Blog Tour: Tailing a Tabby by Laurie Cass (Review/Guest Post/Giveaway)

About the Book

Genre: Cozy Mystery, #2 in A Bookmobile Cat Mystery Series
Publisher: Obsidian Mystery
Release Date: July 2014


Synopsis from Goodreads...

In the bookmobile, librarian Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat, Eddie, roll out great summer reads to folks all over the lake town of Chilson, Michigan. And when real-life drama turns deadly, Minnie makes sure justice is never overdue.

The bookmobile is making its usual rounds when Minnie and Eddie are flagged down by a woman in distress. The woman’s husband, a famous artist, needs emergency medical care. After getting him into the bookmobile, Minnie races the man to the hospital in time…but his bad luck has only just begun.

After disappearing from the hospital, the artist is discovered slumped over the body of a murdered woman. Minnie knows that her new friend didn’t commit the crime, but the evidence paints an unflattering picture. Now this librarian and her furry friend have to put the investigation in high gear and catch the real killer before someone else checks out.

My Review

Minnie and her faithful feline sidekick Eddie are back in the second adventure of “A Bookmobile Cat Mystery”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can’t go wrong with a bookmobile and a cat! This is such a lovely and sweet series.

I loved how Minnie jumped right in to save a stranger and then continued to stay by his side when he was accused of murder. After all, she didn’t know the guy. For all she knew, he could be a murderer. However, once you are a friend of Minnie’s she’s loyal to a fault. In fact, she’s loyal even to great danger to herself.

Minnie knows the police are going to concentrate on investigating her new friend instead of looking for the real culprit. She’s not about to sit around and let that happen. With Eddie by her side, they dig deep into the murdered woman and their investigation takes them in many different directions, but only one of them proves to be dangerous to everyone concerned – including Minnie and Eddie.

At the same time, Minnie is trying to have a romantic relationship with a handsome doctor, but their schedules are not conducive to making it work. That doesn’t stop either one of them from trying.

Minnie is an endearing, adorable heroine. She’s a bit of a risk-taker and doesn’t always make the safest decisions, but she’s loveable. Eddie is a darling. As I read the book, there were so many times I wanted to pick him up and cuddle. LOL Minnie and Eddie are clearly the stars of the show in this book.

The story moved along at a steady pace with a couple of secondary storylines thrown in. The secondary storylines don’t overpower or overtake the storyline, they are a nice complement to the main plot. I didn’t figure out who the killer was until late in the book. That’s always a plus. I’m looking forward to the next entry into this charming cozy series.

FTC Disclosure: The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review for this blog tour. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

Author Guest Post

How I’m Spending My Summer Vacation

by Laurie Cass

Not so very long ago, I sent my editor the manuscript for the third bookmobile cat book, Borrowed Crime, a full three hours before the deadline. Hooray!

I celebrated in style by checking some books out of the library and settling in with a healthy quantity of dark chocolate. After a few days I resurfaced, blinked at the bright shiny world, and said, “Hey, I don’t have a book due any time soon.”

Matter of fact, I have months and months until the next one is scheduled for delivery. For the rest of the summer, I can be a normal person! There will be no need for me to write in the morning before starting the day job. For a few weeks I won’t have to write during my lunch hour, and I won’t have to spend the summer inside writing when my family and friends are outside playing in the sunshine!

After that blinding realization, I started thinking about all the things that I could do to fill my summer. There will, of course, be a lot of reading, specifically reading outside. Reading on the porch, reading in the hammock, reading on the patio, reading on the swing, reading at the beach, etc.

And gardening. I want to do lots of gardening. Last summer I was so busy writing that I never caught up with either the weeds, the plant-moving, or the trimming and I’m loving a chance to roll up my sleeves, pull on the gardening gloves, and get down to the wonderfully dirty work of gardening.

Plus, not far away, there’s an outstanding new mountain biking trail system that I’ve been wanting to explore. And there’s waterskiing to do – maybe this will be the summer that I learn to do one-handed turns. And there are a number of new restaurants in the area whose menus look extremely interesting. And, once I get the piano tuned, the Maple Leaf Rag is still waiting me.

Then again, if I don’t have to work on a book for a few weeks, I’ll have time to do all that promotional stuff I’ve wanted to do but never had time. Last winter, a reader suggested that I create an Eddie bookmark and put it up on my website to people can download and print it at home. Wonderful idea! And now I have time!

And I’ve also wanted to come up with a paper version of my fictional bookmobile. Thanks to the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services, I have a blank version of the cutest little bookmobile ever – all I have to do is work the graphics onto it.

And I can’t forget the author events I have lined up this summer, which can be great fun. And I should get going on setting up a template for my e-newsletter.

Plus, there’s some research I’d like to do for future book ideas. I have a couple of potential plots in mind, but to make sure they’ll actually, you know, make sense, I have to do some delving.

But, hang on. Maybe it would make more sense to get a head start on the next bookmobile cat book, the books that my husband calls “the Eddie books.” Or…should I try to be more normal this summer?

Such a dilemma. I think there are three conclusions to this:

1) All that stuff is never going to get done. (And I didn’t even mention painting the house.)
2) I’m a writer and should, by now, be used to the idea that I’m never going to be a normal person.
3) I’m okay with both 1) and 2).

BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!!

How would you like to win a paperback copy of Tailing a Tabby by Laurie Cass? Thanks to Obsidian, I have one paperback to giveaway to one lucky winner.

Just a few simple rules...

1) You must fill out the rafflecopter form below.

2) Contest is open to anyone over 18 years old

3) US Residents Only

4) For one extra entry: Tweet about this giveaway.

5) For one extra entry: Leave a comment for the author.

6) For one extra entry: Follow this blog...old followers, too! Just let us know how you follow and under what name.

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

The giveaway begins on July 11th (midnight est) and ends on July 18th (midnight est).

The winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. The winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to respond, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. I will announce the winner here on my blog.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway