Purr
M for Murder
by
T.C. Lotempio
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE:
Cozy Mystery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Sydney
McCall left behind an ex-fiancé and a New York advertising job to
return home to Deer Park, North Carolina and help her sister, Kat,
run the local animal shelter, Friendly Paws. Determined to save the
shelter from financial trouble, Sydney and Kat organize a cat café
fundraising event at a local coffee shop. Things are looking up until
their landlord, Trowbridge Littleton, threatens to shut down the
event. When Sydney drops by his art gallery to make peace, she finds
Kat--along with Littleton's dead body.
Local
homicide detective Will Worthington--who just happens to be Sydney's
old high school crush--is highly suspicious of the sisters'
involvement. Desperate to clear their names from the suspect list,
Sydney pounces on the investigation. With the help of one of the
shelter cats, a savvy orange tabby named Toby, Sydney begins poking
her nose into other local businesses whose owners may have benefited
from Littleton's death--until the killer notices she's pawing a
little too closely at the truth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
Two:
Will
glanced up. “Pretty observant of you, Syd. The ME will determine
the cause of death.” He tapped on his notebook with the edge of
his pen. “Why don’t you walk me through what happened. How did
the two of you come to be in Littleton’s shop so early?”
“We
had something we wanted to discuss with Mr. Littleton, and we thought
the earlier the better,” I said.
“I
see. And just what was the nature of this discussion?”
I
shifted my weight to my other foot. “Friendly Paws has teamed with
Dayna’s Treats & Sweets for a cat café event to benefit the
shelter. For a nominal fee, people can have their coffee and goodies
in a room with shelter cats that are available for adoption.”
Will
glanced up, and I could see a light of interest in his eyes. “I’ve
heard of those cafes. They’re mostly in Europe.”
“There
are a few in the States, big cities mostly. This will be the first
event of it’s kind in North Carolina. We’re hoping to increase
revenue for both the café and the shelter.”
“Let
me guess. That idea didn’t sit well with Littleton?”
Kat and
I both shook our heads in unison and Kat exclaimed, “I should say
not! He was in the shop yesterday, and he made his feelings pretty
darn clear. He thought having the cats around would be detrimental
to business. Heck, he thinks-thought-the shelter in general was a
detriment to the town.”
“A
sentiment you two didn’t agree with,” he said slowly.
“I
should say not!” Kat returned, her cheeks starting to flame. “Syd
and I tried to reason with him yesterday but he dind’t want to hear
it.”
“And
that’s why you decided to come here this morning?”
I
nodded. “Yes. I put together a pretty good argument of pros for
the event. I was hoping to appeal to his sense of business acumen.”
“Why
did you feel this was necessary? Had he threatened you?”
“Not
in so many words,” I said carefully. “But he did say yesterday
that he was determined to put a stop to the proceedings, and we
hadn’t heard the last from him.”
“Um-hm.”
Will murmured, scribbling some more.
“And
Leila Addams – do you remember her, Will? She’s a reporter for
the Deer Park Herald now,” Kat chimed in. “Leila said that she
thought Littleton was inquiring about starting a petition against
showing the shelter cats – and the shelter in general.”
Will
made another notation in his book. “So when was the last time you
saw Littleton?”
“Yesterday
around one-thirty.” I cleared my throat. “If that’s all the
questions you have, we need to get going.”
He
snapped his notebook shut. “You’re free to go for now,” he
said, “but I will probably need to talk to you some more later on.”
“That’s
fine,” I said. “We’ll be here.”
The
corners of Will’s lips twitched slightly. “Good to know.”
Once we
were back out on the street, Kat hauled off and punched me in the
arm – hard.
“Yow!”
I cried. “What was that for?”
“For
thinking that you could come here and face Littleton without me, for
one,” Kat said. “I knew you had your fingers crossed last
night.”
I rubbed
at my arm. “Can’t put anything over on you, can I?”
She
gave me a shrewd look. “So, how did it feel, seeing Will
Worthington again after all these years! I heard he was back in
town, but I had no idea he’d become a detective – homicide, no
less.” She cut me a sidelong glance. “Funny, isn’t it, how you
two came back to Deer Park almost at the same time. Like Karma, or
something.”
“Well,
I’d rather deal with Will than his partner, Colombo Junior,” I
said. “Come on, let’s get my car and get to the shelter. I hope
Maggie isn’t too worried.”
We
walked through the alleyway and when we were almost at the spot
where I’d parked, I suddenly stopped short. “Hey,” Kat cried
as she ran full tilt into my back. “What’s wrong?”
I
pointed to the empty space beside my car. “There was a white
Lincoln there when I came, parked pretty badly. The license plate
read TLITTLE. I thought for sure it was Littleton’s car, but if
it’s gone…”
“A
white Lincoln? That’s his wife Petra’s car,” Kat said. She
glanced around, then pointed to the gym. “She must have parked it
here instead of the gym parking lot, like she usually does. I wonder
why.”
Another
disturbing thought occurred to me as I slid behind the wheel. It
would have been impossible for Littleton’s wife not to have seen
the ambulance and police cars parked in front of her husband’s
shop. Why hadn’t she come to see what was wrong?
Unless,
of course…she didn’t have to. Because she already knew.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
While
Toni Lotempio does not commit – or solve – murders in real life,
she has no trouble doing it on paper. Her lifelong love of mysteries
began early on when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew
mystery at age 10 – The Secret in the Old Attic. She (and ROCCO,
albeit he’s uncredited) pen the Nick and Nora mystery series from
Berkley Prime Crime – the first volume, MEOW IF ITS MURDER, debuted
Dec. 2, 2014. Followed by #2, CLAWS FOR ALARM. #3, CRIME AND
CATNIP, is out this December. She, Rocco and Maxx make their home in
Clifton, New Jersey, just twenty minutes from the Big Apple – New
York. Catch up with them at www.tclotempio.com and
www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com
Where to
find them:
ROCCO’s
blog:
Website:
Amazon-
Purr M for Murder
Amazon:
All Books Page
facebook:
Twitter:@RoccoBlogger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY
INFORMATION
The
author will be awarding autographed copy of PURR M FOR
MURDER (hardcover - US ONLY) to a randomly drawn winner via
rafflecopter during the tour.
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