A Cat Café Interview & Giveaway

I'm happy to welcome Mollie Hunt to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Mollie writes the Crazy Cat Lady Mystery series. Cat Café is the fifth book in the series.

Kathy: In Cat Café, a body is discovered on the floor of the café and all the black cats are missing! I love black cats and currently have 2 (well, one's technically a tuxedo, but he's mainly black). Are you a black cat fan?

MH: I most certainly am! I also have a black cat, Little, and a tuxedo, Blaze, who if he crouches, looks black from above. Little is a regular character in my Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series. There are two other black cats in the clowder, Tinkerbelle and Emilio. My hero is a cat shelter volunteer, so she is always bringing home strays.


Kathy: Cat cafés are becoming quite popular. I know I'd love to go to one. Have you been to a real one, or just fictional ones?

MH: I have visited two cat cafés, one in Houston and one in my home town of Portland, Oregon. Sadly the Portland café just closed, but we are hoping someone will reopen it soon. They partnered with a local cat shelter for their cats, and over their time in business, helped adopt out over 600 cats!


Kathy: Cat Café is the fifth book in the Crazy Cat Lady Mystery series. Do you consider yourself a crazy cat lady?

MH: As Lynley would say, I’m not quite crazy yet. I am definitely a cat lady though. I love cats and find them remarkable and endlessly fascinating.


Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?

MH: I began reading cozies when I was in my twenties. My favorite author was the much-underrated Mary Stewart who wrote several romantic mysteries that took place in exotic places. I read other genres including scifi, fantasy, poetry and even a bit of literature, but at present, I really want a story that promises a happy ending. Cozies do that.


Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?

MH: I also write cat poetry and cat fantasy sci-fi.


Kathy: Tell us about your series.

MH: The Crazy Cat Lady cozy mysteries feature Lynley Cannon, a sixty-something native Portlander who manages to find more trouble than a cat in catnip. In the first of the series, Cats’ Eyes, her old kitty Fluffo discovers a stolen uncut diamond, and Lynley finds herself accused of murdering the thieves. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HGQFJLG In the second, Copy Cats, she exposes a breed cat counterfeiting ring and becomes the target of a serial killer who murders with a grisly cat-like claw. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TUVJ2V8 In Cat’s Paw, Crazy Cat Lady #3, two suspicious deaths at an elite art retreat send Lynley running back to Portland, but murder follows in her wake. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9B6LNH In Cat Call, #4, Lynley takes over as cat handler for a TV pilot only to find the show is hexed and murder is waiting in the wings. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075TWM88Q


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

MH: I love all the cats, of course, but there are many human characters as well. Special Agent Denny Paris, the animal cop, brings an easygoing police presence to the stories. Halle, Lynley’s eccentric MacKay clanmate, adds her diversity to the mix. Lynley’s teenage granddaughter Seleia is a breath of fresh air, though her mother Lisa bears a grudge that Lynley doesn’t know how to overcome. In Cat Café, I featured Lynley’s octogenarian mom Carol. It was so much fun to fill out her back story and personality, so right now, she’s my fave.


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

MH: Like Lynley, I am a shelter volunteer, and I think that was where the idea began. Lynley and I have a lot in common, though she is far more interesting than I am.


Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?

MH: That’s a good question. I would continue to write even without possibility of publishing because I love doing it. But a part of me wants to share my stories with others. It is the one thing I have to offer that no one else can. It’s part of the creative drive.


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

MH: Fellow cat writer Shirley Rousseau Murphy; mystery writer Louise Penny; the queen of cat mysteries Lillian Jackson Braun; and Steven King, just for fun.


Kathy: What are you currently reading?

MH: How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny (audio); Dark Corner: a Witch Cat Mystery 2 by Vicki Vass (Kindle); A Spell of Murder by Clea Simon (print)


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

MH: I am a Trekkie and go to conventions in costume. I have a large collection of autographed photos, including several from stars who are no longer with us such as Leonard Nimoy. I also enjoy Pinterest.


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

MH: Cat food, yogurt, pasta, fresh fruit, not necessarily in that order.


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

MH: Yes, both.

Right now I am working on the next three Crazy Cat Lady mysteries, Cosmic Cat #6 (When a superhero cosplayer falls to his death at a comic con, Lynley is left holding the bag— and a cat!), Cat Noel, a Christmas Novella (Lynley finds a new meaning of Christmas when a wiccan’s familiar is cat-napped before the winter solstice festival and Lynley becomes her only hope.), and Cat Conundrum #7 (A locked room. A dead man. The cat is the only witness, and he isn’t talking.)

I also received the big news that Fire Star press will be publishing the first of my cat scifi fantasy tetralogy, Cat Summer later this year.


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

MH: I can change the world.


Kathy: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions.

MH: Thank you for having me, Kathy! Your readers can keep in touch with me at the following sites:

Blogsite: www.lecatts.wordpress.com

Amazon Page: www.amazon.com/author/molliehunt

Smashwords Page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/CatWriter

Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/MollieHuntCatWriter/

@MollieHuntCats

Sign up for Mollie’s Extremely Informal Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/c0fOTn.

Learn about cats! Lynley Cannon’s cat tips, tricks, and facts at the beginning of each chapter.

Books in the Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mystery Series:

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Cats’ Eyes (Book 1)

Copy Cats (Book 2)

Cat’s Paw (Book 3)

Cat Call (Book 4)

Cat Café (Book 5)

Books need not be read in order.

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Cat Café (Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mystery Series) by Mollie Hunt

About the Book

 

Cat Café (Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mystery Series)

Cozy Mystery 5th in Series 

Self Published (October 29, 2018)  

Paperback: 330 pages 

A body is discovered on the floor of the cat café, and all the black cats are missing!

Sixty-something cat shelter volunteer Lynley Cannon always finds more trouble than a cat in catnip, but this time it’s not about her. Someone is targeting very senior citizens, and when Bea Landrew, elderly owner of the Blue Cat café turns up dead, Lynley’s mom Carol could be next.

Handsome Detective Devon is looking for a link between the victims when he makes a different sort of connection— with Lynley! It’s been a long time since the cat lady had romance in her life, but while her mom is in danger, the case comes first.

It appears the cat café will go the way of its deceased owner, but Bea’s grandson, a slick Miami businessman, steps in at the last minute. Arthur is not a cat person so why would he bother? Romeo, the big Russian Blue, senses ulterior motives, but who will listen to a cat?

A black cat rescue, an antique photograph, an elaborate payback. Is this killer seeking justice or vengeance? With death as the objective, the results are the same.

About the Author

Mollie Hunt & Tinkerbelle, Registered Pet Partners

Native Oregonian Mollie Hunt has always had an affinity for cats, so it was a short step for her to become a cat writer. Mollie is the author of the Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series, including Cats’ Eyes, Copy Cats, Cat’s Paw, Cat Call, and Cat Café. The series features Portland native Lynley Cannon, a sixty-something cat shelter volunteer who finds more trouble than a cat in catnip. Mollie also published a non-cat mystery, Placid River Runs Deep, which delves into murder, obsession, and the challenge of chronic illness in bucolic southwest Washington. Two of her short cat stories have been published in anthologies, one of which, The Dream Spinner, won the prestigious CWA Muse Medallion this year.

Mollie is a member of the Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, Willamette Writers, the Cat Writers’ Association, and the Northwest Independent Writers Association. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and a varying number of cats. Like Lynley, she is a grateful shelter volunteer.

Author Links:
Blog Site: www.lecatts.wordpress.com  
Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/MollieHuntCatWriter/ @MollieHuntCats  

Purchase Links:  
Amazon Page: www.amazon.com/author/molliehunt
Smashwords Page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/CatWriter

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