This cozy series has everything you want and more: an eclectic cast of characters, a mystery or two, and diligent detectives on duty. The detectives, feline and canine, figure it all out, but they have a dickens of a time getting the humans to understand them.The series, Tiger Lily's Café, is set in a Midwestern town nestled into the sunset coast of a Great Lake. The setting itself acts as a character, bringing the reader into the sights, sounds and smells of the small resort community of Chelsea.Read the series in order, or read any book alone. Each volume stands alone with a clear beginning and a clear end.This volume continues the story of Annie, a woman whose ownership of a prime piece of real estate and several businesses was almost a mistake. But own it, she does, and she makes the best of an idyllic situation.With her family of rescue cats and a diverse collection of business managers, staff and friends, Annie embraces her home on The Avenue, a picturesque slice of life that embodies the best - and sometimes the worst - that humanity has to offer.Christmas is coming, and New Year too. But then, so are those early snows and sub-zero temperatures, just in time for a true blizzard to hit on Christmas weekend. What a time for a bizarre mix of fishing and Phishing!While Pete, the Chief of Police, is on vacation, spearphishers, catphishers, and a tourist that hopes to be an ice-fisher run amok. The computer antics are aimed at Annie and her mix of businesses; it appears she has lost, well, a lot of money.The second string of the police department is in charge, and that leads to more trouble than Annie and her friends can handle. The FBI is called in, but will they be able to figure out who is targeting Annie? Is it someone from Chelsea? Someone from out of town? Someone who just began to work for Annie who has access to every building at all hours of the day or night? Is it true that Annie has criminals on her staff? Her trusted management staff?Tiger Lily and her siblings try to keep up with everything. However, their attention is split. They spend a lot of time with their canine friend, Cyril, who believes his human, Pete, has left him forever. Cyril believes he has been abandoned by his best canine friend as well. Cyril and Jock find themselves at odds because, of all things, the Westminster Dog Show.In the middle of it all, Annie hosts her entire family, ages 18 months through, well, the mature ages. Family meals and holiday parties on The Avenue don't take a back seat to trouble. They become the center to which everyone can gather and feel safe.
About the Author: Kathleen Thompson was raised on a small family farm in Indiana. She has an undergraduate degree in Sociology from Manchester College (now Manchester University) and an MBA from Indiana University South Bend. In a variety of towns and circumstances, she served as a probation officer, parole agent and juvenile residential counselor before moving into administrative, marketing and fund raising positions in human service organizations. Ms. Thompson took a break from human services for seven years to own and operate a bar and restaurant. Let's be honest; that's another type of human service. While making plans to return to her rural roots, Kathi and her mother discovered an injured kitten at the family farm. The kitten, whose face was a mass of unhealed injuries, decided to make Kathi her guardian. She wrapped herself around an ankle, started purring, and wouldn't let go. Against the advice of her mother, Kathi took the kitten home and to a veterinarian, the vet diagnosed road burn serious enough to take all the fur from the left side of her face, and the kitten - Tiger Lily - eventually healed and took a huge part of Kathi's heart. Tiger Lily was joined by the rest, rescue kitties, all: Little Socks (thank you, Aunt Mary); Kali, Ko and Mo (thank you, Connie); Sassy Pants (thank you, Ant Sherwy); and Mr. Bean (thank you, Pulaski Animal Center). A recent arrival, Speckles (thank you, Tennille) has joined the cast, but will not live at the Inn. Tiger Lily's Café rattled around in Kathi's brain - there isn't much else up there - for all of the years since, sometimes as an actual café and sometimes as a book. It was less expensive to write the book. Connect with Kathi and her family of cats at their website: www.tigerlilyscafe.com, or find them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/tigerlilyscafemysteries.