DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Nine Lifelines (Psycho Cat and the Landlady Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Self Published
Paperback: 316 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1533367105
E-Book ASIN: B01H0NIGGE
The elevator won’t go to the tenth floor, someone is breaking into condos, and the well-heeled Ukrainian renter isn’t paying the rent. Beth and Arnie have retired to the building where Beth’s last rental unit is located, and Beth, the klutzy landlady, has declared herself through solving mysteries. Then, her renter is arrested for the murder of the neighbor who fell (was pushed?) from the tenth-story balcony and the dead neighbor’s grandchildren are left with only their wheelchair-ridden grandmother to care for them. Beth feels compelled to help out.
Are Sylvester’s psycho-cat behaviors providing clues? Is the renter actually the killer? Do the break-ins and elevator problem have anything to do with the murder? Even Arnie, who has always told Beth to keep her nose out of police business, gets involved—for the sake of the children.
GUEST POST FROM THE AUTHOR
In Nine LiFelines, the third book of the Psycho Cat and the Landlady Mystery series, Hélène Lutsenko is a Paris transplant married to a Ukrainian immigrant and renting a condo in Kansas City. Hélène writes about the events in Nine LiFelines from her point of view:
“Some people have called my landlady, Beth Stockwell, a busybody. I call her caring, helpful, and involved. She walks her cat and pushes him in his little cat stroller with me while I push my toddler, Fabienne, in her stroller. She babysits. She asks us to dinner. In fact, she’s been like a mother to me while my own maman is so far away in France. She’s been even more than a mother—she’s a friend.
Beth has been perplexed by some mysteries in our condo building that she’s discovered since she and her husband moved to the tenth floor. The elevator won’t go directly to her floor, and someone has been picking locks on condo doors and breaking in just to take some small items such as paper clips or bananas. Those things bother me, a little, but I don’t think about trying to solve them. Beth does.
I hope my husband, Viktor, has not pushed that man, Beth’s neighbor in the tenth-story penthouse, off of his balcony. He has been arrested, but I deem him innocent. I have faith that he is. Beth also believes he’s not the murderer. I’m glad Beth is also interested in solving this mystery. My lawyer has helped, and the police have followed any tips we’ve given them. But they seem to believe the evidence proves Viktor’s guilt.
Beth suggests that Viktor’s Ukrainian brother, Alexei, had something to do with that horrible death—a murder, they’ve called it. Alexei has been so good to my little Fabienne and me. I don’t think he could be guilty. I feel bad for the dead man’s family. They are immigrants, too, from Peru. What will happen to them?
No matter what, I’ll find a job again as a chef, work to take care of my child, and try to find a way to get Viktor back with us where he belongs. I worked my way to the top as a chef, and I can work my way through this terrible situation. But it’s nice to have a landlady and friend like Beth on my side.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joyce Ann Brown, the author of the Psycho Cat and the Landlady Mystery
series, set in Kansas City, was a librarian, a landlady, and a Realtor before becoming a short story and novel writer. She also has two mischievous cats.
Her actual tenants have never disappeared, murdered, or been murdered. Nor have any of them found a skeleton in the attic. Joyce has never solved a crime. Moose and Chloe, her cats, haven’t sniffed out a mystery, at least not yet.
Joyce spends her days writing (with a few breaks for tennis, walking, and book clubs) so that Beth, the landlady in the series, and Sylvester, the Psycho Cat, can make up for her real-life lack of excitement in a big way.
Author website with Blog: http://www.joyceannbrown.com
Blog: http://retirementchoicescozymystery.wordpress.com
Blog: http://hikingkctrails.wordpress.com
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/joyceannbrownauthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/joyceannbrown1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9858447.Joyce_Ann_Brown
Purchase Links:
Joyce Ann Brown
Great blog site for mystery fiction. Thank you for featuring Nine Lifelines.
Dianne Casey
This is a new series to me and I would like to get to know Sylvester the Psycho Cat. Can’t wait to read.
Joyce Ann Brown
The first two books are CATastrophic Connections and FURtive Investigation. Enjoy.