Cleo Watkins first appeared in Better Off Read and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Cleo.

What is your full name?
Cleo Jane Watkins

How old are you?
Seventy-six years young

What is your profession?
Librarian and primary captain of my library’s bookmobile, Words on Wheels

Do you have a significant other?
I do. I have a “gentleman friend.”

What is their name and profession?
My gentleman friend is Henry Lafayette. Henry owns The Gilded Page, a fine antiquarian bookstore here in town, where he also repairs and restores old books. He and his pug, Mr. Chaucer, live upstairs (when they’re not visiting me).

Do you have any children?
I have two wonderful sons and five fabulous grandchildren

Do you have any siblings?
I have a sister, although she’s often out of town on cruises. As close as a sibling is my cousin Dot, who runs the general store in our small town of Catalpa Springs.

Are your parents nearby?
Sadly, my parents have passed. However, they lived their whole lives in Catalpa Springs—as have I—so we were always very close.

Who is your best friend?
Oh, this is an easy one. My best friend since infancy is Mary-Rose Garland. She owns a flip-your-own pancake and pie shop nearby.

Do you have any pets?
My beloved cat is also my bookmobile sidekick. His name is Rhett Butler and he’s a fluffy orange Persian.

What town do you live in? Catalpa Springs, Georgia, just north of the Florida border

Would you say you live in a small town or a big city?
Catalpa Springs is quite a small place, but we have a thriving downtown, a newly renovated library, a lovely bookshop, and (if I do say so myself) the prettiest bookmobile in Georgia if not beyond.

Type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
I’ve lived in the same home for over half a century. There’s a big magnolia tree in the front, a picket fence, more flowerbeds than lawn, and a cottage in the backyard where my grandson Ollie currently lives.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
I do adore my kitchen, but for a favorite I’d have to choose my screened-in front porch. I spend many an hour out there with my cat, books, and tea (preferably sweet tea, although my doctor tells me I should watch my sugar).

Favorite meal and dessert?
Oh my, this is difficult. I adore the fried chicken my cousin Dot makes. I also love biscuits for any meal and for dessert too. One of my all-time favorite sweet treats is hummingbird cake, a banana-pineapple cake with cream-cheese icing. I also enjoy the pies my friend Mary-Rose makes, especially key lime and coconut cream and, oh, the lemon meringue and chocolate cream. . . I have too much of a sweet tooth.

Do you have any hobbies?
I’d say reading, but that goes without saying for a librarian and lifetime lover of books. Reading is essential as breathing for me. I also enjoy gardening and taking strolls around Catalpa Springs, oftentimes with my trusty cat.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Home! I know I shouldn’t say that, but every time I go away for vacation, I can’t wait to get back to my home, cat, friends, family, and library. I suppose I like staycations the best.

What music do you listen to?
I enjoy all kinds of music and new discoveries. When I’m driving in the bookmobile, though, I enjoy turning up the local classic-hits station on the radio. If no one but my cat is around, I’ll sing along to the likes of Nancy Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Patsy Cline.

Do you have a favorite book?
I couldn’t possibly choose. I love so many books. It would feel like picking a favorite grandchild.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Selecting a new book from the library and settling in on my front porch to read, preferably with my cat and my gentleman friend for company.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Words on Wheels, a Librarian’s Life?

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I am most definitely an amateur sleuth. I don’t go around intending to find crimes, but when I do, I step up to help out. I’m often assisted by my friends, family, and bookmobile cat. Driving the bookmobile gives me a good opportunity to get out and look for clues.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
On a typical day, I get up early and get to work. I know I’m well past the usual age of retirement, but I adore my library work. Nowadays, I primarily focus on captaining Words on Wheels. I have bookmobile stops all around town—the park, schools, nursing homes. Sometimes, folks flag me down. Everyone loves seeing the bookmobile coming and I love delivering books.

Read or Alive is the third book in the “Bookmobile” cozy mystery series, released May 12, 2020.

Wrongful accusations have librarian Cleo Watkins and her loved ones booked for trouble.

It’s springtime and septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins is celebrating new blooms and old books. To her delight, the Georgia Antiquarian Book Society has brought its annual fair to Catalpa Springs in honor of Cleo’s gentleman friend, respected antiquarian bookseller and restorer, Henry Lafayette. However, trouble rolls in with the fair when a flirtatious book scout makes the rounds, charming locals out of prized books.

Among the conned is Cleo’s cousin, Dot, who handed over a signed, first edition of Gone With the Wind. With no proof the scout took the valuable book, Dot is at a loss. And when the deceitful man is found murdered the very next morning, Dot becomes a prime suspect. To Cleo’s dismay, so is Henry. The scene of the crime is behind Henry’s shop and his bookbinding tool is the murder weapon. As evidence stacks up against Henry, the police aren’t alone in questioning his innocence. Even friends and family ask Cleo how well she truly knows her gentleman friend.

Although books are at the heart of the crimes, Cleo feels dizzyingly out of her depths. Someone is setting up the people she holds dearest. With the authorities on the wrong trail, Cleo has no choice but to catalog the evidence herself. Along with her trusty bookmobile cat Rhett Butler, it will be up to Cleo to book the real killer for good.

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About the author
Nora Page enjoys rainy weather, the perfect biscuit, and quiet evenings in with her husband and cat. You can often find her in the company of books. Read or Alive is her third Bookmobile mystery. Visit her website at novelmystery.com.

All comments are welcomed.