New cozy mystery with a paranormal twist—Ghost Cat at the Mystery Hotel packs the punches
Pet-admin
Fans of cat author Mollie Hunt’s cozy cat mysteries are enthusiastic about her upcoming instalment of the Tenth Life collection publishing May 30, 2024. After her profitable Crazy Cat Lady cozy mysteries, Hunt’s new collection takes a magical twist with a ghost cat character. Don’t we cat lovers want our kitties might dwell perpetually? In Ghost Cat at the Mystery Hotel, a few of them do!
The Tenth Life cozy thriller collection options septuagenarian Camelia Collins and her ghost cat companion Soji. Camelia has fulfilled her lifelong dream of shifting to the Oregon Coast, however her little cottage got here with a shock. At the again of her backyard lies the traditional headstone of a cat named Soji, and now Soji’s ghost desires to play!
When Camelia Collins meets an outdated faculty good friend for a homicide thriller weekend on the coast, demise turns into greater than a sport. Accompanied by her ghost cat companion Soji, Camelia begins to find clues that aren’t a part of the role-playing storyline. A lurking stranger, a vengeful spirit, a real assassin roaming the halls. Will Camelia’s senses and Soji’s wiles be sufficient to catch the killer earlier than they kill once more?
Here is an excerpt:
Penelope stared, her face tight with shock. “
Penelope stared, her face tight with shock. “But… it’s gone!”
Dr. Lance took her elbow to regular her. “What is gone?”
“The physique, you foolish man! It was proper there.” Penelope pointed to a leather-based wingback chair, the one the place Camelia had briefly seen the phantom.
“Hey,” Octavia demanded. “What are you attempting to drag right here, Penelope?”
“What do you imply it’s gone?” Millie furthered. “Where might it go?”
“Perhaps they weren’t lifeless in any respect,” Sage supplied optimistically, “and also you simply thought they have been.”
The huddle on the door started speaking without delay.
“Maybe they have been solely wounded and managed to crawl away…”
“Wounded? If somebody had been wounded, there can be blood. I don’t see any blood…”
“I don’t see something in any respect. I’m going again downstairs to complete my cocktail…”
Camelia ignored the protestations. She was starting to get a humorous feeling, a sense she’d skilled many occasions earlier than. As her eyes roamed the chamber, they lastly landed on the factor she was in search of.
Soji was there in any case, or possibly she had gone and are available again, coming back from a quick spin within the ether. At any fee, Camelia now noticed her clearly. She was in her stable kind, brief black fur and emerald-green eyes, sitting loaflike on the mantelpiece.
Staring at Camelia with unabashed amusement, the ghost cat hopped right down to the massive oak writing desk after which onto the chair in query. Carefully avoiding the seat itself, she jumped as a substitute onto the chair again the place she settled on the lace antimacassar. Giving Camelia a sluggish, ponderous blink, she mentioned, “Extinguish the sunshine.”
“What?” Camelia exclaimed, forgetting for a second solely she might see or hear the little black spirit.
“What what?” requested Beth.
“Extinguish the sunshine,” Soji repeated.
“Turn off the sunshine,” Camelia relayed to Beth. “Please, simply do it.”
Beth regarded confused however did as she was bid. Stepping to the wall, she glanced again at Camelia who nodded. With a flick of the swap, the room was plunged into darkness. Now, inside the gloom, Camelia might see clearly what she had solely glimpsed earlier than.
In the large chair sat a lady wearing a protracted skirt and a jacket, the colours of which oscillated like a rainbow seen via a sprinkler. Her clean face was so pale and glass-like as to replicate the wavering hues. Though her eyes have been open, black orbs towards the mists of her visage, no life glimmered from inside.
Soji transmuted to her spirit kind and flowed down into the girl’s lap. With the ghost cat’s contact, the girl’s face lit, her empty expression morphing into that of a puzzled however regular younger lady.
Help me, she mouthed to Camelia. Though no sound accompanied the shifting lips, Camelia understood.
“Help you?” Camelia whispered again. “How?”
The ghost lady stared at Camelia a second longer, then slipped her filmy gaze previous Camelia into the hallway and past. Her face cleared, and he or she gave the sweetest of smiles.
I see, she intoned with a nod of her fairly head. Justice has already been served.
The ghost started to flicker and fade, and shortly she was little greater than a hint. Then she was gone, leaving solely Soji curled up on the leather-based cushion. In one other second, Soji winked out as properly, and Camelia was watching nothing however the darkish.
Mollie Hunt is a devoted cat particular person herself. Besides writing cat fiction, she is a longtime volunteer on the Oregon Humane Society. She and her cat Tinkerbelle visited hospice sufferers and assisted dwelling amenities via the Pet Partner Program till Tink’s retirement. She has taken cat-centric lessons in first support and CPR, cat habits, cat agility, and the ever-annoying litter field points. In 2014, she labored with celeb cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy on the a lot publicized Portland case of Lux the 911 Cat.
Hunt’s cat writing has earned numerous honors, together with CWA Muse Medallions and World’s Best Litter-ary Awards. She is the recipient of the celebrated Michael Brim Distinguished Service Award (CWA) and the Catalyst Council Connect to Care Award, celebrating a real story of the profound connection between a shelter cat and its adoptive pet dad or mum. Her ebook, Cat’s Paw, was a CIBA Mystery & Mayhem Semi-finalist.
Mollie Hunt is a member of Sisters in Crime and Willamette Writers, in addition to being on the board of the Oregon Writers Colony and Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA). She can also be the librarian for the Cat Writers’ Association. She lives in Portland, Oregon along with her husband and a various variety of cats.
