After spending several months banged up in Sunny Banks rescue centre, Aubrey, a large tabby cat, has finally found his forever home with Molly and Jeremy Goodman, and life is looking good.
However, all that changes when a serial killer begins to target elderly victims in the neighbourhood.
Aubrey wasn’t particularly upset by the death of some of the previous victims, including Miss Jenkins whom Aubrey recalls as a vinegar-lipped bitch of an old woman who enjoyed throwing stones at cats, but Mr Telling was different.
Mr Telling was a mate…
It's such a pleasure to be hosting the blog tour for Street Cat Blues today. Many thanks to Rachel Gilbey from Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and to Alison O'Leary for providing the extract which I'm delighted to share below.
This extract is taken from Chapter Five. Molly and Jeremy Goodman, Aubrey’s owners, are talking to each other one evening at home.
Molly hesitated for a moment and then said, “There’s something that I’ve been meaning to mention to you.”
“What?”
“Rachel and Clive are coming back. In fact, I think that they’re probably back already.”
Aubrey felt his heart sink and his mood of quiet contentment drain slowly away. Tall, thin, knobbly and cat-hating, with long arms that dangled loosely by his sides, Clive was everything that a sensible cat would take considerable pains to avoid. Clive didn’t talk to people, he addressed them. And he was always right. In Aubrey’s opinion the only things that were worse than Clive were Clive’s wife and children.
“What?” Jeremy suddenly sat up straight, almost dislodging Aubrey from his lap. “I thought that they were safely tucked up in Africa? No, don’t tell me, Africa couldn’t stand them either.”
Molly smiled. “No, it’s a family thing. The old lady that was killed, the first one, Miss Jenkins. Apparently she’s Clive’s aunt. Or she was, I should say.”
Aubrey wasn’t surprised. When he thought about it, there was a distinct family likeness.
Jeremy groaned.
“So why do Rachel and Clive have to come back here? Why can’t they stay in Africa? The old girl’s dead. I mean, I don’t want to sound callous and all that but it’s not like they can do anything about it.”
“Miss Jenkins didn’t have any other family. Clive was her only nephew. He and Rachel have to arrange the funeral and see to her affairs.”
“Just a fleeting visit then?” Jeremy’s expression was hopeful.
“Afraid not.” Molly gave a rueful smile. “Clive is the main beneficiary under her will. We’re holding it at Donaghue’s, I had a sneak look at it today. Apart from a few charitable bequests, Clive gets the lot. Which, of course, includes her house. And quite a bit of money too,” she added.
“He would,” said Jeremy bitterly. “Only Clive could profit from what looks like a serial killer on the loose. If you dropped him in a bucket of shit he’d come up with the winning lottery ticket stuck to his forehead.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this witty and original crime story featuring a furry protagonist when I read it last year and you can read my review here.
Street Cat Blues is published by Crooked Cat Books and can be purchased from the following;
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Wordery
Book Depository
Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.
About the Author
I was born in London and spent my teenaged years in Hertfordshire where I spent large amounts of time reading Agatha Christie novels and avoiding school. Failing to gain any qualifications in Science whatsoever, the dream of being a forensic scientist crashed and burned when a careers teacher suggested that I might like to work in a shop. Later studying Law, I decided to teach rather than go into practice and have spent many years working as a college lecturer teaching mainly Criminal Law to adults and young people.
I live on the south coast with my husband John and cat Archie. When not writing I enjoy crosswords, walking by the sea and drinking wine. Not necessarily in that order.
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