Spotlight & Giveaway: Paws, Claws, and Curses by DeAnna Drake

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author DeAnna Drake to HJ!

Hi DeAnna Drake and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Paws, Claws, and Curses!

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

Paws, Claws, and Curses is a cozy mystery about Rebecca Cuthbert, who leaves her Rocky
Mountain home and even rockier past to visit a grandfather she didn’t know existed in the
charming little town of Citrus Grove, which is more Mayberry USA than the Malibu-like paradise
she was expecting. Her days are spent helping her grandfather run his quirky antique shop,
which is filled with unusual artifacts—some real, some replicas—until a good deed backfires and
makes her the prime suspect in the murder of a shady antiquities dealer. As she struggles to
clear her name, she’s drawn into a world of Egyptian curses, a secret family legacy, and an
adorable talking cat. Can Rebecca and her new feline friend unmask the killer before they
become the next victims?
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

That’s when I saw the scraggly bundle of matted gray fur curled up in a ball. A tiny ear
flicked and a heavy-lidded pair of blue eyes blinked up at me.
It was a kitten. A small, probably feral kitten by the look of it.
My fear—and my heart—melted.

What inspired this book?

Something any fan of Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series will likely spot is the similarity
between Adelaide Morris—a fictional heroine referred to in Paws, Claws, and Curses whose
exploits guide Rebecca’s own amateur sleuthing skills—and Peters’ Amelia Peabody. I have been
a fan of the Amelia Peabody series for decades, and it was so much fun to imagine a millennial
bookworm like Rebecca drawing from the exploits of her favorite fictional detective, especially
one immersed in ancient Egyptian mythology, to help her navigate her new and somewhat
strange adventure.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

REBECCA CUTHBERT is a millennial bookworm and jilted bride-to-be who needs a
fresh start.

ANEKSI is an immortal, talking cat who was once Cleopatra’s pet.

STIRLING CUTHBERT is Rebecca’s long-lost grandfather who holds the secret to a
century-old family mystery.

NICK DEVON is an attractive but exasperating detective.

All the oddball neighbors Rebecca meets in Citrus Grove—a Southern California
town known for antique shops and its old-fashioned charm—seem to have
hidden motives and questionable connections to one another.

As I wrote about Rebecca, I was surprised by her resilience and how eager she was to
help herself and not wait for someone to rescue her. The way I got to know her, which
was true for all the characters, was to let them guide the narrative. I tend to drop
characters into a scene and then watch what they do. Often, they come up with things I
never would have planned beforehand. I love writing this way because it makes it more
fun for me as a writer, and—I hope—more fun for the reader too.

What was your favorite scene to write?

My favorite scene to write was one where Rebecca is having a conversation with the cat, Aneksi,
but she doesn’t believe it’s real. She believes she’s hallucinating it, but she’s going along with it,
anyway. The exchange was so much fun because it really shows both of their personalities.

SNIPPET:
Arguing was getting me nowhere, so I tried another approach. “You’ll have to forgive
me. I’m not used to speaking to a cat.”
She glanced up from her paw. “Yet you spoke to me last night.”
Had I?
“I was quite weak from the awakening,” she continued, “but I heard you. Perhaps it is
not the speaking part that troubles you, but the listening part.”
Great. This furry figment of my imagination also had an attitude.

What was the most difficult scene to write?

For me, the most difficult scene to write is always the first scene because it has to be interesting
and convey enough information to intrigue the reader without going overboard and boring the
reader. It’s always a delicate balance.

SNIPPET:
“I have Cleopatra’s cat,” a raspy, British guy croaked over the shop’s phone.
A week ago, I would have hung up and dismissed the call as a prank, but since I’d arrived
in Citrus Grove—a sleepy Southern California town that more closely resembled Mayberry than
Malibu—I’d learned to expect the unexpected. That was especially true here in my grandfather’s
shop, where he technically sold antiques, just not the typical variety. There were no vintage
gramophones or old silver tea sets. No tin lunch boxes with Scooby-Doo and the gang.
His antiques and what he called faux relics—he also allowed the term replicas but
definitely not fakes, I’d learned that the hard way—leaned more toward the Hollywood prop
shop variety. Imagine the kind of things someone would see on the sets of those adventure
movies featuring ancient artifacts and chiseled, whip-cracking hotties.
Since I was here at least partly because the shop’s former manager had swiped some
family heirlooms my grandfather had inherited from his globe-trotting granddad, which included
an old feline figurine from Egypt, the caller had my complete attention.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

Paws, Claws, and Curses showcases the same easy, breezy, lighthearted writing style
that came naturally as I was writing my first cozy mystery, Mouse in the House, which is
a sweet little story told from the point of view of a talking mouse who’s trying to find his
human landlady’s killer and save his human friend. It’s so much fun for me to write in
this style, and it’s a nice break from the more atmospheric, denser style of writing that
characterizes my young-adult fantasy and historical novels. These whimsical, offbeat
cozies brighten my mood every time I sit down with my notepad or at the keyboard, and
I hope that joy comes across in the stories.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I want readers to be delighted by these characters, surprised by the twisty turns of the
murder mystery, and satisfied that justice has been done by the final page. I’d also love
for readers to come away from Paw, Claws, and Curses with the feeling that whimsy is
possible in this world and might even be just around the corner.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

The editors at my wonderful publisher, Tule Publishing, and I are putting the final
touches on the second and third books in the Purr-fect Relic Cozy Mystery series: Hisses,
Hexes, and Homicide and Furballs and Felonies, respectively. They will be published July
8 and August 12, also respectively, and they’re also available for preorder now.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Winner will receive one ebook copy of PAWS, CLAWS, AND CURSES plus one additional ebook of the winner’s choice from Tule Publishing

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favorite kind of pet and why?

 
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Excerpt from Paws, Claws, and Curses:

“I have Cleopatra’s cat,” a raspy, British guy croaked over the shop’s phone.
A week ago, I would have hung up and dismissed the call as a prank, but since I’d arrived in Citrus Grove—a sleepy Southern California town that more closely resembled Mayberry than Malibu—I’d learned to expect the unexpected. That was especially true here in my grandfather’s shop, where he technically sold antiques, just not the typical variety. There were no vintage gramophones or old silver tea sets. No tin lunch boxes with Scooby-Doo and the gang.
His antiques and what he called faux relics—he also allowed the term replicas but definitely not fakes, I’d learned that the hard way—leaned more toward the Hollywood prop shop variety. Imagine the kind of things someone would see on the sets of those adventure movies featuring ancient artifacts and chiseled, whip-cracking hotties.
Since I was here at least partly because the shop’s former manager had swiped some family heirlooms my grandfather had inherited from his globe-trotting granddad, which included an old feline figurine from Egypt, the caller had my complete attention.
“Hold on a sec. I’ll get the owner.” I set down the “Hold on a sec. I’ll get the owner.” I set down the phone’s receiver and poked my head out of the back office to look for Stirling, but he was already gone.
“Sorry about that,” I said when I picked up the phone again. “He seems to have stepped out, but I can help you.”
“Who are you?” the caller barked.
“I’m Rebecca. I’m—”
“No. I need to speak with Stirling.” The caller coughed and continued in a voice even hoarser than before. “When will your grandfather be back?”
“How did—” I stopped.
I might be new to Cuthbert Exotic Antiques, but I’d spent the better part of my twenty-six years behind a cash register, and I knew it wasn’t good business to question customers, even if they were rude and claimed to have stolen property. Still, I’d only learned Stirling was my grandfather two weeks ago, so how could the caller possibly know?
“What I mean is,” I continued, assuming the man must know Stirling and had heard about our recent reunion, “we’re happy to hear the item is safe. If you’ll give me your name and number, I’ll have my grandfather return your call as soon[…]”

Excerpt From
Paw, Claws, and Curses
DeAnna Drake
This material may be protected by copyright.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

What are cursed artifacts, a talking cat, and a dead body doing in the sweet little town of Citrus Grove? That’s what spirited shopkeeper Rebecca Cuthbert wants to find out, and she had better do it fast because she’s the prime suspect in the murder of the town’s shadiest antiquities dealer.

It’s a troubling start to her reunion with her long-lost grandfather and a far cry from the Southern California vacation she was expecting. So far, nothing in Citrus Grove is quite what it seems. Not her grandfather, who suspiciously disappears at the strangest times, not his curious antique shop, which has more secrets than customers, and certainly not the oddball neighbors, with their hidden motives and questionable connections.

As Rebecca races against time with her new feline friend to uncover the truth behind a mysterious murder, she finds herself tangled in a web of danger and deceit as captivating as Queen Cleopatra herself. With help from unexpected allies and an often-exasperating, yet undeniably handsome detective, Rebecca must outwit the cunning killer before she becomes the next victim.

Book Links: Amazon |
 
 

Meet the Author:

DeAnna Drake is an award-winning author who writes witty and whimsical cozy mysteries filled with magical animals and feisty heroines who are always striving to balance the scales of justice in an offbeat world.

Under different names, DeAnna writes young-adult fantasy fiction, contemporary romances, and historical novels set in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

When she isn’t plotting new adventures for her characters, she’s a craft addict, drinks too much tea, binge watches crime dramas, and escapes to Disneyland whenever she can.

She lives in Southern California with her family, which includes her two favorite people and one ridiculously pampered border collie.
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