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.Everyone in Chelsea is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The town plays host to the First Annual Chelsea Rock And Gem Show. Some of the exhibitors turn out to be scoundrels, cheats and scam artists. It's hard to tell the good guys from the bad.Annie is beset by a group of people who want to take over her operations and seem to stoop to a new definition of low to succeed. Of course, this group includes her not-so-very-good-friend Geraldine.Ray's first cruise for the season is scheduled and The Escape may not be able to leave the harbor. He manages to get it out, but in an unusually rugged state. Will it return intact?A mysterious man comes to town in the midst of a rash of high-end burglaries. Pete, beset by the burglaries, then an arson with injury, then a murder, has only a day or two to solve the cases before everyone is scheduled to leave town.A tragedy occurs at one of Annie's businesses, and while dealing with this, Annie finds out she's not who she thinks she is.And through it all, the moon waxes gibbous and comes full. Is it the moon, or is The Avenue falling apart for real?
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.