Death Steals the Spotlight (Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries) by T. C. LoTempio
About Death Steals the Spotlight
It’s exit stage left, permanently, for a big-time director who lands the starring role in an unscripted death scene . . .
Desperate to find a director for their annual production, the Fox Hollow Players have a stroke of luck when Shell McMillan’s actress mother lands a prominent theater director for the job. He’s more gruff and demanding than the small-town cast and crew are used to, but his soft side for animals quickly endears him to pet shop owner Shell. Persuading her to let him use a shed on her property where he can work in peace, Shell is horrified when she finds his dead body there. And with obvious signs of foul play, she can’t help but investigate the murder.
As she digs into the man’s past, it becomes apparent that at one point or another he was romantically entangled with just about every woman involved in the play. And just when Shell discovers he may have been blackmailing one of them, other clues surface that suggest a more sinister motive. With her hands already full with a beautiful stray cat she found and christened Princess Fuzzypants, Shell will have to fill two roles, caring for the Maine coon and trying to track down the killer before it’s her turn for a fatal curtain call . . .
About the Author Guest Post
There are countless reasons why writers write. To overcome, to achieve, to win, to create. I think the main reason I write is: all of the above.
Let’s face it, in life there are some things that are beyond our control. As a writer, everything is under my control. I control the plot, the characters. I can have my characters overcome obstacles that I might not be able to in real life. It’s a heady feeling.
I think every author harbors a desire to create something of value, something they want to share with the world. This often forms an intimate relationship between author and reader. When I write I bare my soul to the reader, hoping that it will be favorably received. And while criticism is sometimes tough to take, I have to admit that it has made my writing all the more stronger for it (yes, I’m talking about the mountain of rejections I received when I first started writing.)
Writing to me symbolizes personal freedom: the ability to create characters that we hope everyone will fall in love with, stories that the reader can’t put down, books that people will find memorable and want to read again and again. Writing can allow me to recreate instances from my own life and have them end differently (and don’t we wish we were able to do that!).
But the main reason I write is simple. I enjoy it. I enjoy creating characters that I hope people will fall in love with and identify with. I enjoy the challenge of mapping out mysteries that are at times complex, with varied suspects. And I’ve been told that I enjoy zeroing in on different methods of murder perhaps a bit too much. ☺
In short, writing satisfies a basic need for me. I hope that reading my work satisfies a need for the reader as well: the need to be swept away and entertained. If I can touch even just one person with my words, then I’m happy! And so are my creations!
About T.C. LoTempio
While Toni Lotempio does not commit – or solve – murders in real life, she has no trouble doing it on paper. Her lifelong love of mysteries began early on when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew mystery at age 10 – The Secret in the Old Attic. She and her cat Rocco pen the Nick and Nora mystery series originally from Berkley Prime Crime and now with Beyond the Page Publishing. They also write the Cat Rescue series from Crooked Lane and the Pet Shop series, originally published by Midnight Ink and rebranded last year as “Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries.” Number three in this series debuted June 27, DEATH STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT. Recent other releases include Book six in the Nick and Nora mysteries, A PURR BEFORE DYING, and book one in the new Tiffany Austin Food blogger series, EAT, DRINK AND DROP DEAD.
You can cat-ch up with them at ROCCO’s blog, her website, Facebook, and Twitter.
