Hi there, guys and dolls! Here we are, already at the end of May. Time’s just ticking along, isn’t it? Being that it’s the last Monday of the month, it’s time for one of my favorite treats, an author meet and greet. Today, fellow Cozy Cat Press writer Anna Kern is sitting down for a little confab. She’s the author of the Murphy the Cat Mystery series, and I have to tell you I think the books are purrfectly furtastic. So settle on in folks, and find out what’s mew in Anna’s cat tales.

1. So tell me a little about your series and main characters.

Thank you for the opportunity to introduce Murfy, the narrator and main character in the Murfy the Cat Mystery series. His mission is to comfort and protect his human, Alyx Hille, owner of an antique store and design firm. Sometimes, that entails extraordinary action on his part, and although he looks and behaves like an ordinary long hair, cream tabby with green eyes, he’s not your ordinary Felis catus. Alyx suspects this but she has no actual proof so far, and he intends to keep it that way.

In DEADLY DIAMOND, the second book in the series, a thief making his get-away from a jewelry store heist runs into an antiques shop and hides a loose-cut diamond in one of the little drawers of an old slant-front desk, unaware that he has been observed by Murfy the cat, and his female feline friend––Misty. Unfortunately, Murfy has no way to inform his mistress and the store’s owner, Alyx Hille, of what he’s seen. That same day the desk is delivered to Althea Burns, an elderly customer and friend later found murdered. Could her death be connected to the diamond hidden in the desk? Murfy decides he must let his mistress, Alyx know what he knows. But how?

Murfy enlists the help of his feline housemates, Pooky and Misty and quickly embarks on a mission to discover the story behind the hidden diamond and how it might be connected to the killing of Althea Burns. Will Murfy get his message across to Alyx so she can discover who killed her friend? Will he be able to protect Alyx from a killer? And will he be able to uncover the true story of the DEADLY DIAMOND?

2. What is your writing process like? Do you thrive on routine or work spontaneously as the whim takes you?

Creativity ebbs and flows so I don’t have a routine – I write when inspired, unless I’m developing a plot for a new book. And in that case, I write every day until it works, sometimes just a sentence, and sometimes several pages.

3. What exciting moment or moments have made you realize that you were really an “author”?

That exciting, emotional moment when I realized I was an “author” happened when I received the “proof” copy of the book, lifted it out of the box and saw my name on the cover.

4. What do you do to spark up your creativity when you feel the well of inspiration is running dry?

I’m inspired by what I see, hear or read, including my own writing. The idea for the second book came from the first book in the series, A PAW-SIBLE THEORY, where I created an interesting character that Alyx befriends and later ends-up murdered in DEADLY DIAMOND.

5. Who are some of your favorite authors and how do you feel they have influenced your desire to write?

I enjoy reading the works of many authors and my favorite author is the one I’m reading at the time – mystery, science-fiction, historical fiction, spy novels, and cozy mysteries, of course. I already had a story in mind involving my cat when I came across Sue Grafton’s alphabet series. Her easy to read, no-nonsense, “the facts and just the facts” style inspired me to write what turned out to be a cozy mystery.

Thanks, Anna. It was a pleasure getting to know you better and sharing your a-mewsing style with my readers. And friends, be sure to pick up your very own Kindle copy of DEADLY DIAMOND today. You’ll be glad you did.

Toodles,

Barbara Jean