ROCCO’s guest blogger: author Nancy Haddock!

Nancy Haddock is an award-winning and national bestselling author of mystery-romance and cozy mysteries. Basket Case and Paint the Town Dead are her current books in the Silver Six Crafting Mystery series with Berkley Prime Crime. The third book in the series, A Crime of Poison, will be released in December, 2017.

Nancy’s earlier books, also with Berkley, are La Vida Vampire, Last Vampire Standing, and Always The Vampire. These paranormal mystery-romances feature Cesca, aka Gidget with fangs, and are set in Haddock’s current hometown, St. Augustine, FL

Nancy draws on historic wealth, southern culture, and the plain old quirkiness of places and people for her books. She lives with her husband and rescue dog Baron.

www.nancyhaddock.com

Best Friends and New Friends

By T.C. (with Nancy Haddock because she takes dictation)

Meow, y’all! Greetings to ROCCO, his human, Toni, and all ROCCO’s Readers!

I’m known as T.C., and I’m a feline of the South—now of southwest Arkansas, to be precise. While I’m quite a lovely orange and brown tiger stripe with green eyes, I’m more a steel magnolia than a southern belle.

My BFF is black and tan German pinscher with some hound dog on the side. Yes, a canine is my best friend, and she’s named Amber for her amber eyes. We were the runts of our respective litters, born under neighboring houses in a place called north Louisiana. We found each other as youngsters, bonded, and took off to have adventures together.

After leaving home, we first found Doris Roche, an elderly lady who was ill and infirm. We sensed she needed us, so Amber and I helped and comforted her in her last months of life. We met Doris’s neighbor, Ruth, and sometimes romped with the young human men who helped around Doris’s property. Just to burn off some kitten and puppy energy, you understand. When Doris passed on peacefully, I stood guard while Amber ran to get Ruth. Within hours, we knew it was time for us to move along.

Running through piney woods, answering only to ourselves, was great for a few weeks. We foraged in small towns, occasionally accepting food from people who smelled kind and harmless when we sniffed them. We avoided being caught as strays, but never found a place we wanted to settle until we scampered into Lillyvale and scented our new human, Nixy.

Nixy’s man friend, Eric Shoar, was the first to spot us in an alley. We charmed him right away, but Nixy was a tougher sell. She’d never had pets, and was wary of adopting us, so we stayed on our best behavior to break her in slowly. Now we live with her above a store that smells of wood, plants, metal, and oil. Oh, and food! The food comes from Nixy’s family—the Silver Six—who work at the store, and live in a farmhouse with lots of room for us to run and play when we visit. We go to the park, too—technically a dog park, but Eric arranged for me to play there with Amber.

Amber and I hope to live with Nixy—and perhaps Eric, too—for a very long time. That is, if Nixy can stop finding bodies. We don’t care for the empty scent of death.

On a happier note, being a well-mannered southern lady, I’ve brought a gift for my host and hostess to giveaway! Read on for more information. Meantime, y’all come visit me, Amber, Nixy, and the Silver Six any time!

Nancy will give away a signed copy of Paint the Town Dead to two lucky readers. Please leave a comment or question for T.C., for Amber, or for Nancy, and please be sure to leave an e-mail address so we can notify you!