Murder in the Dog Park/Dog Spelled Backwards by Jill Yesko: Guest Author & Giveaway

The Woman Who Almost Didn’t Love Cats

It may horrify you dear readers to find out that I grew up in a cat-a-phobic family. Both my mother and father disliked cats. My mother was frightened  and my father didn’t like pets—period.

No wonder I grew up suspicious of cats. Gretchen, a shy playmate from elementary school, had hands that bore scars of repeated scratches from her three cats. What kind of animal would do that to gentle Gretchen?

Fast forward thirty years. I fell in love with a man who had a cat. Oh dear, I thought, how am I going to manage this?

At first the cat (a chocolate-colored long-haired former stray named Kitten) and I ignored each other. Sitting in opposite chairs we engaged in epic stare downs. We had an unspoken agreement; we weren't friends, but weren’t enemies either.

One afternoon I awoke from a nap to find Kitten next to me. My boyfriend walked in, took a long look at both of us and proclaimed: “you two need to work this out.”

From that moment Kitten and I became friends. He enjoyed our daily brushing sessions. I discovered a special spot on his head that made him purr like a small motor. I even came up with up nicknames for him (I thought the name Kitten lacked imagination). I called him Bob, as in, “he’s not a bobcat, he’s a bobkitten.” He came running when I yodeled his name and accompanied me on my evening walks.

Over the next year, Bob began paying more attention to me than my boyfriend. Bob knew I’d fallen for him, it just took he a little while to acknowledge it.

When the boyfriend and I broke up, he asked me to take Bob.I thought long and hard. It didn’t seem right to take the cat he had adopted off the mean streets of Albuquerque. I agreed to care for Bob for six months while my ex traveled out of the country.

I cried the night the ex-boyfriend came to get Bob. As much as I wanted to keep him, I knew deep down that he had to go back to my ex.

Bob has since gone to cat heaven. I’m grateful to Bob for being my first cat. I couldn’t have had a better teacher. I’m now a cat lover. To think, it almost didn’t happen.

Murder in the Dog Park
Mystery
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Baxter World Publishing (May 28, 2012)
ISBN-13: 978-0985485207
File Size: 242 KB
Print Length: 128 pages
ASIN: B00A10IU7O

Synopsis
Discovering a brutally murdered boy in a rainy dog park sends misanthropic private detective Jane Ronson on a journey through Baltimore’s gritty underbelly. Aided by a sexy cop, a bad-ass bull terrier, and an only-in-Baltimore cast of characters, Jane must use her computer-hacking and street-fighting skills to save her only family member from being framed as the killer.

Dog Spelled Backwards: An Unholy Mystery
Mystery
Paperback: 210 pages
Publisher: Baxter World Publishing (August 17, 2013)
ISBN-13: 978-0985485214
File Size: 1355 KB
Print Length: 118 pages
ASIN: B00FDXQVO8

Synopsis
Private investigator Jane Ronson suffers from oppositional defiant disorder, the uncontrollable urge to punch first then ask questions later. When a rabbi with a shady past offers her a bag of cash to spy on a rival rabbi, Jane jumps at the chance to make what think will be easy money. To get her cash, Jane impersonates an Orthodox Jewish woman and infiltrates a black market kidney ring in Baltimore’s Orthodox community. Between Russian gangsters and double crosses, Jane is number one on everyone’s hit list. To save her life, she forms an alliance with a religious woman and confronts a family.

About This Author
Jill Yesko’s 20+ year writing career has included stints as a sport writer, NPR commentator and investigative reporter. She’s written about everything from body piercing to human pyramids in Spain. After a solo trek around the world, Jill was profiled as an “adventurous traveler” in O, the Oprah magazine. Before becoming a writer, Jill was a national-class cyclist and graduate and cartographer. A New Jersey native, Jill now patrols Baltimore’s dog parks with her basset hound.

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