Sunday, March 12, 2017

Cat in a Flock: An Interview, Review, & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Lisa Brunette to Cozy Up With Kathy. Lisa writes the Dreamslippers Series of which Cat in the Flock is the first book.

Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?

LB: Everyone’s favorite character from the Dreamslippers Series is Amazing Grace. It’s easy to see why: She’s what we all want to be when we grow up! At 77, she dresses in a classic, fashionable way, takes attractive, interesting lovers, and has as rich a spiritual life as a social one. She’s that older woman who’s blazed her own path and is fully in command of her decisions and passions.

Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?

LB: My inspiration comes from a decade of writing on other things, beginning with a 2008 cover story I wrote for Seattle Woman magazine on leading authors in the mystery genre. That rekindled a love for the genre that had been beaten out of me by academia. After that, I ended up working for five years on mystery games for older women. The experience of trying to train young male developers to create games for an audience they really didn’t understand drove me to write a female-centric plot focused on a granddaughter/grandmother relationship.

Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?

LB: The urge to share my stories with readers. I live for the opportunity to inspire, delight, and entertain people with my words.

Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?

LB: Virginia Woolf, Aphra Behn, George Sand, and Sylvia Plath. All four of them were trailblazing women writers who succeeded despite the extreme sexism of their times.

Kathy: What are you currently reading?

LB: Up next is Megan Abbott’s You Will Know Me and then Sophie Hannah’s Kind of Cruel.

Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?

LB: I’m a very serious practitioner of both yoga (for more than 20 years) and Nia, a barefoot dance focused on the joy of movement in a healing context. These help counteract the physical stress of working at a computer for long hours. They also inspire my fiction; in book three in the Dreamslippers Series, Amazing Grace takes up Nia, and that’s significant to the plot.

Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.

LB: I’m on an autoimmune/paleo diet, so I have to have coconut oil and ghee on hand, as well as grass-fed beef from a local farmer and tons and tons of vegetables, which I buy from a woman with experience and connections in the organic farm community. She’s also one of my dance teachers!

Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?

LB: I’m taking a pause now with the completion of the Dreamslippers Series boxed set, which includes all three books plus a bonus novella. My current project is a stand-alone mystery based on a news story I read recently. A woman called 911 to report she’d shot her husband in self-defense. At first the crime scene seemed to support the woman’s claim, but then police realized her husband had been shot in the back, and the crime scene had been cleaned up. I’m riveted by all the questions this raises, not the least of which is, Who is this woman, and how did her life get to this point?

Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?

LB: Reaching people with my stories. Hearing them tell me they love being in the worlds I’ve created, or that the books touched them in some way.

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Review

CAT IN THE FLOCK by Lisa Brunette

The First Dreamslippers Mystery

After graduating college Cathedral McCormick, better known as Cat, moves to Seattle to learn the PI business from her grandmother, Amazing Grace, and eventually take over the business allowing her gran to retire. Cat is also planning to train with her grandmother to better manage her unique ability. Cat, like Grace, is able to slip into other people's dreams. A young girl's horrifying dream, possibly symptomatic of abuse, starts what will be Cat's first case as a PI. Is the girl truly in danger? Will she be able to find her to help? Her investigation will lead her back to Missouri as she goes undercover at the Plantation Church. Will she discover the truth behind the dreams? Or will she wind up a victim?

CAT IN THE FLOCK is a unique mystery filled with hot topics such as domestic abuse, spirituality, and hypocrisy in evangelical fundamentalism. Brunette handles all of these topics with a non-judgmental, delicate hand, showing the good that sometimes exists within the bad. Cat herself follows her own journey which leads to new realizations about herself and her own beliefs, as well as her relationships with both her mother and grandmother.

Although the topics involved in CAT IN THE FLOCK are heavy and filled with gravitas, the book has a lightness and a joy within. I love Amazing Grace with her openness to new, and old, ideas, but my favorite character is Cat's dad. He brings humor without baggage and is just plain fun; a distinct counterpoint to the relationship between the women in the family.

CAT IN THE FLOCK provides a fascinating look at spirituality and religion along with the power of relationships, both positive and negative. The inclusion of the dreamworld showcases the emotions and drama of those involved in this intricately plotted mystery. This first book in the Dreamslippers Series is a satisfying read, especially if you're looking for something a little different.

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Cat in the Flock

by Lisa Brunette

on Tour March 1-30, 2017

Synopsis:

A sexy murder-mystery with a spiritual edge.
For most people, dreams are a way to escape reality. But for Cat McCormick, they're a way to get closer to the truth. Cat can 'slip' into other people's dreams.
After graduating college with a degree in criminal justice but little in the way of real-life experience, Cat moves from the Midwest to Seattle to apprentice with her Granny Grace, who shares the ability. Granny uses dreamslipping as a private investigator, and Cat plans to follow in her footsteps.
But forced to take work as a security guard, Cat discovers a mother and daughter on the run. Following the clues, she goes undercover in a Midwestern megachurch, where she finds redemption and goodwill amidst repression, hypocrisy, and murder.

Praise:

"A fascinating tale of mystery, romance, and what one woman's dreams are made of. Brunette will keep you awake far into the night.” -- Mary Daheim, bestselling author of the Bed-and-Breakfast and Emma Lord/Alpine mysteries
"Already hooked, this reader intends further sojourns in Cat's dreamslipping world. Highly recommended." -- Frances Carden, Readers Lane
"Gripping, sexy and profound, CAT IN THE FLOCK is an excellent first novel. Lisa Brunette is an author to enjoy now and watch for the future.” -- Jon Talton, author of the David Mapstone Mysteries, the Cincinnati Casebooks and the thriller Deadline Man
"A little Sue Grafton and a dose of Janet Evanovich… is just the right recipe for a promising new series.” -- Rev. Eric O'del
"The launch of an intriguing female detective series... A mystery with an unusual twist and quirky settings; an enjoyable surprise for fans of the genre." -- Kirkus Reviews

Book Details:
Genre: Mystery
Published by: Sky Harbor Press
Publication Date: December 27th 2014
Number of Pages: 197
ISBN: 0986237701 (ISBN13: 9780986237706)
Series: Dreamslippers #1
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | Goodreads 

Read an excerpt:

Prologue

Sherrie marched into her daughter’s bedroom and dragged a child-sized roller bag suitcase out of the closet. The girl stood in the middle of the room, still in her pajamas. Milk from breakfast had dried around the edges of her lips.
“Ruthie,” the mother said. “I need you to get dressed. We’re going to take a…trip.” Sherrie tried to make her voice sound cheery, but the desperation she felt came through in her tone.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?”
Sherrie set the suitcase on the bed. The bubble- gum pink had once seemed innocent but now looked fleshy and indecent. She glanced at the clock over the bed. He’d been golfing for a good fifteen minutes by now, long enough for her to make sure he didn’t come back for a favorite club or the right gloves. She wanted to be on that morning flight by the time he got home and discovered them gone.
She flung open the chest of drawers and grabbed all of the girl’s socks and underwear, a pair of corduroy pants, black cotton tights, a sweater the color of a Midwestern sky. Nothing pink. Only warm things. Seattle in her memory was cold and wet. It was a grey city; grey clouds over grey buildings. Even the water was grey.
One doll would fit. Made of cloth, it could be folded in on itself and slid down the backside of the suitcase.
“Can I bring the ballerina skirt?”
Any other day, she would have corrected her daughter, who needed to learn the precise names of things. Tutu. There it was in the closet, hanging because it took up too much room in the drawer. She yanked it free, sending the hanger to the floor. Ordinarily, she would pick that up; her house was so clean it hurt her eyes with its spareness—as if theirs were a showroom house, not lived in. She left the hanger there, aware of the thrill this fraction of disobedience gave her. She shoved everything into the little pink case, but with the fluffy tulle taking up so much space, the zipper would not close. The choice was clear. The doll would be a comfort to Ruthie in Seattle, but the tutu would not.
“We’ll come back for this later,” she said, tossing the tutu onto the bed. The zipper closed, the sound of it satisfying.
“No, Mommy!” Ruthie stomped her foot. “I want it now!”
“Then you’re going to have to wear it. Now get dressed while I pack my clothes.” But she felt a pang of guilt for her reprimanding tone, and for having to leave the tutu. Bending down, she used her thumb to wipe some of the milk crust from her daughter’s face. “I’ll let you wear anything you want on this trip, okay, sweetheart? And clean your face with the cloth in the bathroom, like Mommy showed you.”
The girl nodded, as if sensing this was not the time for a tantrum.
Sherrie’s own packing, she did with even less consideration. Under things, shirts. A fleece hoodie. Warm socks. She remembered she needed layers in Seattle. Sometimes it could seem warm even though it rained and the sun had not come out for weeks. Her keepsakes in their tiny, locked chest would not fit. They were the only things she had to remind herself of her life before this, but she would have to leave them behind.
Sherrie kept watch on the clock and glanced out the window twice to make sure his car wasn’t out front even though she knew he wouldn’t be home for another hour. The sun had risen blood-red over the cornfields in the distance, lighting them as if on fire. She’d miss that. And she thought of thunderstorms, which seemed never to occur in Seattle. She’d miss those, too.
Ruthie appeared in the doorway. Her face was clean, but none of her clothes matched. She was wearing pink high-tops that seemed wrong for the city they were going to, the situation, and everything else, but she had apparently decided not to wear the tutu.
“Time to leave.” She took the girl’s hand, promising to herself she’d never let go.

Author Bio:

Lisa was born in Santa Rosa, California, but that was only home for a year. A so-called "military brat," she lived in nine different houses and attended nine different schools by the time she was 14. Through all of the moves, her one constant was books. She read everything, from the entire Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mystery series to her mother's books by Daphne DuMaurier and Taylor Caldwell.
A widely published author, game writer, and journalist, Lisa has interviewed homeless women, the designer of the Batmobile, and a sex expert, to name just a few colorful characters. This experience, not to mention her own large, quirky family, led her to create some truly memorable characters in her Dreamslippers Series and other works, whether books or games.
Always a vivid dreamer, not to mention a wannabe psychic, Lisa feels perfectly at home slipping into suspects’ dreams, at least in her imagination. Her husband isn’t so sure she can’t pick up his dreams in real life, though.
With a hefty list of awards and publications to her name, Lisa now lives in a small town in Washington State, but who knows how long that will last…