Oh, boy. I’ve suddenly become quite popular with guests. Today, I’m honored to have another cat to interview. What is your name and your author’s name?
I am Lord Peter Wimsey, aptly named after Dorothy Sayers aristocratic detective, but my friends call me Wimsey. My author is Nancy Lynn Jarvis.
Mice to meet you. Such a cool name. It makes you sound like a regal fellow which I’m sure you are.
What book(s) have you appeared in? Please list them and their genre.
I’ve been in three books so far, The Glass House, The Funeral Murder, and now in The Corpse’s Secret Life. My favorite book is The Funeral Murder because I was a hero in it, although my author tells me in the next book in her PIP Inc. Mysteries series, I am going to help her solve the murder. I’m excited about that. Her mysteries are cozies, and while I don’t talk in the series, being a crime solver will suit me, I think.
The main character…that is if you go by word count rather than the percentage of body covered by gorgeous orange fur…is Pat Pirard. She was downsized from her job of Santa Cruz County Law Librarian on her thirty-fifth birthday right after she spent all her savings to buy a sunshine yellow Mercedes convertible. I was terrified that I’d have to resort to hunting birds to survive and that my best friend, a dog named Dot, might have to catch gophers, but thankfully Pat is smart. She printed business cards telling everyone she was now Private Investigator Pat and has managed to keep us all fed and housed.
My only complaint is that she seems overly fond of a Sheriff Sargent with big feet who once stepped on me. Dot says it was an accident, but she’s gaga over him because he scratches her ears. He has apologized, and I am warming to him, but I’m not completely won over.
MOL (Meow Out Loud). My author has stepped on her real cats’ tails, and they certainly let her know they don’t like it. Watch those big feet.
Are you based on a real cat such as your author’s? If so, please give further details.
I am. My author had a cat with my name. She says writing about me and Dot, based on her Dalmatian Freckles, keeps us alive for her even though our namesakes have crossed the rainbow bridge.
The same with me. Oliver isn’t my namesake, but he was Debbie’s beloved senior cat who passed away four years ago.
Can you share an excerpt from one of your books that features you in an important scene? If so, please include it.
Wimsey, her normally laid-back cat appeared suddenly, hissing and snarling as he bounded into Pat’s bedroom. He used his accumulated velocity to launch himself and leaped on Anne’s back, landing just above her waist and to the right of her spine. From there, he used the claws on all four of his feet to dig into her and climb her like a tree. When he reached her shoulder, he bit her before continuing his climb to her head. Anne screamed and twisted, startled by the attack and smarting from Wimsey’s sharp claws and teeth.
Pawsome excerpt. Thanks for sharing it. Great action scene.
What advice would you give other cat characters?
If you aren’t being given enough space in the books, roll over, paw the air while looking especially cute, and let your author know you need more to do.
I should try that some time. Debbie gets sidetracked by her other books.
Do you have any new books coming out? Please give dates and details.
The Corpse’s Secret Life is a new release. I’d tell you to pick up a copy, but you really should read the series in order because of the big-footed Sheriff Sargent and because books end with Pat getting her next assignment, so I’d recommend you start with The Glass House. You can get any of my adventures on Amazon.
I’ll keep a cat’s eye out for them.
Are you and/or your author on social media? If so, please list your links.
I’m a very private cat, so I’m not, but you can find my author on Facebook and Goodreads under Nancy Lynn Jarvis.
Purrfect!
Thanks for the interview, Pete. I’m sharing some information about your author. Best whiskers to you and Nancy on your books.
Bio as of 2021
Nancy Lynn Jarvis left the real estate profession after she started having so much fun writing the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series that she let her license lapse. But after seven books, she was ready for a new adventure and is currently working on the fourth book in her PIP Inc. series which features not-quite-licensed private investigator, downsized law librarian Pat Pirard. She has also edited crowd pleasers Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes and Santa Cruz Weird.
The last year-and-half have been difficult, not only because of Covid 19, but because Nancy spent eight-and-a-half months out of her damaged home following the CZU Fire. She’s happy to be home again, writing, redecorating, and enjoying being a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Santa Cruz Women of Mystery.
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