Petectives: Rainbow Bridge was awarded the 2022 “World’s Best Cat Litter-Ary Award from the Cat Writer’s Association sponsored by World’s Best Cat Litter. Previous winners of the award include books from Carole Nelson Douglas’ “Midnight Louie” series and Shirley Rosseau Murphy’s “Joe Grey” mystery series.
I’d like to thank all of the little people who made this possible…
Yoshi and Gatsby were recently honored by each being named runners up for the “Stephen Memorial Book Award”. The award is from the UK book club website “Bookangel.co.uk” and honors Stephen, their recently deceased cat.
The winner of the award was Tigger from the book, “Tigger: Memoirs of a Cosmopolitan Cat” by Suzanne Heywood. Two of the ten runner-up slots were taken by Yoshi and Gatsby. The judges gave each of my cats their own position on the list because “this prevents the writer having to split an award between two cats and dealing with feline jealousy.” I appreciate the thought but that shouldn’t be a problem since the real life Yoshi passed away almost exactly one year ago. (Although if Yoshi hadn’t received his own award I could definitely see him coming back from the grave to mess with Gatsby).
Here are the write ups the site gave for each cat:
Gatsby:
Gatsby is the active part of the feline detective duo: Sam Spade to Yoshi’s Mycroft Holmes. Yoshi’s partner in claws, Gatsby is cool and sophisticated (at least, he thinks so). He spends more of his time doing the legwork and getting into scrapes but still knows how to handle himself in a fight or mystery, just not when the vet is involved…
Yoshi:
A smart, eloquent, black cat who insists on his regularly scheduled nap times and is fastidiously fussy when dealing with other creatures. Yoshi is way smarter than any cat has a right to be, and he has no problems being smug about it. His partner Gatsby might find the mysteries, but Yoshi is the one who solves them, as long as it doesn’t mean exerting himself or disturbing his naps!
Anyone who would like to see the other runners up or learn more about the award can go to this website: http://thedistinctivecat.com/
Thanks to all of the people at Bookangel.co.uk for the recognition!
Here’s the cover for the next Petectives book! Please let me know what you think of it.
(If you’d like to be alerted when the book is released, please sign up here: http://eepurl.com/b6iHCf)
And here’s an alternate cover that my daughter whipped up:
Welcome to Yoshi and Gatsby’s first serialized adventure! The Petectives webcomic will be updated once a week. For more of Yoshi and Gatsby’s adventures please check out the ebooks (links to the right) or the paperbooks which are available at most online booksellers.
Hello people! Yoshi here with another cat-related book review. Today we take a look at “Somerset the Cat’s Belgrade Mysteries: The Case of old Mrs Popovich.” http://www.amazon.com/Somerset-Cats-Belgrade-Mysteries-Popovic-ebook/dp/B008ZNQU80/ref=asap_B00QJW4R8E?ie=UTF8. Before I get into the book review I should mention that I happen to be a strictly indoor cat. I’ve seen Michigan and Ohio and that’s all I’m ever likely to see, so I do most of my travelling through reading. I love visiting modern day Botswana in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books or Victorian London in a Sherlock Holmes story so a book that takes me to Belgrade, Yugoslavia is a treat. And Belgrade is prominently featured in this tale of a cat who decides to investigate a murder. Somerset the cat is an overweight orange cat whose person has decided that he needs to go on a diet (Sidenote: Is there some kind of stereotype about food obsessed, obese orange cats? The previous book I reviewed featured a sausage crazed ginger cat and then of course, there’s Garfield. As a black cat, I consider myself sensitive to cat related tropes but I’ve never heard of this one. The only orange cat I know certainly doesn’t fit this stereotype. My partner Gatsby is lean, fast moving and only eats enough to keep him going.) Anyway Somerset comes across a human crime and decides to investigate. As a fellow feline detective, I have to say that Somerset’s investigative technique was flawless.
The Case of Old Mrs. Popovich
Somerset’s second adventure is titled The Vagabond. http://www.amazon.com/Somerset-Cats-Belgrade-Mysteries-Vagabond-ebook/dp/B00PKN85YK/ref=asap_B00QJW4R8E?ie=UTF8 In this one Somerset’s owner places him on a strict diet and the only relief he gets is the food given to him by a local vagrant. When Somerset finds the man murdered, he sets out to find the killer. This is a longer tale than the first adventure and goes a bit deeper into the local flavor of Belgrade while also exploring Somerset’s relationship with his owner. There’s also a well done action sequence towards the end of the story.
The Vagabond
These stories aren’t so much mysteries as they’re cat detective procedurals as we follow Somerset investigating human crimes in ways that only a cat could. Both books get my recommendation.
Ginger the Buddha Cat
Hello people! Yoshi here with another cat-related book review. Today we take a look at Ginger the Buddha Cat (http://www.amazon.com/Ginger-Buddha-Cat-Frank-Kusy-ebook/dp/B00BK7TZ94/), the sequel to a book that I previously reviewed, Ginger the Gangster Cat. The book follows the adventures of an overweight, amoral, cockney speaking tabby cat in England. In the first book Ginger and his sidekick Sparky went through a series of adventures as Ginger planned and executed a daring sausage heist. This time he’s interested in something deeper: spiritual enlightenment. A series of dreams has Ginger contemplating his mortality and struggling to figure out how to make up for the sins of his past lives. This may not sound particularly hilarious but this incredibly self-involved feline straining against his nature to become selfless makes for a fun read. The first book was a bit more entertaining but this books concentration on spiritual themes naturally makes it less funny than its predecessor’s story of a cat plotting to rob a sausage truck. However the purpose of reading fiction is not only to be entertained but to learn and the story shows a lot about Buddhism without ever forsaking entertainment for preachiness. Recommended for those seeking entertaining and enlightening cat literature.
Gatsby with his favorite book
A list of songs that I listened to while writing my cat mystery novel, Petectives: Under Fire. Some of the songs have a strong thematic link to the story, while others helped me set a scene or get into the heads of the characters. The story takes place on the Fourth of July during a heat wave so there’s lots of music related to the summertime and hot weather.
Heat Wave – Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
Hot Fun in the Summertime – Sly and the Family Stone
Stoned Soul Picnic – Swing Out Sister
Summer in the City – Lovin’ Spoonful: When you hear this song it immediately evokes the feel of a sweltering hot summer day.
Little Willy – The Sweet: According to Wikipedia, this song is about a stray cat that hung around the garage where the band members practiced.
New Age Girl – Deadeye Dick: I was listening to this song when I wrote the chapter featuring the character, Sunshine the hippie tortoiseshell cat.
Fire – Ohio Players
Lies – Jonathan Butler
Gimme Some Lovin’ – Sam and Dave: Somehow I’ve always heard this song as “Gimme Summer Lovin’”.
Why Can’t We Be Friends? – War
In the Summertime – Shaagy featuring Rayvon: Reggae/Rap reworking of the Mungo Jerry classic.
Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran
I’ll Take You There – BeBe and CeCe Winans
Love Rollercoaster – Ohio Players: That’s right, there’s two Ohio Players songs on this playlist!
Will It Go Round In Circles? – Billy Preston
Summertime – Billy Stewart
Walk Us Uptown – Elvis Costello and the Roots
Summer Breeze – Isley Brothers
Bang Bang – David Sanborn
Petectives: Under Fire just received a very nice review in the blog, “Animal Blogging with Dill the Cat”:
http://animalbloggingwithdillthecat.blogspot.com/p/dills-libraryunder-construction.html
Anyone who likes animals needs to check this blog out. It features some beautiful animal photography, features and book reviews.
Hello people! Yoshi here with a review of a cat-related book.
This week we’re looking at Ginger the Gangster Cat by Frank Kusy. We decided to buy this Kindle e book based on nothing more than the picture of the tough cat on the cover and it was worth it. Ginger is an amoral orange cat with a thick cockney accent who scams his way into the home of a Brit couple and their adorable yet wimpy kitten, Sparky. From there the book launches into a series of episodes about Ginger and Sparky’s misadventures. The book was just about as funny as the cover. Urban cat tales were mixed with stories of exotic past lives until the two themes blended at the end. Ginger’s personality of a rough hewn cat with a deeply buried heart of gold played well against the naïve but intelligent Sparky. As a fellow feline, I can’t say that I endorse any of the tactics that Ginger employs to get what he wants but if you’re looking for an entertaining read I highly recommend this book.
Yoshi and Gatsby got interviewed by Truffles the cat at “Melissa’s Mysteries, Mochas and Meows”: http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2014/02/truffles-interviewsyoshi-gatsby-from.html#comment-form
If you’ve ever wanted to see a cat interview other cats, this is your lucky day! Melissa’s Mysteries, Mochas and Meows is a great blog that concentrates on mystery novels, cats and cat mystery novels. Oddly enough, I never see much about coffee on that blog.
Petectives 