A Puzzling Situation for Bookshelf Cat

Make your own photo Rubic's cube at dumpr.net.

Look for Bookshelf Cat aboard the Friday Ark just as soon as he puzzles his way out of this darned cube...

New This Week - Wash and Die, A Charlotte LaRue Mystery

Charlotte LaRue, owner of New Orleans’ Maid for a Day cleaning service, is swept into jeopardy when an uninvited guest arrives on her doorstep...

As the saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Charlotte LaRue knows she should take a broom and chase Joyce Thibodeaux off her front porch. Once married to Charlotte’s tenant Louis Thibodeaux, Joyce is fresh out of detox for her alcoholism and has no place to go. She swears she’s clean and sober and will find her own place in a few days. She pulls on Charlotte’s heartstrings...and soon she’s staying in Charlotte’s guest room.

Charlotte survived Hurricane Katrina, but Joyce proves to be an ill wind of a different kind. Soon a valuable gold watch left to Charlotte by her father is missing, and worse, a stranger is watching the house. Charlotte knows she has to show Joyce the door, but she never gets the chance. Instead her beloved parakeet Sweety Boy vanishes, her living room gets trashed, and Joyce ends up in the middle of the mess...stone cold dead.

Now Charlotte is on the list of murder suspects along with Louis, who’s been out of town on business...or has he? Finding the answers means doing a little snooping herself. Grabbing her mop she’s starting with the hospital where Joyce last stayed: a place with skeletons in its closets and a bucket full of clues that just might lead to a killer...

Wash and Die is Book Seven in the Charlotte LaRue Mystery Series by author Barbara Colley. Available now from your favorite bookseller!

Bookshelf Cat Takes a Break

The only thing better than a bag full of lovely, sniffable books...

...is claiming the bag for an afternoon nap!
Zzzzzzzzz...

Find more napping cats on this week's Friday Ark.

Read it Free - from Erin McCarthy

Part Four of the online serial by Erin McCarthy and Kathy Love is online now at The Impalers Vampire Band web site. Drake: Tales of a Lusty Pirate is free to download, so go ahead...get Impaled! (Mature content. If you're under 18, get Demonized, instead!)

Author Interview: Lori Handeland

Visit Lori Handeland at her web site for more about the Nightcreature Novels and upcoming books!

Bookshelf Cat Marks the Spot

I don't remember "bookmark" in my job description...do you?

Find more busy cats over at the Friday Ark.

Author News: Ana Leigh

The Frasers are back! Bestselling author Ana Leigh continues her stirring series with brother Jed — who's been taming the high seas aboard a China clipper.

Discover The Frasers series and treat yourself to an excerpt from Jed's story — One Night With a Sweet-Talking Man (a February 2008 release). Visit Ana Leigh.

Book Video: A Dangerous Dream (Mary Paine)

A romantic mystery set on a horse farm in Connecticut...

Visit author Mary Paine for more about this book.

Just call me 'Groucho' Max ...

Yes, well, if you lived with 16 Pounds of Sass, you'd put on a disguise once in a while, too. It's the only way to get any rest around here!

Visit Max, the sass-monster, and their favorite human over at ErinMcCarthy.net ... and don't forget to hitch a ride on this week's Friday Ark!

Book Video: Thunder Moon (Lori Handeland)

Desire will take them by storm...

Visit bestselling author Lori Handeland for more about this book and the Nightcreature series of novels.

Mew Year's Resolutions from the Bookshelf Cat

1. Take time to stop and smell the catnip. (Note to human: 'nip is for every day, not just special occasions.)

2. Learn to prioritize: nap, snack, train human, snack, nap.

3. Never waste a sunbeam (see #2, nap).

4. Visit the Friday Ark.

New this week ... 4 must-read books!

Happy New Year from all of us at Eclectics! We've got just what you need to start your year off right — four exciting new books, available today, from authors Lori Handeland, Allison Lane, Erin McCarthy, and Mary Paine.


Thunder Moon
A Nightcreature Novel (Book 8)
by Lori Handeland
St. Martin's Press – January 2, 2008

There's something in the air tonight…

Practical, skeptical Grace McDaniel was not looking for romance. The Sheriff of Lake Bluff, Georgia, and the granddaughter of a Cherokee doctor, Grace's hands are full with the daily trouble of small-town life. Arriving in the wake of a freak storm is Ian Walker, a mysterious stranger who blends modern medicine and traditional Native American cures. Even though she is wary of his ideas, Grace cannot resist what his touch awakens in her. But Ian is hiding a terrifying secret. And only he knows the truth about a creature stalking the citizens of Lake Bluff. A creature who preys on the dying…and then on the young, the living, the vibrant…Now, to save her people, Grace must put her faith in Ian's haunting power and succumb to her wildest passions-before the rumble of thunder fills the air, and a relentless evil strikes again…

Visit Lori Handeland.
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The Duchess's Diary
Regency Romance (Portland Chronicles #2)
by Allison Lane
Regency Reads – January 1, 2008

Architect John Lascar and duke’s ward Faith Harper are desperately in love but hiding it, for each fears that admitting their love will destroy the other. But when shocking events force them together physically and change their status in the eyes of the world, each uses that love to help the other survive.

Visit Allison Lane.
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Sucker Bet
Book 4 in the Vegas Vampires Series
by Erin McCarthy
Berkley Sensation – January 2, 2008

A night of indulgence can feel like an eternity...

Gwenna Carrick is a woman with a history—900 years of it. As the vampiress ex-wife of the notorious vampire Roberto Donatelli, she has to keep a low profile. Not easy when she's bathed in the neon glow of Las Vegas—especially when there's a whole on-line group of vampire slayers bent on dealing her last hand.

A wild night with a stranger was not in the cards for Gwenna. But that’s exactly what happened when she met the ruggedly handsome detective Nate Thomas. Their passion made her feel…well, alive again. But when Donatelli catches wind of the tryst, he’s determined to clean house, with Nate the first on his to-off list. Gwenna knows she hit the jackpot with Nate and won’t let her ex stand in the way. But both soon realize they have far more enemies than Donatelli—both on the strip and underground…

Visit Erin McCarthy.
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A Dangerous Dream
Equestrian Romantic Mystery by Mary Paine
Wings ePress – January 1, 2008

Melissa’s dream has come true with a job at an exclusive Connecticut horse farm that trains Grand Prix show jumpers. She is determined to succeed in this world where vast wealth is coupled with intense ambition.

A sizzling attraction springs to life between Melissa and David, a handsome, talented trainer, but her future is threatened when an attempted murder takes place at the farm. She must decide who she can trust and if her long-held dream is worth the risk of her life…

Visit Mary Paine.