Cat Thursday: Fat Cat at Large

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! This fun meme is hosted by The True Book Addict. Go over to her site to join in the fun.

I wanted to join in Cat Thursday, but since I have no cats and may even be allergic to them, I enjoy them in books, cozies in particular. Let me introduce you to a Cat Mystery series that has this tabby as one of the main characters.

Fat Cat at Large

Fat Cat at Large is a cozy in the brand new Fat Cat Mystery series, written by Janet Cantrell. I'm sure cat lovers will love the cover of the book, which features Quincy, a plus-sized tabby that leads her owner into a mystery to solve.

Have a favorite cat?

Book Feature: No Time to Die by Kira Peikoff

No Time to Die

Title: No Time to Die by Kira Peikoff
Genre: medical thriller
Pinnacle Books; August 26, 2014

Publisher's description: 
Someone is out for blood—Zoe Kincaid’s blood. She’s a 20-year-old trapped in the body of a 14-year-old girl and her DNA could hold the secret of immortality.

 Could it be the Columbia University researchers who see her as the key to fame and tenure? The shadowy figure, known only as Galileo, who is kidnapping the world’s best researchers? The Justice Department head who seems a little too intent on getting her alone? Or the maniac who just fed a leading scientist to his chimpanzees?  Zoe knows that unlocking the secrets of genome could save her beloved grandfather, a retired physician and former Olympian who grows frailer by the day. Can she trust the rogue physician whose secret lair hides discoveries that might just save her grandfather?

In Kira Peikoff’s biomedical thriller, science has barely begun to unlock the secrets written in our DNA. Researchers are hunting for the answers to chronic diseases, cancer, rare disorders and the biggest mystery of them all—aging—but at what cost?

Bioethicist Peikoff asks the most troubling scientific question of our time in this thriller: when does medicine cross the line?

KIRA PEIKOFF graduated from New York University in 2007 with a degree in journalism. After her first book, Living Proof, Peikoff worked in the editorial departments at two New York publishing houses. Peikoff is working on her third thriller, freelancing for a variety of major media outlets, and attending Columbia University's Master of Science program in Bioethics.

Death at Chinatown: An Emily Cabot Mystery by Frances McNamara

First Chapter, First Paragraphis a weekly meme hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B; choose two teaser sentences from a random page of your current read.

Title: Death at Chinatown: An Emily Cabot Mystery

Author: Frances McNamara
Published April 16, Allium Press

Teaser: 

"I son of Chou." "I son of Yang." The others proffered their papers and Lewis spread them on the table, where he began perusing them.

First chapter: 

"Mr. Cormick here suffered injuries from a shotgun blast a month ago." The surgeon gestured and looked down, but I kept my eyes on the balding patch just visible on the top of his head. "We were unable to locate all of the pellets at the time of original treatment and he has been in continual pain ever since. Today, gentlemen...and ladies," Dr. Erickson said with a bow in our direction, "we will, for the first time, use a new technique which the German physician Dr. Roentgen discovered while experimenting with a Crookes tube." He paused to point at a round glass bulb mounted on a wooden stand. 

Publisher description:

Summer of 1896: amateur sleuth Emily Cabot meets two young Chinese women who have recently received medical degrees. When one of the women is accused of poisoning a Chinese herbalist, Emily finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation. But she must first settle a quarrel with her husband, help quell a political uprising, and overcome threats against her family. Issues such as restrictions on immigration, conflict between Western and Eastern medicine, and women's struggle to balance family and work, are woven throughout this historical mystery. Rich with details of life in Chicago's original Chinatown, this fifth book in the series will delight history buffs and mystery lovers alike.

I am eager to read this one as I am interested in the history of the Chinese in early America as well as historical mystery novels.

Based on the excerpts, would you continue reading?

I received a complimentary copy of this book for possible review.

Mailbox Monday: An Old House, a Dog, and a Library

Share your new arrivals on Mailbox Monday.

Three Story House

This novel has been on my shelves but I don't think I announced in Mailbox Monday when it arrived. Looks like a good read. Published August 19, 2014 by William Morrow.

Publisher description:

Renovating an historic Memphis house together, three cousins discover that their failures in love, career, and family provide the foundation for their future happiness in this novel from the author of The Roots of the Olive Tree. 

Nearing thirty, cousins Lizzie, Elyse, and Isobel face their own failures as they restore the almost condemned house. Lizzie seeks answers to a secret about her father. Elyse’s obsession with an old flame threatens her sister’s wedding, and Isobel is tempted to betray confidences that would damage her cousins.  

Told in three parts by each of the women, this account of the restoration of a house built out of spite, but filled with memories of love, is also a story of friendships that help the women get what they need instead of what they want.

 Other books that arrived: two cozies to be released November 4, 2014 by Signet.

A Dog Gone Murder

On Borrowed Time

What's in your mailbox this week?

Sunday Salon: Early Morning Reading

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week.Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer; Also visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey.

Had visitors today so cleared out my books from around my desk and computer to declutter for a while. Now I don't want to go downstairs to the basement to retrieve them just yet. So nice not to be kicking books around while I'm typing.

Here's what I'm currently reading:

Sons of Sparta, a mystery novel by Poisonwood Press was released October 7, 2014. I'm reading an advance reader's copy and enjoying it as I've always wanted to visit Greece and setting is really important to me in a mystery novel. This book puts you into the Peloponnesus region as well as Athens. The intro to the book by the publisher will pull you right in with the description of the background and setting:

Did the warriors of ancient Sparta simply vanish without a trace along with their city, or did they find sanctuary at the tip of the mountainous Peloponnese? That stark, unforgiving region's roots today run deep with a history of pirates, highwaymen, and neighbors ferociously repelling any foreigner foolishly bent on occupying this part of Greece. Less well recorded are the Mani's families' strict code of honor and their history of endless vendettas with neighbors and with their own relatives. No wonder their farms look like fortresses.

I'm also reading The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy, longlisted for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. My paperback was published April 24, 2012 by the Free Press.

The Folded Earth

Set in the foothills of the Himalayas, the novel is about a young widow who leaves her sorrows and past behind and becomes a school teacher in a small village. The storytelling is exquisite.

It's early morning but I might just sit up for another hour with this book.
What are you reading this Sunday day?

French Pastry Murder: by Leslie Meier

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also, Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

French Pastry Murder

page 56:

This was an emergency, she was yelling her head off, but where were all the other people in the building? She feared he was already dead, but then he groaned, and she realized she had to get help, fast. 

Book beginning:

Lucy Stone shut her eyes tight and rolled over, trying to ignore the ringing phone on her bedside table. When that didn't work, she wrapped a pillow over her ears and held it tight but the ringing continued. She knew who was calling, and it was beginning to be a nuisance, these phone calls at five and six in the morning. 

Publisher's description:  

Leslie Meier's beloved sleuth Lucy Stone is saying "Au revoir!" to Tinker's Cove, Maine, and "Bonjour!" to Paris to take in the sights, learn how to bake authentic French pastries, and experience some joie de vivre. But her dreams of la vie en rose are put on hold when the City of Lights turns deadly.  ( published September 30, 2014 by Kensington) 

Book Review: Bless Her Dead Little Heart by Miranda James

Bless Her Dead Little Heart

Title: Bless Her Dead Little Heart by Miranda James
Published October 7, 2014; Berkley
Genre: cozy mystery

Athena, Mississippi. An all-new mystery featuring Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce Ducote, two snoopy sisters who are always ready to lend a helping hand. But when a stressed socialite brings murder right to their doorstep, even they have trouble maintaining their Southern hospitality…

My comments: This setting and theme is based on an Agatha Christie plan - all the possible murder suspects are in the same house, where the murders take place. The two elderly Southern sisters in their eighties, An'gel and Dickce (pronounced An-Gell and Dixie), try to determine which one or ones of their guests are the culprits.

Interesting and unusual characters, a good plot that unrolls gradually but inevitably to a surprise conclusion and suspect, a good Southern atmosphere and setting - quite a good cozy read. I recommend it!

Objective rating: 4/5
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book for their book tour.