Cats and Dogs

Here at the library, we love our pets! I grew up in the country and I have owned pets most of my life, so when two new pet books came across my desk, I just had to share.

     The first is a small book with a lot of good ideas for getting your cat to like you. "Yes," it says, "It is possible!" The book is called 97 Ways to Make a Cat Like You and it is written by Carol Kaufman. If you are in a one-sided relationship with your cat (let's be honest, most cat owners are) then this may be the book you need to check-out the next time you are in the library.These 97 inspired, sometimes silly, but absolutely fun-for-you-and-kitty tricks and games will endear you to your cat.

These tips and tricks are based on scientific understanding of cat behavior. For instance, tip #43 suggests you "rack 'em up" by putting pennies in a plastic Easter egg and let your cat have at it. You'll also learn the "Head Butt," the "Hide and Seek," and the useful "Cat Burrito." Almost all of these tips are simple, practical, and very inexpensive ways to play with and connect with your cat.

     The second book we have is called The Complete Dog Breed Book and it is published by DK books. This encyclopedia provides photographic profiles on more than 420 of the world's best-loved dogs. Each dog's profile gives vital statistics such as height range, weight range, average life span, coat colors, grooming needs, and trainability. There are also temperament ratings and descriptions of the breed's origin so that you can best choose the type of dog for you and your family. Do you want an alert watchdog who will be wary of strangers, but calm and dedicated to your household? Then, why not choose a Catahoula Leopard Dog? Want a small, but energetic dog that is also smart and responds well to obedience training? Well, look no further than the miniature schnauzer. This cheerful, friendly dog is good with the whole family.

     Granted, every dog has its individual personality and could use firm, consistent training to help with family socialization and every cat has its own idea about who rules the roost. But, the benefits of owning a pet have been well documented: lower blood pressure, more exercise, ease of depression symptoms, and greater self-esteem. Love your pets and remember; adoption is best, but always choose your pet on whether or not it will fit with your lifestyle and family dynamic, not on how it looks or its breed.

The Two Newest by Miranda James

     Cozy mysteries are my favorite. I enjoy a hard-boiled detective story every once-in-awhile, but cozies are my favorite because the protagonist is usually your average Joe or Jane and the blood and guts and gore is usually kept to a minimum. One of my more recent discoveries has been author Miranda James. This author writes a series of books called the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and a new series, begun this year, called the Southern Ladies Mysteries.

     Bless Her Dead Little Heart  is the title of the Southern Ladies Mysteries. This series takes two minor characters from the Cat in the Stacks series and gives them the spotlight. Miss An'gel and Miss Dickse Ducote are two elderly sisters who live a life of philanthropy in Athena, Mississippi. They are from a very old, wealthy Athena family. Most of their time is spent sitting on boards and committees that benefit the arts and scholastic community in their small college town. They happen to be friends with semi-retired librarian, Charlie Harris and his very large, very vocal Maine coon cat, Diesel. While Charlie is away in France with his family, the Ducote sisters have agreed to cat sit Diesel; after all, he is the most gentlemanly cat they have ever entertained.
     One afternoon, an old sorority sister surprises the sisters by showing up at their door and begins to spin a tale of how someone in her family is trying to kill her. The Ducote sisters have known Rosabelle Sultan for about fifty years and they know what kind of woman she is--self-centered, overly dramatic, and money hungry. The sisters begin to wonder, however, when Rosabelle's n'er do well family begin turning up on their doorstep as well. The first day, Rosabelle's daughter-in-law is killed when she falls down the marble staircase. Was it a horrible accident, or was it murder? Was the daughter-in-law the intended target or was Rosabelle meant to have suffered that fate? Two more murders and a fire take place before the Ducote sisters can get their house and sanity back from these rich, but classless bunch. All the while, Diesel helps the sisters to suss-out who they can trust and who may be a potential killer. This is a very quick and satisfying read. The author keeps you guessing until the end which makes for my favorite king of mystery.

     The other Miranda James novel I have recently read is Arsenic and Old Books. This is the sixth cozy featuring librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat, Diesel. Charlie is feeling a little lonely in the old house he inherited from his aunt since his daughter got married and his son is practically living with his girlfriend. He still has his boarder, but he, too, is spending more time with his lover than at home. When Athena's mayor, Lucinda Beckwith Long, brings Charlie some old books and papers for the archives at Athena College's library, he hopes that cataloging these items--including several Civil War-era diaries--will provide a much needed distraction. He doesn't expect, however, for these diaries to cause such an uproar in both the college's faculty and in the political race for a seat in the state Senate. Charlie is even more horrified when the diaries lead to a murder! Do the diaries hold the key to long held rivalries, or will the be responsible for more pain and suffering? As usual, Charlie and Diesel get caught-up in the melee.

     These are great cozies to read. I still haven't read the first few books in the series; and it really isn't necessary to do so because James does a wonderful job of writing in the pertinent information whenever there is a reference to some past event. Diesel's reactions to Charlie and the other characters in these books is priceless. He is a very vocal, chatty cat and very discerning in his choice of humans. Also included in this book is a short story telling how it is that Diesel came to live with Charlie.
     Miranda James is actually the pseudonym of Dean James, a native Mississippian who resides in Texas and is currently a librarian at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. He has written several scholarly articles and has collaborated with other authors. He has had nearly twenty novels published since 2000 using the pseudonyms Jimmie Ruth Evans, Honor Hartman, and Miranda James.

A Cozy Library Mystery

     Author Miranda James continues her Cat in the Stacks Mysteries with the fifth book --The Silence of the Library. Charlie Harris, a kind and warm semi-retired librarian, and his large Maine Coon cat, Diesel spend their time working at the local college library as well as the public library of Athena, Mississippi. Unfortunately, Charlie always seems to get caught up in nefarious goings-on in this small Southern town. This time, Charlie is helping Teresa, the director of the public library, organize an event centered around children's detective stories for National Library Week. Fortunately for them, the centenary novelist Electra Barnes Cartwright--creator of the beloved Veronica Thane series--is a local resident. Charlie and Teresa convince Mrs. Cartwright to appear at their event. They don't realize, however, that inviting such a beloved writer to the event will bring out all manner of unstable individuals. When Carrie Taylor--a blogger and longtime fan of Mrs. Cartwright's work--agrees to bring some of her own memorabilia to be displayed in the library, she turns up dead. Why would anyone want to kill such a pleasant and innocuous woman? Could it be because she owned a rare version of the very first Veronica Thane book? Charlie is caught up in the matter, much to the chagrin of Deputy Kanesha Berry. On top of the murder, someone has broken into the hotel rooms of a couple of book collectors who have turned up for the event and Mrs. Cartwright's literary agent seems to have gone missing. Charlie and Diesel work their way through the clues and the list of suspects to give Kanesha a helping hand--whether she wants it or not! The ending will surprise many and the little twist is quite refreshing. I highly recommend this series for fans of cozy mysteries. If you would like to check out any of the other Cat in the Stacks Mysteries by Miranda James, they are:

1.  Murder Past Due
2.  Classified As Murder
3.  File M for Murder
4.  Out of Circulation
5.  The Silence of the Library

One Big Happy Family by Lisa Rogak is a feel-good book about animals that have fostered infant animal outside of their own species.  Most of the foster parents featured are dogs that have helped raise everything from a kangaroo joey to a pygmy hippo, but other animal surrogate parents get in on the act as well such as a male orangutan helping with a pair of frisky lion cubs.  In all, fifty stories of inter-species relationships are shared along with photos of the mixed families.  One of the most fascinating pairings shown is a wild lioness that began taking care of an antelope calf shortly after that same lioness and another had killed and eaten the calf's mother.  A quick read at under 150 pages, this is one that is likely to fascinate adults and children alike.

Get Seduced by Some Animal Magnetism

Many of you may be familiar with Rita Mae Brown's works. She writes several series and has written many stand-alone novels and non-fiction novels about the art of writing. The first is a popular cozy mystery series that she co-writes with her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown, starring Mary Minor Harristeen, Postmistress of Crozet, VA, and the second is a series starring octogenarian Sister Arnold, a Master of Foxhounds in her 70's. Several of the stand-alone novels hilariously describe the lives of two sisters who live in a town that straddles the Mason-Dixon line, and one is a historical fiction story about the life of Dolly Madison. Rita Mae Brown's most recent book is a biography discussing her relationship with the animals that have influenced or are currently in her life. The book, Animal Magnetism is a well-written treatise on why animals are special to Rita Mae Brown and allows the reader to get into the mind of the author. I appreciate the fact that Ms. Brown does not apologize for how she feels animals should be treated and enjoyed discovering that there is much more of Ms. Brown in her fiction books than I had previously thought. If you are an animal lover, or want to discover a little more about Rita Mae Brown, then this book is one that you will truly treasure! It made me proud to be "Southern" and hug my dogs after I finished reading it.

A Cat’s a Cat and That’s That

Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper is the story of a fearless feline. The last thing Gwen wanted was another cat, because she already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen’s vet called with a story about a three-week-old eyeless kitten (he lost his eyes due to an infection) who’d been abandoned. It was love at first sight. Everyone warned her that Homer would always be an "underachiever,” never as playful or as independent as the other cats. But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo, a tiny daredevil with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path. Homer scaled seven-foot bookcases with ease and leapt five feet into the air to catch flies in mid-buzz. He survived being trapped alone for days after 9/11 in an apartment near the World Trade Center, and even saved Gwen’s life when he chased off an intruder who broke into their home in the middle of the night.

But, it was Homer’ unswerving loyalty, his infinite capacity for love and his joy in the face of all obstacles that inspired Gwen daily and transformed her life. And by the time she met the man she would marry, she realized that Homer had taught her the most important lesson of all: Love isn’t something you see with your eyes. This book is a wonderful read for cat lovers, and is an inspirational story that many readers will appreciate.

Canine Conundrums and Cat Capers

I have been on quite a "non-fiction" reading binge lately but I could not resist the title of this new book. D. Caroline Coile, PhD & Margaret Bonham's Why Do Dogs Like Balls? More than 200 Canine Quirks, Curiosities, and Conundrums Revealed is a truly charming and interesting book. Being the "mom" of two rambunctious dogs, this book piqued my curiosity as to why dogs act the way they do. Coile and Bonham are both pet experts who detail, in this book, interesting and unusual questions that people have asked them about canines, and their answers to these questions. The book is organized in a "question and answer" format and is divided into nine sections and an index. The questions range from "Can dogs learn to read (imagine how much money that would cost you to buy books for them) to How good is a dog's sense of smell (100 million times the sense of smell of a person). The nine sections include: Dog Behavior; Canine Intelligence; The Dog's Emotions; The Canine Body; A Dog's Senses; The Sexual Dog; Dog Care; More Canine Questions and Dog Breeds. The index is especially helpful if you have a specific question you want answered and do not want to read the whole book. If you are a feline fanatic, don't be discouraged - Bonham and Coile have also published a book titled Why Do Cats Bury Their Poop? More than 200 Feline Facts, Fallacies and Foibles. The book has the same format as the canine title, and answers questions such as Can cats swim? and Is cat litter radioactive? This delightful cat book is as entertaining as the canine version and is perfect for the cat lover in you. But, take my word for it--it is hard to resist reading both of these books from cover to cover!

"Steamed" and Mysterious!

For those of you like a little romance with your mystery, I have discovered a great new "Gourmet Girl" mystery series, complete with recipes. This book has a little bit of everything, a touch of romance, a splash of humor, and a sprinkling of great characters. Steamed by Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant is the first book in this series. Written by a mother-daughter team, Jessica Conant-Park has a master of social work degree from Boston College and is married to Chef William Park. Her mom is author Susan Conant, who holds a Doctorate on Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the author of the Cat Lover's Mysteries and the Dog Lover's Mysteries and is the six-time winner of the Dog Writers Association of America's Maxwell Award. Included in the book are six pages of recipes to make a romantic dinner that one of the main characters served to the other. The star of this story, Chloe Carter is always on the quest for the perfect meal and the perfect man. Known on the Internet as the "GourmetGirl," she accepts a date with "DinnderDude" online, she discovers he is just another cheap, boring, egotistical man. When he skips out on paying for dinner because he is stabbed to death in the men's room, Chloe goes on the hunt to find his killer- especially since the prime suspect is a cute chef that she has a crush on. The investigation pushes Chloe into the gourmet restaurant scene where competition is as cutthroat as murder!

A Dog-Gone Great Mystery

I just finished reading Hounded to Death, a new mystery written by one of my favorite authors, Rita Mae Brown. A bonafide Southern writer (she resides in Afton, Virginia), Ms. Brown’s books truly reflect the social graces, culture and food that all Southerners know and love! Hounded to Death is the latest book in Rita Mae Brown’s foxhunting series starring Sister Jane Arnold, Master of Foxhounds. Sister Jane is a feisty widowed woman in her seventies who has done her share of living and is very respected by the members of her hunt club. When murders occur in her community, Sister Jane can not resist joining the investigations. As with the other books in this series, Ms. Brown gives wonderfully detailed descriptions of the day-to-day operations of a hunt club, including particulars about the foxes, hounds, horses, farm animals and the lives of the hunt club members. Readers can trust the accuracy of these details because Rita Mae Brown is also the Master of Foxhounds of a hunt club located in Afton. The animals in this series do take part in the narration; however, whenever any animal speaks, their narration is in italics and only other animals are able to understand their dialogue. The books in these series are cozies- the murders that occur are gruesome but not gory. Ms. Brown has written many stand-alone books as well as other series such as three novels about the Hunsenmeir sisters, Juts and Weezy, and the Mrs. Murphy mystery series (co-authored by her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown). If you have not read any of Ms. Brown’s books, you should definitely “treat” yourself to one of her mysteries!