Sometimes the best way to know a person is by asking questions, so let’s meet Care.

What is your name?
Care – short for Carrie – but nobody calls me that anymore.

How old are you?
I think I’m 15, though now that I’m on my own, I often pretend to be older.

What is your profession?
I am a seeker. I find things. Do the needful. Locate that which is lost. Right the wrongs, the ones I can.

Do you have a significant other?
I am alone, at least when my latest adventure starts. Unless you count my cat.

What is the cat’s name?
I call my cat Blackie, but I have a feeling he was once known by another name. . .

What is the cat’s task?
He seems intent on protecting me.

Any children?
No.

Do you have any sibling(s)?
I think of Tick, who was in foster care with me, as my little brother.

Cats, dogs or other pets?
I wouldn’t call Blackie a pet, exactly. But he is my constant companion.

What town do you live in?
This city no longer has a name. . .

House or building complex?
I live in the offices where my old mentor used to live.

Do you rent or own?
We are on the third floor of what used to be an office building, back when this city had real businesses.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
I often sit at my mentor’s old desk, trying to figure out how to help my clients and survive.

Who is your best friend?
Strange as it must sound, I think my cat is my best friend.

Amateur sleuth or professional?
People pay me what they can, as I try to establish myself as a professional.

Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
Blackie is always at my side.

Favorite meal?
Whatever I can find or afford – especially if I can share it with Blackie.

Favorite hobby?
I used to love to read, back when I had books. Now, I have sold most of them or traded them for food.

Are you a morning or a night person?
This city is dangerous at night, but at times I have no choice. The people I work for – and the secrets I seek to uncover – are often best discerned at night.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
If I am lucky, a client comes to me. Usually these are poor people, like myself, and often women who have lost a child or been robbed in some way of their livelihood. By asking questions and observing, I can often help them. When I can, I go to the market, where people still trade the few goods they have for food. And although he thinks he is on his own, I often try to check in on Tick. He has been working for one of the sweatshops that produce cheap fabrics down by the harbor, and I worry about him. His mother was an addict, and I know he has a taste for the drug we call Scat, too. Blackie doesn’t trust Tick, but he doesn’t remember the lost little boy he once was.

Giveaway: Have you ever hired a private detective? Leave a comment below for your chance to win a digital copy (Kindle or Nook) of Cross My Path. The giveaway will end July 17, 2018. Good luck everyone!

You can read about Care in Cross My Path, the third book in the “Blackie and Care” mystery series. The first book in the series is The Ninth Life.

The reappearance of an old enemy from the past spells trouble for young private investigator, Care, and her feline companion, Blackie.

Care’s reputation as a private investigator is growing and clients are beating a path to her door. An elderly woman seeks her help in finding out what happened to her brother. Blackie senses he’s met this woman before, some time before he became a cat. But who is she – and what is their connection?

At the same time, a dockworker asks Care to find a colleague who’s gone missing. But how come a poor labourer has the funds to pay for Care’s services?

As Blackie and Care delve further, it becomes clear that neither client has been telling the whole truth. Then a body is discovered at the waterfront, and the investigation takes a disturbing new twist. . .

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About the author
After three nonfiction books and 22 cozy/amateur sleuth mysteries, mostly featuring cats, Clea Simon returned to her Boston punk rock past last fall with World Enough (Severn House), an edgy urban noir. She’s gone feline again this year, with the black cat-narrated Cross My Path, the third Blackie and Care mystery (Severn House), and a seventh Pru Marlowe “pet noir,” Fear on Four Paws (Poisoned Pen Press), both out this summer, and a new witch cat series for Polis Books, starting with A Spell of Murder in December. A recovering journalist and Boston Globe bestselling author, Clea lives in Somerville. She can be reached at cleasimon.com.

All comments are welcomed.