T. C. LoTempio is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to tell us about Murder Faux Paws, her latest novel in the Nick and Nora Mystery series.

Welcome, T. C.. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

Murder Faux Paws is number Five in the Nick and Nora mystery series.  Nora Charles is an ex-true crime reporter who returned to her hometown of Cruz, California to take over her mother’s sandwich shop.  She ‘inherits’ a tubby tuxedo cat named Nick who seems to have a flair for detective work.

In Murder Faux Paws, When a local PI’s untimely death is ruled a suicide by the police, budding sleuth Nora Charles has no intention of letting sleeping dogs lie—or sleeping cats, for that matter. Certain it was a case of foul play, Nora rouses her trusty sidekick Nick and launches an investigation of her own. Then a second PI is murdered, and Nora knows the two men were on to something—and that she’s on to something too.
Following the enigmatic clues left by her late predecessors, Nora soon uncovers a plot that involves a local politician, missing campaign funds, and what could be a bogus real estate deal. But when hints of treason surface, what started as small-time thievery soon balloons into a matter of national security. With the uncanny Nick sniffing out—and spelling out—leads, Nora follows a trail that will take her to the heart of a shadowy conspiracy, and into a trap set by a conniving culprit that will have her wishing she had Nick’s nine lives . . .

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?

Out of my imagination.  It just came to me one day.

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?  The underlying theme would be, “things are  not always what they seem”.  It just seems to me that people are very quick to jump to conclusions.

How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?

Once again, they just come out of my imagination. There’ really  no rhyme or reason.  Do I have favorite ones?  That’s like asking a  mother to pick her favorite child, but I confess out of the three series I’ve written so far, I am partial to Nick and Nora…particularly Nick.

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

Well, I’ve been to California, the Monterey area, so I patterned the fictional town of Cruz, California after that.

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?

By any means possible….Google usually gets a good workout when I’m doing research.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about the book?

There’s more to come for Nick and Nora!  I’m currently contracted through Book 7, and I just finished Book 8 and am trying to start Book 9.  Readers can, hopefully, look forward to many more adventures to come!  And we are grateful for our reader’s support – without them there would be no Nick and Nora.

Thanks for answering my questions, T. C., and good luck with Murder Faux Paws, the latest book in Nick and Nora series.

Readers can learn more about T. C. LoTempio and her writing by visiting her website and her blog, and Facebook page. You can also follow her on Twitter.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

 Amazon –  B&N  – GooglePlay  –  AppleiBooks  –  Kobo  –  Smashwords 

About T.C. Lotempio: T. C. is the national bestselling author of the Nick and Nora mystery series, as well as the Pet Shop Mystery Series and the Cat Rescue mysteries.  She lives in sunny Phoenix Arizona along with her two cats, Maxx and ROCCO, who is a talented blogger himself.