A warm welcome to author Quinn Dressler joining us today to talk about their new release “Murder Most Yowl”.
Welcome Quinn 🙂
Hi, my name is Quinn.
First I’d like to thank everyone at Love Bytes for inviting me to talk about two of my favorite things, mysteries and cats, both figure prominently in my new book Murder Most Yowl, and since I love cats so much, I want to share some thoughts about my favorite felines with you.
I’ve been a proud mommy to six cats in my life. Each kitty has had a unique personality, with different likes or dislikes.
Take for example food.
Cat treats play a prominent role in Yowl, but Bailey, my current cat, couldn’t care less. I throw a handful of treats on the floor in front of his paws and he looks at me like I’m nuts. Although I do notice that the little tidbits eventually disappear, so he must enjoy them, eventually.
Now, all my best friend has to do is crinkle the treat bag and her two felines come a running. She can’t feed them enough to keep them satisfied.
Then there’s the can food vs dry discussion. Which one is better? Everyone has a different opinion, including cats themselves.
For Bailey dry food suits him just fine. He isn’t much interested in anything else. But I had a cat who lived for the opening of a can, while another wanted part of whatever I ate.
Just like people, each cat has their own individual likes and dislikes, which makes living with each one a unique and wonderful experience.
According to petfoodinstitute.org Americans spent $3.8 billion on dry cat food in 2014, and $2.8 on canned food. That’s a combination of over two million metric tons of food for our fabulous felines.
$0.59 billion of the national cat budget went to treats, an additional 31,000 metric tons.
That sounds like a lot but when you figure in the fact that over 73 million Americans love a cat at home every day, it’s understandable that we spend a bunch of bucks on our babies.
Not to mention the bucks we spend on cat themed items for ourselves.
When I was in Las Vegas many moons ago I visited a cat themed gift shop. It had everything for the cat lover, from cat shaped nightlights, to figurines. I bought a large wooden cat shaped sign for the garden. Sticking out of the painted cat’s mouth were a few actual yellow feathers. A sign hung around the wooden neck of the cat. It asked firmly: WHAT BIRD?
Although I no longer own the wooden cat, the memory of that shop has stuck with me. I have never seen one like it since, but I loved it so much. I decided that my main character in my new novel, an ex-NCIS detective, would run a shop just like that.
Check out my fictional shop in Yowl.
The bell over the door rang, signaling the arrival of another customer, hopefully my last of the day. I put a smile on my face, and still managed to hang on to it when I caught sight of my visitor.
Two thousand people called Sunrise Cove home. You would think one lone woman with a passion for purple dresses and orange straw hats couldn’t keep track of everyone.
Think again.
Abigail Barnett must have a gossip telegraph stashed in her basement. The second anything noteworthy happened in this berg, she knew about it. Then she talked about it, to everyone she met. Especially me.
It seemed I was easy to talk to.
Sighing, I grabbed a cola and pulled my stool closer to the counter. I might as well be comfortable.
“Mrs. Barnett, how lovely to see you. Do you need more treats for Angelica?” Angelica was her beautiful Himalayan cat, with long white fur and blue points. She had the sweetest personality, unlike her owner.
“Oh, Mr. Sherwood, it’s terrible. Fran Welch was murdered.”
I had only found the body three hours ago. Hell, Sheriff O’Neill’s team was probably still processing the scene.
“I was there, Mrs. Barnett.”
“That’s right, you found the body. You saw her lying here, stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife. It’s enough to give one nightmares.”
“The murder weapon came from her kitchen?” I hadn’t spotted a knife near the body. Maybe O’Neill found it under one of the fallen books.
“The sheriff can’t tell for sure. He’ll have to wait until the lab can test the stains on the blade.”
Of course she knew all about O’Neill’s thought process. She probably knew what he had for breakfast that morning. Busybody, thy name is Abigail Barnett… which could work to my advantage. The sheriff would kill me if he caught me snooping around in the case, but could it really be called snooping if a customer happened to give me a fact or two? It would be rude to stop Mrs. Barnett before she had her say, wouldn’t it?
“Do they know who killed her?”
“No, but Sheriff O’Neill is looking for a burglar.”
Damn. “What do you think?”
“Me?” She touched her hand to her chest. “I’m sure I don’t know.”
“Come on.” I plopped my elbows on the counter. “I bet you have a theory.”
“Well….” She looked left and right, making sure we were alone before answering. Just us two little conspirators. “I’m not sure a burglar killed Fran.”
If you want to read more Murder Most Yowl will be available both on Amazon, and by Dreamspinner Press starting June 29th.
And if you know of a good cat themed shop anywhere you could let me know? As far as I’m concerned, there can’t be too much cat paraphilia out there.
You can reach me at the following places:
Blog: https://quinndressler.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012216971417
Dreamspinner Author Page: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/AuthorArcade/quinn-dressler
Twitter: @dressler_quinn
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/41984299-quinn-dressler?utm_medium=api
Email: quinndressler@gmail.com
Until we chat again.
Quinn
Murder Most Yowl
Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: June 29, 2016
Cover Artist: AngstyG
Blurb:
Cat-sitting is a dangerous business.
Cameron Sherwood turned his back on law enforcement the night his investigation led to the death of an innocent gay man. Now Cam spends his time running a business that caters to his favorite animal, cats. But when Cam stumbles upon the body of a friend while feeding her feline, he can’t walk away. Dealing with a sexy yet stubborn sheriff, a matchmaking sister, and a terrifying blind date, Cam must somehow track down a killer, all while keeping the cats around him fed with his gourmet cat treats.
Quinn’s always been thinking up stories. A shy kid, she conjured up adventures while walking home from school. At first she only kept her tales to herself, then she shared them through fan fiction and short stories. She got a job with local TV stations, passing on noteworthy events to viewers on the evening news, winning a Golden Mic and three Emmy awards. Now as long as her cats don’t help her by walking on her keyboard, she’s working on writing more stories so everyone can enjoy them.
Find Quinn at:
Blog: https://quinndressler.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012216971417
Dreamspinner Author Page: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/AuthorArcade/quinn-dressler
Twitter: @dressler_quinn
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/41984299-quinn-dressler?utm_medium=api
Email: quinndressler@gmail.com