Interview with Ling Ling Oddboddy from Elaine Faber’s Mrs. Oddboddy Series

Oh, my whiskers! It’s been some time since I’ve had an interview, but I’m very lucky today to have a fellow Siamese cat character here to talk about her series.

What is your name and your author’s name, pretty kitty?

My name is Ling-Ling Odboddy and my ‘person’s’ name is Elaine Faber

Mice to meet you, Ling Ling. What book(s) have you appeared in? Please list them and their genre.

 I first appeared in Mrs. Odboddy Hometown Patriot and then had a lesser role in Mrs. Odboddy Undercover Courie, both set in hometown California during WWII.

Pawsome. I love historical mysteries even though my books are in present time.

Please give more details about your series.

Mrs. Odboddy is an eccentric elderly woman who fights the war (WWII) from the home front and is determined to end conspiracies and bring Nazi spies to justice. In the sequel, she carries a secret package cross country to President Roosevelt by train.

That sounds very exciting.

Are you based on a real cat such as your author’s? If so, please give further details.

Physically, I look like Ling-Ling, a Siamese feral cat that appears at mom’s ‘free soup kitchen’ morning and night, however, I’m a more clever cat than she.

All Siamese are smart. I’m based on my author’s cat, Oliver. He is not only smart but has a large vocabulary.

Can you share an excerpt from one of your books that features you in an important scene? If so, please include it.

From Mrs. Oddboddy, Hometown Patriot:

Meow! A beige streak raced by Agnes and slipped past Godfrey’s feet as he shoved open the door.

Agnes gasped and dashed toward the bathroom. Godfrey might have dealt with a chicken or two during his exhilarating career in the military, but he wasn’t equipped to deal with a cross-eyed Siamese cat on a Black-Ops Death Raid.

If a hand grenade had detonated in the bathroom, there couldn’t have been greater chaos. Ling-Ling sprang from the floor to the back of the toilet, and then to the top of the shower curtain. Within the close confines of the bathroom, feathers flew as the six chickens exploded in six different directions. The frightened fowl squawked.

Ling-Ling yowled. For a little cat, she was making a grand effort to annihilate the six-pack.

Godfrey flung up his hands as a chicken—was it Sophia—flapped into his face, and then to the shoulder pad of his jacket, and onto the top of his head.

Agnes screamed.

Chicken Mildred escaped, raced down the hall and turned at the first doorway.

Myrtle and Mrs. Whistlemeyer sprinted toward the living room. Clara flapped into the kitchen. Crash! Was that the kettle of oxtail stew hitting the linoleum? So much for dinner!

Belly to the floor, Ling-Ling had Abigail by the throat, dragging her kill out the bathroom door, down the hall and into the garage.

“Godfrey! Run, catch Ling-Ling. She’s got Abigail!”

Godfrey shoved Sophia off his head and raced after Ling-Ling, toward the garage.

Katherine followed a trail of pinfeathers into her bedroom.

Agnes streaked toward the living room behind Mrs. Whistlemeyer. This had turned into the dinner party from H.E.L.L She burst into giggles. Yes. This ought to dampen Godfrey’s amorous intentions. She should write a piece for Luella Parson’s advice column.

Six Ways to Utilize your Victory Chicken to Dis-Ignite Unwanted Ardent Advances Number One: Turn your Victory chickens loose in the bathroom

Number Two: Open the door and toss in the cat.

What a purrfect excerpt, and you are quite the actress or cattress, as the case may be.

What do you like most about your role in your authors’ books?

Agnes adopted me when my former ‘person’, Lilly Jengyu, was taken to a Japanese Internment Camp. Even though I am very naughty at times, Agnes and Katherine forgive me because I’m just so darn cute.

Yes, we cat characters have a way of wrapping our protagonists around our fingers.

Are you a talking cat in your books or just a silent one like I am who just meows occasionally?

Since I am not a POV character in this series, I only meow and get into trouble in both Mrs. Odboddy books. In Ms. Faber’s other books, Thumper is a POV character and much of the story is written through his POV. (Black Cat’s Legacy, Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer and Black Cat and the Accidental Angel)

I must speak with Thumper some time. I don’t talk in my books either, but I did get my photo on my upcoming third adventure, Written in Stone.

What advice would you give other cat characters?

Even if you are a POV cat character and/or narrate part/all of the book, physically stick to what cats can do. They do not have opposable thumbs, and should not walk through walls. Stay true to ones’ true cat nature. Thinking and talking to other animals is acceptable and even desirable at the will of the author.

Yes, realism is so important in fiction even for cats.

Do you have any new books coming out? Please give dates and details.

Mrs. Odboddy Undercover Courier was just published last month. A third Mrs. Odboddy is scheduled next year…Mrs. Odboddy – And then There Was a Tiger.. and yes, there is a real live tiger… Also another cozy cat mystery WIP scheduled for late 2018 with part of the mystery taking place in Germany and Austria.

Very mice.

Are you and/or your author on social media? If so, please list your links.

www.mindcandymysteries.com (website) 

http://tinyurl.com/zm2j4n5  (facebook)

Thank you for the interview, Ling Ling, and best whiskers to you and your author on your upcoming books.