Dead men tell no tales, but in the riveting new Nick and Nora Mystery, they sure leave a lot of clues . . .
When a local PI’s untimely death is ruled a suicide by the police, budding sleuth Nora Charles has no intention of letting sleeping dogs lie—or sleeping cats, for that matter. Certain it was a case of foul play, Nora rouses her trusty sidekick Nick and launches an investigation of her own. Then a second PI is murdered, and Nora knows the two men were on to something—and that she’s on to something too.
Following the enigmatic clues left by her late predecessors, Nora soon uncovers a plot that involves a local politician, missing campaign funds, and what could be a bogus real estate deal. But when hints of treason surface, what started as small-time thievery soon balloons into a matter of national security. With the uncanny Nick sniffing out—and spelling out—leads, Nora follows a trail that will take her to the heart of a shadowy conspiracy, and into a trap set by a conniving culprit that will have her wishing she had Nick’s nine lives . . .
T.C. Lotempio is the national bestselling author of the Nick and Nora mystery series, as well as the Pet Shop Mystery Series and the Cat Rescue mysteries. She lives in sunny Phoenix Arizona along with her two cats, Maxx and ROCCO, who is a talented blogger himself. Cat-ch up with them at her website, tclotempio.net, or ROCCO’s blog, www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com
It's been ages since we used LunaPic for our Caturday Art, but we've been feeling rather uninspired by the Pho.to app lately and decided to try something different. We chose the Picasso effect and think it turned out pawsome!
Visit more artsy kitties at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!
1. The day Mommy picked ME, over all the other kitties in the world, is the happiest I have ever been.
2. I really hate going to the vet. It's a necessary evil though, and Mommy and I really, really like our vet, but we found out last week that he's retiring this spring :(
Mommy's answers:
3. While most people enjoy traveling, I prefer staying home.
4. I’m glad that the Internet was invented. While I'm an old soul who would much prefer to live in days gone by, I can't imagine returning to pre-Internet days.
Thank you for joining us for this month's edition of the Pet Photo Fails Blog Hop!
I'm not exactly sure what Mommy was trying to do when she snapped this picture. Tease me with empty squeezie packages? Show me desperately trying to lick the last drop from them?
Whatever she was doing was obviously cruel and unusual punishment, and it serves her right for ending up with a total photo fail!
That's my photo fail...let's see yours!
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Many thanks to all of you who participated in my annual Mudpie 500 Zoomies Event for our four-legged friends, and now it's time to announce the winner!
Austin Cindric won the race, but sadly no one chose the 2 car. The second place car was driven by Bubba Wallace, who was chosen by...
1. It’s about time I put the last of my Christmas decorations away.
2. An anecdote I like to tell is the day my Uncle Bob (a large man with an even bigger heart) fell into a wheelbarrow in our shed. He was pretty steamed and my mom and I were laughing so hard we couldn't help him get out.
3. I wish there was a way to cook without dirtying dishes.
4. Too many people take time spent with pets for granted. They're in our lives for such a short time.
I want to start out by reminding you there's still time to enter the 7th Annual Mudpie 500 Zoomies Event if you haven't already done so! Take a guess at who's going to win the big race on Sunday for your chance to win a PetSmart gift card!
Mommy can't believe it's already time for the Daytona 500. She says the off season went by really fast this year, probably because our holidays were so horrible with my grandpa being so sick and she didn't really have time to think about it.
Can you believe this will be her 22nd year watching NASCAR? The first race she ever watched (merely out of curiosity) was the week after Dale Earnhardt was killed in 2001, which was also Kevin Harvick's first start in a Cup car. Three weeks later he won his first race and she's been hooked ever since. In all those years she has only missed a handful of races.
Kevin has been her one and only driver since day one. (She's loyal! Conway has been her love for 30 plus years and Kevin her favorite speedster for over 20!) She's getting kind of sad though because at 46 Kevin is now the "old man" of NASCAR. He still has 2 years left on his contract but we fear retirement will come after that. I don't know if Mommy will continue watching when he's not on the track because no one else racing really appeals to her.
Our flashback photos this week were taken in 2014 when Kevin won the NASCAR Championship. Angel Truffles lived here then, not me, and Mommy got her to pose with newspapers and t-shirt commemorating the event. I was still living in western New York at the time so I missed out on all the excitement, but now that I think about it...I seem to remember what I thought was a sonic boom happening around that time! MOL!!!
Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is:
Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (They may be silly or cute).
(And the 2014 Sprint Cup Champion's car at that...just sayin'.)
It's no secret that Mommy is serious about her NASCAR. The Daytona 500 is next Sunday and she is ecstatic.
Since she always calls my zoomies the "running of the Mudpie 500" I decided to start hosting an annual giveaway to celebrate this national holiday in our house and to make it fun for me and my friends too!
For a chance to win, simply leave a comment predicting the winning driver by midnight eastern on Sunday, February 20th. Don't forget to leave your email address too! We'll be giving away a $10 PetSmart gift card so my pals of all species can purr-ticipate!
In the event that more than one of you pick the winning driver, we will draw a name from a hat. If no one picks the winning driver, we will move on to second place, etc., until a winner is chosen.
Here are your driver choices:
No. 1 – Ross Chastain – Trackhouse Racing (C) No. 2 – Austin Cindric – Team Penske (C) No. 3 – Austin Dillon – Richard Childress Racing (C) No. 4 – Kevin Harvick – Stewart-Haas Racing (C) No. 5 – Kyle Larson – Hendrick Motorsports (C) No. 6 – Brad Keselowski – RFK Racing (C) No. 7 – Corey LaJoie – Spire Motorsports (C) No. 8 – Tyler Reddick – Richard Childress Racing (C) No. 9 – Chase Elliott – Hendrick Motorsports (C) No. 10 – Aric Almirola – Stewart-Haas Racing (C) No. 11 – Denny Hamlin – Joe Gibbs Racing (C) No. 12 – Ryan Blaney – Team Penske (C) No. 14 – Chase Briscoe – Stewart-Haas Racing (C) No. 15 – David Ragan – Rick Ware Racing (C) No. 16 – Daniel Hemric – Kaulig Racing (C) No. 17 – Chris Buescher – RFK Racing (C) No. 18 – Kyle Busch – Joe Gibbs Racing (C) No. 19 – Martin Truex Jr. – Joe Gibbs Racing (C) No. 20 – Christopher Bell – Joe Gibbs Racing (C) No. 21 – Harrison Burton – Wood Brothers Racing (C) No. 22 – Joey Logano – Team Penske (C) No. 23 – Bubba Wallace – 23XI Racing (C) No. 24 – William Byron – Hendrick Motorsports (C) No. 27 – Jacques Villeneuve – Team Hezeberg w/ RBR (UC) No. 31 – Justin Haley – Kaulig Racing (C) No. 34 – Michael McDowell – Front Row Motorsports (C) No. 38 – Todd Gilliland – Front Row Motorsports (C) No. 41 – Cole Custer – Stewart-Haas Racing (C) No. 42 – Ty Dillon – Petty GMS Motorsports (C) No. 43 – Erik Jones – Petty GMS Motorsports (C) No. 45 – Kurt Busch – 23XI Racing (C) No. 47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – JTG Daugherty Racing (C) No. 48 – Alex Bowman – Hendrick Motorsports (C) No. 50 – Kaz Grala – The Money Team Racing (UC) No. 51 – Cody Ware – Rick Ware Racing (C) No. 55 – J.J. Yeley – MBM Motorsports (UC) No. 62 – Noah Gragson – Beard Motorsports (UC) No. 66 – Timmy Hill – MBM Motorsports (UC) No. 77 – TBA – Spire Motorsports (C) No. 78 – TBA – Live Fast Motorsports (C) No. 99 – Daniel Suarez – Trackhouse Racing (C)
Here's the thing about the Daytona 500: it's a total crap shoot so you don't need to know a thing about racing in order to predict a winner. It's known as a "restrictor plate race" which limits speed and increases safety, to provide an equal level of competition. The cars all run in crazy scary packs and winning is more a matter of luck than anything.
Back in 2007 our driver Kevin Harvick won the race. My grandpa's boss at the time stood to win $1,000 if Mark Martin won, and Martin was leading until the last turn of the last lap when Kevin came from 7th place to win by fractions of a second. It was a thrilling finish, but grandpa never told his boss that Kevin was our driver! Check it out:
Good luck, have fun, and may the best man Kevin Harvick win!!!
1. A week without having something new to worry about would be nice.
2. A week without making multiple trips to the grocery store would be impossible.
3. I didn’t plan to adopt another cat so soon after losing Truffles, but I’m glad I did.
4. I once left my neighbor's house at night without turning on the garage light and lived to regret it. I was cat sitting, somehow forgot there were three steps down instead of two, and landed on the cement floor. I immediately thought I had broken my ankle, but after limping home and icing it, it didn't feel too bad. This was 5 plus years ago and until the last year or so I would still have times it would be sore if I moved it a certain way.
Make sure you stop by on Tuesday to enter this year's
The theme of January's CatLadyBox was Paws and Refresh...here's what was inside!
Featured Cat Lady Artist Elvira Rascov: This is one of my favorite art cards ever because it's a TORTIE!!!
Cat Paw Hoodie: In the spring and fall I always wear hoodies outside, and during the winter I wear them for something "extra" around the house, so I'm always eager to add a new one to the lineup!
Cat Soap Dish: I seem to never use things for what they're intended, so I think I'll be putting this either in the bedroom to hold my watch, jewelry, etc., at night, or maybe in the kitchen to keep my keys in a safe spot where they won't get lost.
Cat Claw Hair Clip: I wear hair clips a lot during the summer, but this is the first I've ever seen with a cat theme.
Serenity Meow Socks: Can one ever have too many cat socks? I don't think so.
Sleep Mask Catnip Toy: This toy is SO adorable, and I'm determined to set it on Mudpie's eyes for a photo op one of these days when she's napping on my lap. Stay tuned...
Tie Dye Teaser Wand Toy: In all honesty, Mudpie has more wand toys at this point than she'll ever need, but each design is unique and they all look cute and colorful standing together, waiting to be pulled out and played with.
Disclosure: I receive a discount on my CatLadyBox subscription as a thank you for my monthly review. Regardless of compensation received, we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers.
Conway was the king of country love songs so this week's choices could easily be him alone, but I forced myself to pick just one - a very obscure song in his vast catalog.
Conway recorded his last album, Final Touches, in April 1993, just two months before he passed away. This particular song, I Will Always Find My Way To You, didn't make the cut, but because his wife loved it so much he recorded it in secret as a special, private gift for her. Thankfully she released it to the fans a year later in The Conway Twitty Collection box set.
A few more country love songs...
We hope you felt the love in our choices this week, and please let us know if you have a favorite!
See this Christmas ornament? Mommy has had it forever, at least 20 years, and it's one of her very favorites. She says the little mouse living in a soup can with his Christmas stocking hung outside really tugs at her heartstrings.
Notice it's broken? I did that.
Wednesday night I was jumping from Mommy's lap on the couch to the table beside the couch where I eat my squeezies. It's about 3 feet off the ground, I didn't have good footing, and I went tumbling to the floor. On my way down I wiped out a basket of Christmas decorations Mommy has yet to put away (yes, it's nearly Valentine's Day and we still have some Christmas around).
Mommy immediately picked me up to console me and make sure I was alright, then proceeded to pick everything up. That's when she saw part of the soup can had broken off.
I felt so bad, but Mommy said she can glue it back on. She was just glad I was okay.
I'd like to say this is the first thing I've ever broken, but that's not true. A couple years ago I broke her glasses! That was an expensive break because she had to get a new prescription.
Something tells me she wouldn't be as understanding if I busted one of her Conway collectibles!
