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BLACK CAT BENEFIT
A Pet Whisperer PI Bonus Story
BY MOLLY FITZ

Blurb

Nan has volunteered to raise funds for the local animal shelter by throwing the most lavish—but also the most convoluted—charity event in Blueberry Bay history. The so-called “Black Cat Benefit” is one part adoption event, one part dinner party, and also one part silent auction, formal ball, and glammed-up race for the cause.

Unfortunately, when a guest turns up dead partway through the night, nobody takes his murder seriously, assuming it’s yet another part of the planned festivities. Oops! Can Angie, Nan, Octo-Cat, and Paisley, along with a clowder of uninitiated black shelter cats, catch the killer and save the night from ruin?

BLACK CAT BENEFIT
A Pet Whisperer PI Bonus Story
BY MOLLY FITZ

Octo-Cat

Character Interview

Octo-Cat is the star of the Pet Whisperer P.I. series! This snarky cat helps his human, Angie Russo, solve crimes in Blueberry Bay, Maine–when he’s not busy napping in a sunbeam or demanding more of his favorite bottled water (served in a teacup, of course).

Here’s a quick Q&A to help you get to know him a little better! And if you’d like to check out the books, you can do that here: https://mollymysteries.com/series/pet-whisperer-p-i/.

Q: What is your name?
A: It is Octavius Maxwell Ricardo Edmund Frederick Fulton Russo, esquire, PI. . . The Third.

Q: How old are you?
A: I don’t understand the question. Perhaps it has something to do with how you humans measure age, but I’m on my fifth life.

Q: What is your profession?
A: First and foremost, I am a connoisseur of life, a cat of refined tastes. I am also a technical mastermind and a premiere Private Investigator. Basically, I solve crimes and try to keep my human out of trouble. Humans are so terribly accident prone. Delicate creatures. Phfffft.

Q: Do you have a significant other?
A: Until I met Grizabella, my human Angela was the only person I would consider in my life significant.

Q: What is her profession?
A: Oh, she’s a caretaker of my estate. And I suppose also a junior partner in my private investigation business.

Q: Any children?
A: Absolutely not.

Q: Do you have any sibling(s)?
A: They keep telling me that the dog is my “sister.” As if I were related to a common dog. . .

Q: Do your parents live near you?
A: They are off leading fabulous lives of their own. In fact, although you didn’t hear it from me, one of them was recently in a movie. Yes, they played a priest or some such. I think it was called “Pet Seminary.”

Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Best friend? I suppose it would have to be the human. The raccoon gets under my skin these days and the dog is irritating and just doesn’t understand that not every thought needs a voice.

Q: Cats, dogs or other pets?
A: I don’t know what this question is implying but when the question has cats in it, that is the answer.

Q: Any advice for other cats?
A: Never trust a dog, always buy Apple, and if your water’s not Evian, you may as well be drinking from the toilet like a common, mouth-breathing dog.

Q: What town do you live in?
A: Glendale. It’s in the Blueberry Bay region of a state also named for my lineage. Maine.

Q: Type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
A: I live in my manor house that I inherited from my first human. Lovely woman, very unfortunately murdered. Really, if you aren’t in a manor, are you even a cat anymore?

Q: What is your favorite spot in your home?
A: I suppose it would be the library my human likes to work in. Very beautiful area, lots of sunbeams to lay in.

Q: Favorite meal and dessert?
A: I prefer the salmon flavor of Fancy Feast, but I suppose for a nice dessert, a steak flavored one or maybe freshly grilled shrimp or a nice fat piece of ahi tuna.

Q: Favorite hobby?
A: Is laying in a sunbeam considered a hobby?

Q: Favorite color?
A: Well, the vibrant yellow of a canary has always had a special place in my heart. Although the color of a blue jay is positively mouth-watering.

Q: Favorite author?
A: Obviously, my favorite is the one that manages to create me. Molly Fitz is clearly quite the talent to have come up with me.

Q: Favorite vacation spot?
A: Vacation. Haven’t really considered taking a vacation, but I might have to research that.

Q: Favorite sports team?
A: Yes, I believe it’s Minnesota that has a Lynx team. As a cat that is part Lynx, on my mother’s side, I can really get behind a team that recognizes greatness.

Q: Movies or Broadway?
A: Movies. Broadway has been on my bad side ever since they had a play about Cats and didn’t cast a single cat in it.

Q: Are you a morning or a night person?
A: Well, as a cat, I’m a creature of the night, I suppose. But my morning feeding cannot be delayed in any way shape or form. If it is, it throws off my entire nap schedule.

Q: Amateur or professional and whom do you work with?
A: Amateur? Please. I’m the best detective the world has ever seen—or at least the great state of Maine. Well, my staff involves my two humans, Angie and Nan. I occasionally allow Angi to include her mate Upchuck, but not often. I also have Pringle, a raccoon, along with his assistant, Maple. She’s a squirrel.

Q: In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
A: Well, I normally have to wake Angela up to make sure I’m fed in time, then I rest. Once I find the sunbeam, I then spend the day following it across the house to maintain decent warmth. Angie may or may not have some drama that requires my wisdom for her to resolve. Humans. Always in need of feline assistance.

About Author Molly Fitz…

The first thing you need to know is that I am obsessed with animals and with books! Both were my best friends growing up and remain that way to this day, even though I have finally learned to people and even have friends of the human variety these days.

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Links to Molly’s websites, blogs, books, #ad etc.:

Contact info: https://linktr.ee/mollymysteries

Follow on Ream: https://mollymysteries.com/club