelled to help. But when that stranger then disappears, leaving behind her heirloom violin the aspiring witch detective is drawn further into a web of deceit and intrigue complicated by a history that only Becca’s three magical cats truly understand.”

“Simon’s pleasing third Witch Cats of Cambridge mystery (after 2020’s An Incantation of Cats) finds Becca Colwin working at Charm and Cherish, a New Age shop in Cambridge, Mass. It’s the perfect place for the aspiring witch detective, even if she doesn’t really have magical powers, as her three talking cats–Laurel, Clara, and Harriet–know. One day, a woman stops by the shop and accidently leaves behind a violin case containing a “very old instrument.” The search for the violin’s owner leads Becca and her coven of two other aspiring witches, along with her skeptical best friend, into a complicated case involving theft and other crimes. Meanwhile, Becca is in danger of losing her apartment when the building goes condo. The three witchy cats, each with its own distinct personality, do what they can to help Becca, in addition to discussing such matters as how they fit into Becca’s life and their own hierarchy. Fans of feline cozies will be charmed.” —Publishers Weekly

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