Shades of Grey

The first in the new Dulcie Schwartz mystery series in which the ghost of her dead cat helps her out. Sort of. Really more like guides her around things. It all starts off with her coming home to find her temporary roommate stabbed and the dead cat warning her not to go in. But she does anyway, of course, while thinking she is going crazy. What is interesting is how the whole story with the death and computer hacking at her work and at the university, where she is trying to finish her thesis, all ties in well together. Lots of clues and her research on her topic provide a good story line and a good read. I would probably read more of these books if they came to the library. http://www.cleasimon.com/

Caroline Burnes Familiar series

Okay, I have to admit once I found out about these books about a year ago, I absolutely devoured this entertaining series. These books are about a black cat detective named Familiar. Familiar has a girlfriend, Clotilde, and a place to call home with Eleanor but he pretty much does what he wants and goes where he wants to help anybody out. This is one smart cat that has a very interesting way of getting his point across and humans believe it all. It seems in every book and adventure, and he has many, it only takes one or two astonishing acts upon Familiar's part, for humans to be convinced this is one intelligent cat and one to be obeyed. He is a swift, sly, crafty, matchmaking cat, (I could keep going with the adjectives), that always get his man. There are 19 Fear Familiar books written by Caroline Burnes, a pseudonym used by Carolyn Haines. I just completed Familiar Vows, #18, and again I chuckled out loud many times at the dynamics of this cat. In this one, a photographer accidentally takes a picture of a person in witness protection and that picture is unfortunately broadcast on the news from a gallery display. The photographer then becomes the hunted and needs Familiar's help, and the hunky ex Us Marshall named Lucas, to stay alive while trying to help the person in the witness protection program stay alive. http://www.carolynhaines.com/ Unfortunately, there really is not a Familiar website. Library book. You really should read these.

Cats and Quilts

The Cat, The Quilt and The Corpse by Leann Sweeney is the first book in a new cozy series starring Jillian Hart, a recent widow who moved to Mercy, S. C. to move on with her life. She makes her living making quilts, mostly for cats, and they sound very inventive. And she owns 3 cats, all who were rescue finds and each has their own funny personality. All named for wines. One of her cats gets catnapped right out of her house and she is frantic to find it, putting up signs only to find that they were immediately ripped down due to a city ordinance. Up until this point she has mostly kept to herself but the need to find her cat puts her out there and she seems overly eager to make friends. And desperate that they like her. After finding out about a man who collects cats, she decides to pay him a visit only to find him brutally stabbed in his kitchen. It was a very cute story with some good twists and cheered her messed up romance with the alarm guy. I expect that the rivalry between her and the lady coroner over the guy will continue as the coroner is a beauty pageant nutcase. I did feel the heroine was a little insecure with her need to be liked by everyone but it was a good light quick read. http://www.leannsweeney.com/ Purchased book and donated to city library

Familytime

Okay, so you caught me. I am still in the middle of a book but I should be done tomorrow and let you know about it. I was tickled this morning to find my daughter at home. My 21 year old daughter apparently decided she missed us and dropped in for a visit, even though she lives in town. To surprise me when I came down this morning, she had cleaned off the kitchen table, which really needed it - believe me. I am wondering what else I will find she has cleaned by the time I get home from work. My 15 year old son is on a board collecting kick now - skateboards, flowboards, mountain boards and skiboards. Wants them all. He will hopefully find out soon that he can have them faster if he gets a job. My 12 yr old is addicted to the computer and online sights roleplaying. He is into Runescape, Club Penguin, Neopets and Our world, when he isn't riding his bike around to come up for air. I also have 3 cats plus a temp from the daughter: oldest is a calico named ADD (kitten was very mellow when we got it but proved within a day that it was the opposite), next one is a gray stripped tabby named Muffin 2 (after its predessessor, that was thrown out the door by my ex when I didn't collect her and her sisters in time by his standards) and a black cat named Boo Boo, big guy who loves me a little too much by always wanting to sit on my chest when I am laying down. My daughters cat is a smallish Siamese mix, the only one not fixed and declawed in the front, which is now preggy. That happened one night a while ago when she made a escape out the front door into the porch and then hid. The neighborhood tom cat, a scottishfold mix, came in our porch for a visit and knocked her up, which I heard with anguish all the way on the second floor and ran out to find her. On top of all of this, we have in my 12 yr olds room: a orangish betta fish, which the tank my son designed in a class at school and a crested gecko, which was a gift to him from my daughter for his 12th birthday. Interesting enough, I have bonded with that. Go figure. And in my 15 yr olds room is the lopped ear rabbit that my 12 yr old got from his sister last year for his birthday. It is in the 15 yr olds room so the 12 year olds room doesn't look like a zoo. And smell like it. I have nothing in my room because of all the books probably and there isn't room. It's lucky there is room for my bed.