Tara Interviews Miss Cuddlywumps from Roby Sweet's A Bump in the Road

Today I bring to you Tara's final interview. Her last chat was with Miss Cuddlywumps from Roby Sweet's A Bump in the Road. Rest in peace my darling girl; your fictional feline friends will miss you just as much as your Mommy does.

Welcome, Miss C! How did you come to live with Rory?
Thank you for inviting me, Tara. The Rory person will not let me go out of the house on my own, so it is nice to have someone to correspond with. I selected the Rory person one evening when she came to the house I was staying in after my beloved Professor Eleanor passed from this world into the blessed Elysian Fields. My new person appears to be largely uneducated (she does not know the first thing about Socrates), and her lack of cat knowledge is unsettling. I have had to teach her everything, and it has not been easy. Fortunately, I know quite a lot, so I am up to the task.

Where did your adorable name come from?
My adorable name, Miss Cuddlywumps, came from the Rory person. She thought I was very cuddly and almost named me “Cuddlelicious.” Can you imagine? A cat of my obvious poise and quality answering to the name “Cuddlelicious”? Oh, the indignity! “Miss Cuddlywumps” is marginally acceptable, but I generally go by Miss C, which also refers to my true name, Cassandra Cat, the name given me by the kind and learned Professor Eleanor.

How did you find yourself involved in a murder in A Bump in the Road?
Well, it happened very soon after I moved to my new house. Late one night I was sitting in the living room window pondering life’s uncertainties, when something strange and disturbing occurred. I do not like to talk about it because it was all rather gruesome, but poor Thor was killed with his own hammer. I should have paid more attention to the killer, but as I say, it was gruesome and shocking. As the only witness, I had to begin solving the crime with only one clue: The killer wore a dark-colored baseball hat with a lighter design on the front.

What makes you an especially unique feline?
I am so glad you asked. Education is everything, and I am both classically educated and well versed in British mysteries. I owe it all to Professor Eleanor, who read to me every day and told me all sorts of wise things. Thanks to her, I know all about Socrates, Plato, and Odysseus, as well as Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, and P.D. James. Had I grown up with the Rory person I would have learned only how to watch television and eat unhealthy foods.

Do you know anything about your upcoming adventures?
A little bit. My next adventure is called The Ides of October. It takes place a few months after the conclusion of A Bump in the Road. There will be a trial—or not. Brooksford will be plagued with poison pen letters written by an unbalanced and potentially violent person. I will attempt to send the Rory person out on a date, because I think it would be good for her. Also, I will go to the vet, which I am not looking forward to.

Anything else you'd like your adoring public to know about you?
I enjoy chicken from a can, but it must be very expensive and contain no fillers or by-products. My hobbies include licking my catnip mouse and helping the Rory person work on her computer.

Miss Cuddlywumps Investigates: Book I

Rory Roberts is happy with her quiet life. She’s single, forty-something, and lives in the sleepy town of Brooksford, MD, population 227, where the latest excitement is the debate over speed bumps. With a cozy cottage to call home and her lifelong best friend right next door, what more could she want or need?

Certainly not a cat.

But she becomes intrigued with the fluffy-tailed calico she meets at a neighbor’s house and agrees to take the cat home, just to see how it goes. In short order, the calico, whom she names Miss Cuddlywumps (a.k.a. Miss C), has taken over Rory’s life and Rory begins to fear she is becoming one of those “cat people.”

Miss C, though, is no average cat: She is a classically educated feline who can quote ancient texts and solve mysteries. When she witnesses the violent murder of a speed-bump advocate outside Rory’s front door, Miss C must use all of her education and wits to identify the killer before her new person becomes the next victim.