Spotlight/Interview: PAWSitively Sinister by Patricia Fry

About the Book

Genre: Cozy Mystery, #11 in A Klepto Cat Mystery Series
Publisher: Matilija Press
Release Date: June 2015



Synopsis from Goodreads...

The Ivey family travel to San Francisco to help Arthur and his long-time friend, Suzette, clean out the mansion. News of the massive estate sale lures a variety of people, including former residents and long-ago visitors, each carrying stories of bizarre activities occurring there in the past.
 
When the klepto cat, Rags and his pawtner Koko make some ghastly and ghostly discoveries, everyone goes into research mode and they’re stunned by what they uncover - evidence of people gone missing, a treasure-trove of loot, and spirits unable to rest. This is by far the most PAWSitively Sinister story in the series.

Purchase Link

Amazon 

Author Interview

Please welcome author Patricia Fry to Socrates’ Book Reviews. She is the author of one of my favorite cozy mystery series the “Klepto Cat Mysteries”.

And now for the interview…

1. Wow, Patricia, you are up to your 11th book in this series…how do you keep it going this long?

It’s rather uncanny how easily the stories come to me. I’m stunned at how, after finishing one book, another storyline occurs to me. I guess it goes back to that old adage that the key to producing as a writer boils down to butt in chair. In other words don’t procrastinate, don’t make excuses—simply sit at the computer and write. I’ve been writing for publication for over 40 years, and I’m well disciplined to sit in that chair. I’m also fortunate enough to have a treasure trove of ideas—a good combination for a writer whether you write nonfiction (as I did for many years) or fiction.

2. Are you planning on writing any other series?

I don’t have another series in mind, however, if one occurs to me I’ll probably consider developing it. I’ve introduced some interesting characters in the Klepto Cat Mysteries, thus, the stories have taken some exciting twists into other dimensions and locations while featuring a variety of scenarios. It’s a bit tricky at times to create the setting and circumstances I want for a particular story but, so far, I’ve been able to meet the challenge. For example, the main characters, Savannah and Michael Ivey, live in Northern California, and I wanted to use a beach setting for one of the stories. So I brought in an old college chum of Michael’s who invites the family, including the household pets, to use his beach house for a couple of weeks. Of course, Rags (the kleptomaniac cat) found his way out of the house a time or two and managed to create his usual havoc while solving a puzzling mystery. In The Gallery Cat Caper Rags actually stole a bathing suit, alerted the Iveys to a near tragedy, and rode a bus across town by himself.

At one point, a documentary film-maker read about Rags’s uncanny ability to solve local crimes through the clues he digs up and he came to Hammond (in Northern CA) to film the cat in action. When I decided to give one story a more ghostly theme, I had a wealthy investor invite the family and the cat to Frisco to his mansion for the premiere of the documentary. Oh the interesting things you can write into a story when there’s an old mansion involved.

So far, I haven’t felt the need to branch out and start a new series with new characters and a new theme. I’ve managed to keep the Klepto Cat Mysteries fresh by bringing in new personalities and situations—a car-jacking, a catnapping, murders and other crimes, hostage situations, the birth of a baby, horse rustling, the birth of a foal, a jewel-heist, a reading program involving therapy cats, a curse (or was it?), a cat hoarder and so much more.

3. Have you planned how many books you intend to write in the “Klepto Cat” series? Or do you just keep going?

I originally thought I’d write ten books, but now we’re closing in on a dozen, and the ideas keep coming. So I guess I will just keep going…for now.

4. Do you have any favorite books or scenes from your series?

Each book seems to have aspects that could be considered favorites of mine. I love the eerie ghostly and ghastly turns and twists in PAWSitively Sinister. That was a fun, although slightly complicated and complex, story to write. I so enjoyed living at the beach in The Gallery Cat Caper that I didn’t want to stop working on that book. There’s a scene in Undercover Cat that still makes me crack up—where Detective Craig Sledge is interrogating (and intimidating) a suspect in a small bathroom. His partner is even shocked and concerned when the detective demands that the suspect drop his pants. Sledge found the evidence he needed to arrest the guy, thanks to Rags, the cat. The Corral Cat Caper involves a lot of horse activity and that took me back to the period when we had horses and did a lot of riding.

When I laugh out loud while editing one of my stories or I can’t see the screen for the tears welling while reading a touching scene, I know that I’m hitting a chord with my readers and those become some of my favorite scenes.

5. When can we look forward to you next release?

Book 12 should be available for your Kindle in August. It’s with the proofreader now. People ask me how long it takes to write one of these books. Last year, we introduced 6 new Klepto Cat Mysteries. That’s a book every two months. The publishing schedule seems to be following suit this year, as well. We came out with Mansion of Meows in February, PAWtners in Crime in April and PAWSitively Sinister in June.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog!