pets

Sneaky here with the cat from Paws for Murder. Meow there, Ms. Cat. What is your name and your author’s name?

My name is Pawdry Hepburn and my person is named Petronella, but some people call her Dr. K and some—well, one American, who is very tall, but also very nice–calls her Ella. He says her name is too big for her, because she’s not very tall. There are other pets in the story, but I’m the only kitty. I’m a British Shorthair cat, and that refers to my breed and not just my nationality. My color is grey, but the breeders call it British Blue. My author’s name is Scarlett English. She loves cats like me and dogs and all kinds of animals.

Mice to meet you. My author is also an animal lover especially of cats.

What book(s) have you appeared in? Please list them and their genre.

I’ve only been in one book so far. Paws for Murder, the Barking Mad Mysteries. It’s a cozy mystery. But my author says I’ll be appearing in the entire series.

Concatulations! I’m in all four books of my Cobble Cove series, and I know Debbie is planning a fifth soon.

Please tell us about the series.

It’s called The Barking Mad Mysteries. It takes place in a small English village called Adlebury, which is south of London, but not all that close to any large city. It follows the adventures of my person, Petronella Ford, who is a young veterinarian. She keeps getting caught up in murders in her small village, and her friends help her solve them. Her best friend is Lily, a very sweet lady who lives next door to us. Her grandson is named Garrett O’Leary and he’s an American and used to be a policeman in America.Half of the story is told in his point of view. He has come to live with Lily and take care of her. There’s also Maisie, who runs the local pub and my other friends, like Sherlock, the puppy and Maisie’s guard duck, named George.

Sounds interesting.

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

Yes, one of my authors (I have two, writing under one name) has a beautiful British Shorthair blue girl named Roxx Starr, but she just calls her Roxy. She has four other kitties too. My other author has a dog.

Pawsome. My author has had several gray cats and also a Siamese like me who sadly went to Rainbow Bridge two years ago. She now has a black cat and a calico who are brother and sister and a striped tabby cat.

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

Excerpt:

She opened the carrier bag and the odor, which had already been noxious, became a thousand times worse. I carefully took Sophia, without a doubt the fattest cat in the village, out onto the table and sent up a silent prayer of gratitude that she was a short-haired cat, and not one of the longer haired breeds like a Persian or a Himalayan. As it was, Mrs. Ford was going to have to give her a couple of baths to get all this off her. Maybe more. Palpating Sophia’s stomach, I saw that she wasn’t bloated, and everything felt fairly normal.

“I think the spaghetti was just too rich for her system, Mrs. Ford. I can give you some tablets that should help, but you really can’t let her eat people food. It’s not good for her and makes her sick.” I gestured helplessly to the carrier. “As you see.”

“I know, but she begs me so. She gets so tired of her nasty old kibble all the time, don’t you, darling?”

“Yes, but it would be better to find a good wet food she likes, and you can alternate that with her dry food. I can recommend some good ones for her if you like. It will be much better for her.”

She gave me a dubious look and a sniff, but I hoped I had gotten through to her. Or maybe this latest incident had finally done the trick. I doubted it, but I hoped so. Mrs. Ford and Sophia were always in and out of our little surgery, and Dr. Hainsworth and I had both spoken sternly to her in the past about Sophia’s diet. I got out some old cloths to try to clean Sophia’s fur a bit, along with the inside of her carrier. I gave Mrs. Ford a packet of tablets to take home with her to help settle Sophia’s stomach, and finally got both of them on their way.

After she left, I contemplated throwing a match in the examining room and walking out. I couldn’t leave it for Katie to clean, tempting as that idea was, because the poor girl had nearly lost her breakfast when I just walked past her with the carrier. As for me, I’d been running a little late and hadn’t even had anything to eat yet, though considering what I’d just had to deal with, maybe that was a good thing. In the end, I sighed and began wiping down the table with disinfectant and spraying air freshener liberally in all the back rooms. I wasn’t sure there would be enough in the can.

When I walked out and closed the door behind me, Pawdrey Hepburn, our resident cat, gave me a reproachful look. Pawdrey had shown up at the clinic one day over two years ago, rubbing herself against the legs of everyone who came in and begging for food and head rubs—roughly in that order. Katie and I had fed her, of course, unable to resist her siren-like ways, and she’d been with us ever since. We had put signs up in the neighborhood and asked about her to everyone who came in. We searched diligently for her owner, but no one had ever claimed her. She took turns now going home with either Katie or me each night, and she had more personality than any cat I’d ever known.

“That smell is not coming from me, Pawdrey, so don’t look at me like that. And let this be a lesson to you,” I said, bending over to give her favorite spot under her chin a good scratch, “never eat food that’s too rich for you. No matter how much Lily tempts you with her biscuits.” Pawdrey twitched her tail at me, completely unconvinced.

Lily Kay was my next-door neighbor, and though she was older than me by probably fifty years, she was still one of my best friends in the world. She loved Pawdrey almost as much as I did, but had a bad habit of sneaking her pieces of shortbread biscuits when I wasn’t looking. I left Pawdrey licking her paws and moved toward the voices coming from the front of the clinic.

A purrfect scene. Thanks so much for sharing.

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

Everything! I love being in the books and I think I add a great deal. I don’t do a lot, but I provide emotional support and sleep with Petronella every night, because it gets very cold in England. I’m also always available for critiques of my author’s works. I think I’m tough, but fair when she reads to me. And I give good head bumps and kitty massages.

Wonderful! I also enjoy being in Debbie’s books, although she has written others in which I’m not.

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

A silent one. Though I think I get my point across.

The same with me. We cats are good at body language and finding clues.

What advice would you give other cat characters?

To stick up for your rights and demand your place in their books. We cats have to show the humans who’s boss sometimes.

I agree completely.

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

Yes, there are four books planned so far in the series, but my authors will probably do more because they like the characters so much. They just hope people will like the books!

The next book is Probable Paws, about the murder of a man nobody in the village really likes much at a spring fete.The fete is at a large estate like the one in Downton Abbey and one of the suspects is Lady Agatha, the owner of the estate. It comes out in February, 2020.

The next book in the series is called Paws and Effect, and will be out in March 2020. It concerns Petronella’s best friend, Maisie, who is accused of the murder of Maisie’s boyfriend, Roger. Petronella has to prove her innocence and gets in trouble with the police herself.

Sounds great. I already have four in my series and am hoping the fifth will be out some time this year.

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

Yes, my authors are.

I can sometimes be found on Instagram with the Bodacious Brits cats.

My authors’ Facebook link is https://www.facebook.com/scarlett.english.9887

Their website is here:

https://www.scarlettenglishauthor.com/

Thanks so much for the Interview, Pawdry, and best whiskers to you and your author on your series. I’m sharing the blog tour for Paws for Murder below. Have a mice day!

Paws For Murder (The Barking Mad Mysteries)
by Scarlett English

About Paws for Murder

Paws For Murder (The Barking Mad Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Independently Published (January 5, 2020)
Print Length: 163 pages
Digital ASIN: B083JKWXVZ

Welcome to Adlebury where village life can be downright deadly.

Veterinarian Petronella Knight seems to have it all. A job she loves, good friends, and patients who adore her. But when she gets into an argument with dog breeder Gladys Harrington, and she finds the woman dead, she also finds herself accused of murder.

Ella will need all her friends, including the new and very handsome American policeman, and all her sharpest sleuthing skills to figure out who murdered the dog breeder before another dead body pops up.

Paws for Murder contains one enthusiastic amateur detective with a penchant for rescuing animals, a guard duck called George, a large amount of homemade gooseberry wine, and a very confused American who has never met an English village quite like this one.

You’d be Barking Mad to pass this one by.

About Scarlett English

Scarlett English is a crazy cat lady who likes solving mysteries. Or actually, make that a dog lady. Much to her chagrin, the police have never sought to consult her, which is why there seems to be so much unsolved crime. Especially—surprisingly enough—in the small English village where she lives. So, armed with curiosity, a penchant for taking in strays, a love of homemade wine and a good gossip, she puts her detecting talents to good use murdering her imaginary friends and neighbors and solving the cases one story at a time.

Purchase Link – Amazon

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TOUR PARTICIPANTS

February 27 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – GUEST POST

February 27 – Sneaky’ s the Library Cat’s Blog -CHARACTER INTERVIEW

February 28 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 28 – TBR Book Blog – REVIEW

February 29 – Brooke Blogs – RECIPE, SPOTLIGHT

February 29 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

March 1 – Gimme The Scoop Reviews – REVIEW

March 1 – I Read What You Write – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

March 2 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves– REVIEW

March 2 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST