Title: “Cat’s In The Cradle”

Author: Dakota McGraw

Release Date: November 15, 2015

Genre: Cozy/Mystery

Blurb:

What does a mansion; a prize show cat and a diamond necklace have in common?

Crazy people!

That’s Professor Pamela Whitherspoons’ assessment is when she is thrown into the world of cat shows, eccentric owners and the filthy rich who have nothing else better to do. And all Pamela wanted to do was visit her sister in Los Angeles to catch some rays.

Immerse yourself in this case of a kidnapped show cat, through the eyes of reluctant amateur detective Pamela Whitherspoon, as she’s tossed in a world where a Prize Persian has an entourage larger than a rap star, and a throng of adoring fans, that is quite disturbing.

With the help of her sarcastic favorite nephew and later, a very handsome cop, Pamela tries to solve what the media is calling the Pet Crime of the Century.

Can she solve it in time to finish her summer vacation and move on with her life? Or after a insidious “accident”, is her life more in danger than she realizes?

Goodreads

~Buy Links ~

Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0182WCLBS
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cats-in-the-cradle-a-pamela-whitherspoon-pet-detective-mystery-dakota-mcgraw/1122954863?ean=2940151223249
Smashwords – http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/593489
iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1059538988
Scribd – https://www.scribd.com/book/289968863/
Inktera – http://bit.ly/1lCWBGz

EXCERPT:

Hello. My name is Pamela Whitherspoon, a.k.a., amateur animal sleuth, pet detective, pooch finder, you name it. You may be wondering how I got any of those titles. Totally by accident and with a lot of reluctance I assure you.

I don’t even read mysteries on a regular. Okay, I’ll admit, I do watch that old lady writer that always shows up at someone’s house, a party or place of business, and sure enough, there’s a dead body.

But that’s the extent of my mystery acumen. So what happened, that I’m so lucky that people come to me when something inauspicious happens with one of their furry friends?

I’ll tell you. A year and a half ago I helped solved three crimes. Nothing special about the way I solved them; it was all getting in the head of the perpetrator. And since I am a professor of psychology at my local university, it was only natural. Plus some clues here and there of course. But now all of a sudden when Fido goes missing, people come to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind…too much. It’s just that I would really hate to disappoint people if I can’t help them.

You wouldn’t believe the email I get and the cases people want me to work on. Lost canaries and a beagle throwing up its dog chow. Most things a vet can solve. Others are so off the wall, I think the writers of the emails need to go see a shrink, not a detective.

Wait! Did I just refer to myself as a detective? Totally accidental I assure you. But sometimes I question my true occupation.

Now I will confess, that my last so-called case was very interesting. To be honest, it was downright heinous.

My neighbor, Mr. Harris inadvertently let his Dobermans loose and they chewed his wife to death. The police ruled it as accidental homicide. Mr. Harris was so distraught that he even insisted on having the pooches put down.

The authorities had no argument. But it wasn’t like he had a choice; the cops were going to do it for him anyway. They even footed the bill. Mr. Harris wasn’t charged with anything, but was told he couldn’t keep any kind of a pet, not so much as an ant farm!

But something didn’t seem right to me. I don’t know, call it female intuition or my psychology teaching coming into play, but something wasn’t right when Mr. Harris was giving his explanation to authorities. For two days, Harris gave the same explanation to the media, verbatim.

Now, he and Mrs. Harris weren’t exactly the poster children for Match Me Up dot com. And as I recalled she hated….no, feared those dogs. So something was definitely not jelling with his story.

I figured that out when he claimed he first sent the dogs away to a relative out of town, because they were costing too much to feed and care for. Then all of a sudden they were back. So one day, I thought I would be neighborly and give Mr. Harris a visit. Actually, I was being outright nosy.

Nothing changed in his routine to let me know that he had a different job. He and the misses didn’t mention a raise. Not that they would announce that to the world, but you can kinda tell when a person’s income changes. More material items are seen coming into the household. Maybe an addition to the home or new furniture, a vacation. There wasn’t so much as a brand new car in the driveway.

Actually, his finances changed for the worse when the dogs came back. The car they did have, a Lexus was downgraded to a Kia. So I found that odd, since he sent them away in the first place, because of lack of funds. But that wasn’t what really caught my attention and got my antennas up.

I stumbled on his paid in full bill for Dog Protection Training—with the Marines.
It was just a matter of time, a little snooping, plus promising to go out on a date with the head trainer of the dog training academy, to find out that Mr. Harris’s canines were getting more than Alpo in their life.

~ About the Author ~

Dakota McGraw has travel all over the world and lived in various countries. In fact, she made it a point to hit all seven continents before the age of 40. And in 1998 at the age of 33, she traveled to Antarctica on a Russian Ice-breaker ship.

But before that, she lived in Italy taking voice lesions. Classically trained, she is a mezzo-soprano. Her love of classical music can be seen when she writes in her study. Sometimes it’s Rachmaninoff in the background. Other times Chopin or Mozart. Whatever gets her creative juices flowing for her next crime scene.

She’s dated interesting men in her life and is married to one that’s even a mystery to her. LOL.

*WHISPERING* It’s also said that she dated a mobster once. But she said he was in real estate… that’s her story and she’s sticking to it.

An aficionado of the genre herself, Dakota writes her stories with a slightly different spin. Lots of humor. Whether it’s dry, out right hilarious or tongue-in-cheek. And it doesn’t matter what genre.

Who else can have a character crack a joke right in the middle of a morgue scene?

Her love of the genre is so deep, she writes everything from cozies –The Pamela Whitherspoon Mysteries; to romantic suspense –The Vincent Kapoulous Mysteries and even crime/comedy (her own made up genre. LOL). Look out for The Lady and the Mobster coming out early January.

~ Find Dakota on Social Media ~

Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Website