{Guest Post} Julie Chase, Author of Cat Got Your Diamonds

Today I'm happy to be participating in a blog hop to promote Cat Got Your Diamonds, put together by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.  There's a giveaway at the bottom of the post, so be sure to enter for a chance to win some of Julie's other books.

Lacy Crocker makes her living with glitter and tulle. When she confronts an intruder in her shop, she's not afraid to go after him with her glitter gun. Things don't get scary until her attacker turns up dead and the investor who she depends on to keep her growing business afloat announces that he'll pull his support until the murder investigation is over and she has been cleared. Cat Got Your Diamonds by Julie Chase was all kinds of fun. Lacy's clientele is demanding (I'm still trying to picture the shih tzus in tutus and llamas in leg warmers) and she's determined to save her business. The animals are front and center and obviously adored by their owners, but it was never enough to turn this non-pet parenting reader off. And there were just enough loose ends to have me eagerly waiting for the next book, due out next year.

What a Difference a Year Can Make
by Julie Chase 

I recently returned to New Orleans, after a year away. I was in town for the first time about eighteen months ago while researching for another project. I lost days inside museums, taking walking tours and sitting on benches along the Mississippi filling up on café au lait and beignets. I was in love with the city long before I’d arrived, but being there was extraordinary. There was beauty, history and inspiration everywhere, but it wasn’t until I wandered onto a streetcar and exited in the Garden District that the wheels of creativity began to churn full speed. I had no idea then that the experience would change my life. I can vividly recall the tingles climbing my arms as I stood under a sprawling, bearded oak. It was as if I’d come home. I spent the rest of the day wandering. I shopped. I gawked. I ate. I knew this was where my story would begin because this was the place I didn’t want to leave, and writing about it would being me back every day.

As fate would have it, the world mystery convention, which moves to a new city each year, had chosen New Orleans for 2016. I had the chance to go back, and I took it. I spent another week in my favorite city, walking the same streets and revisiting my favorite sites, but this time the trip was completely different.

This year, as I walked Magazine Street, I wasn’t wondering what story I could tell. This year, I knew. I pictured Lacy stocking shelves inside her new and thriving pet boutique, Furry Godmother. I imagined her cat, Penelope, riding Spot, the vacuum robot over polished wooden floors and Jack, the handsome detective, arriving unannounced for a visit because he just can’t get Lacy of his mind.

This year, I wasn’t planning a novel. I’d already written it. And two sequels. I’ve connected with an amazing agent and a fantastic publisher. Both are as excited as I am about this new series. Last Year Julie would never have believed it.

Sometimes I wish I could go back and tell myself how much that trip would change her. That her dreams were about to take off. Then, I remember how exhilarating the last twelve months have been, and I wouldn’t want to have missed any of it. In fact, I can’t wait to see where I’ll be next fall because now I know what a difference a year can make.

Cat Got Your Diamonds is book one in the Kitty Couture Mysteries Series published by Crooked Lane books November 2016.

Grandeur and opulence are everything in the famed New Orleans Garden District where pets are family and no bling is too big. Opening Furry Godmother, pet boutique and organic treat bakery, is Lacy Marie Crocker’s dream come true--until the glitter gun used to make her Shih Tzu tutus becomes a murder weapon. And Lacy becomes public enemy #1.

Now Detective Jack Oliver is hounding Lacy, and her Furry Godmother investor wants out before his name is tarnished by association. To make matters worse, a string of jewel heists with suspicious ties to the murder case has New Orleans residents on edge. To save her dream, Lacy must take a stand, put her keen eyes to work, and unravel what really happened at her shop that night. But can Lacy sniff out the killer cat burglar in time to get her tail-raising designs on the catwalk?

Witty and whimsical, Cat Got Your Diamonds, the first in a new cozy series by Julie Chase, will be the cat's meow for fans of Rita Mae Brown and Miranda James.

Meet the Author

Julie Chase is a mystery-loving pet enthusiast who hopes to make readers smile. She lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three small children. Julie is a member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and Sisters in Crime (SinC). She is represented by Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyons Literary Agency. Julie also writes as Julie Anne Lindsey.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure - I received a review copy of the book as part of the book tour. As always, all opinions are my own. The Rafflecopter giveaway is run by Great Escapes.