Today Ed Tucker aka Tink from Blueberry Cobbler Blackmail, A Cast Iron Skillet mystery is joining us at Ascroft, eh? Welcome and over to you, Tink:

For the next couple of weeks, I’m watching my cousin, Jolie’s cats while she’s off to help her best friend Ava figure out who is blackmailing the Martinez family in Blueberry Cobbler Blackmail.

I went looking for Jolie last year during the Thanksgiving holiday season, and to my surprise, my first interaction with her, she pegged me as a suspect to a murder. I had recently accidentally learned that my dad had family in Leavensport, Ohio. It was shocking, saying the least, to learn I’d had family less than sixty miles from me my entire life.

I’m a red-head, and I have that stereotypical angry red-head attitude. So, when I found out about this family, my first reaction was getting a plane ticket and get out of town and as far away from my family as possible. This Rath lady could write an entirely new series about my adventures, and who knows, maybe she will someday. The problem was, I’m underaged with no money and my dad’s credit card only got me so far since he cut it off forcing me to come back home. I was in a lot of heat for a while.

I’m resourceful, like my cousin Jolie, so I got a new plan in gear and joined a local teen program using my nickname. I’m a junior—Ed Junior—but my family has always called me Tink. When I was little, I had a smelly habit of, well, you get the gist, and Tink has stuck with me since. I used my access to the teen center to find out some things about my family in Leavensport, Ohio and I learned a lot. I was a little too good if you ask me because I was asking so many questions, it’s why Jolie suspected me as a possible killer. She told me after the fact I acted very oddly. Always lovely to hear!

So, I tried to hightail it out of there on a train this time but was cut-off before I could get away from my wacky family. Jolie figured out who I was, and while she wasn’t as receptive as I would have liked her to be, she was straight-up honest with me, and I respected that.

Some time has passed, and it looks like I’ll be cat-sitting. I’m told that is HUGE to Jolie as her four cats are her world. She has a laundry list of do’s and don’t’s for the kitties, but she seemed especially thrilled when her extra-fluffy, black cat Sam Jr took to me. I guess he never lets anyone see him but Jolie. I sat out in the hallway for close to an hour, calling him and playing with a string to lure him out. I willed this cat to love me so maybe I could get to know my cousin better.

I love animals, so once he came to me and realized I was a good dude, he was cool. I’ve been taking the best care of this little furballs as possible because I hope in the future to spend a lot more time learning about my crime-solving slash cast-iron cook slash co-owner of a restaurant cousin.

I have a feeling the rest of this year will prove to be a lot of ups and downs as our Tucker family works through the past feuds and chaos, and we all take time to get to know one another—some again—and some of us for the first time.

Thanks for introducing yourself and the series to us, Tink. Readers can learn more about Tink and also Jodi Rath, the author of the series, by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub and Pinterest pages. You can also follow her on Twitter (@jodirath).

The novel is available online at the following retailers:

 Amazon – B&N – Kobo 

About Jodi Rath: Moving into her second decade working in education, Jodi Rath has decided to begin a life of crime in her The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. Her passion for both mysteries and education led her to combine the two to create her business MYS ED, where she splits her time between working as an adjunct for Ohio teachers and creating mischief in her fictional writing. She currently resides in a small, cozy village in Ohio with her husband and her seven cats.