Jaine first appeared in This Pen For Hire and the best way to know a person is by asking questions, so let’s meet Jaine and Prozac.
JAINE: My name is Jaine Austen. (No relation. My mom’s an Anglophile and a bad speller.) I live in Los Angeles with my significant other—She Who Must Be Obeyed—my demanding cat, Prozac.
PROZAC: Untrue! I’m not the least bit demanding. Au contraire. I’m a sweet, sensitive caring cat. A perfect angel—Wait a minute. It’s been a whole seventeen minutes since my last snack. I’m hungry! I want my Minced Mackerel Guts! And I want ‘em now!
JAINE: As I was saying, I live in Los Angeles, where I spend my days toiling at my computer, writing ads for my clients, Toiletmasters Plumbers (In A Rush to Flush? Call Toiletmasters!), Fiedler on the Roof roofers, and Tip Top Dry Cleaners (We clean for you, we press for you—we even dye for you.),
I start every day with a brisk hike to a nearby park—
PROZAC: Puh-leeze, the only hikes she ever takes are to the refrigerator.
JAINE: My favorite foods are fruits and vegetables and I try to avoid sweets of any kind.
PROZAC: Is she kidding? The woman has scarfed down so much ice cream, Ben & Jerry are thinking of naming a flavor after her.
JAINE: When I’m not chained to my computer, I have a penchant for stumbling on dead bodies (eighteen and counting!), which keeps me hopping as a part-time, semi-professional P.I.
I’ll be starring in my latest adventure, Death Of A Neighborhood Scrooge, at the end of September.
PROZAC: I object! I happen to be the star of that book—and all her other sagas, too. Readers can’t help loving me. After all, as mentioned above, I’m sweet. I’m cuddly. I’m adorable. And I’m still hungry. Where the heck are those minced mackerel guts?
JAINE: See you in September! Gotta run and get Her Royal Highness her mackerel guts.
PROZAC: And a belly rub, too! I need a belly rub!
Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a kindle copy of This Pen For Hire. The giveaway will end October 24, 2018. Good luck everyone! Bonus question: Does your pet/s think they own you?
You can read about Jane and Prozac in Death Of A Neighborhood Scrooge, the 16th book in the “Jaine Austen” mystery series, coming September 25, 2018 from Kensington.
Freelance writer Jaine Austen is feeling festive about spending Christmas house-sitting at a posh Bel Air mansion, accompanied by her friend Lance and her cat, Prozac. But when a grumpy neighbor gets himself iced, she’ll have to find the culprit or she may spend the New Year in jail . . .
Scotty Parker is a former child star who once played Tiny Tim, but now he’s grown up into the role of neighborhood Scrooge. He cuts the wires on his neighbors’ Christmas lights and tells local kids that Santa had a stroke. And his miserly, bah-humbug attitude lasts year-round—a fact known all too well by his current wife, his ex-wife, his maid, and many more.
Scotty thinks he can stage a comeback with the screenplay he’s working on (The Return of Tiny Tim: Vengeance Is Mine!), and Jaine’s been reluctantly helping him edit it. So when Scotty is bludgeoned with a frozen chocolate yule log and the police start making a list of suspects and checking it twice, Jaine’s name is unfortunately included. True, she’s been under some stress, with Lance trying to set her up on dates and her fickle feline taking a sudden liking to someone else—but she’s not guilty of murder. Now she just has to prove it, by using her gift for detection and figuring out who committed this holiday homicide.
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About the author
Laura Levine is a former sitcom writer whose credits include The Bob Newhart Show, Laverne & Shirley, The Jeffersons, The Love Boat, Three’s Company, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. As an advertising copywriter, she created Count Chocula and Frankenberry cereals for General Mills. Her work has been published in The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
In her latest (and favorite) incarnation as a mystery novelist, she has won the Nobel Peace Prize and the Romantic Times award for Most Humorous Mystery. She lives in Los Angeles, where, in between exciting trips to the refrigerator, she is hard at work on her next Jaine Austen Mystery. (Okay, she didn’t really win the Nobel Peace Prize. She just threw that in to see if you were paying attention.)
She can be reached on Facebook at Laura Levine Mysteries or on her website at lauralevinemysteries.com.
All comments are welcomed.
Another series i need to binge-read…
Thank you for the giveaway…
Sounds like a fun series. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Dogs have owners; cats have staff.” I, too, serve on the staff of a very demanding (but sweet) 16-year-old cat.
My cats don’t *think* they own me, they know it lol; -)
Love Jaine and Prozac! Rusty, my Lab and best buddy, definitely becomes very vocal and pushy when he wants something. He’s pretty strong, so I do tend to listen. Good news is if there’s any danger he’ll never let me come close. Thankyou for the opportunity!
This sounds like a fun series. Thank you for the chance to win a kindle copy of This Pen For Hire.
First off thank you for hosting Laura Levine on your blog. I have read her prior books and they were enjoyable. I love the name Prozac for a cat. It would be wonderful to win a copy of This Pen For Hire.
One of my all time favorite and the series that started my love of cozy mysteries! I would be so excited to win a copy. Thank you for the chance!
Please, please, please!
I love this series! It is one of the very first cozy series I ever read. I borrowed the first one from the library, liked it so much that I went to the bookstore and bought all of them that were out at that time, which I believe the series was at about 8 or so books then, because I didn’t want to wait for the library to get them in!
You don’t need to enter me for the drawing as I already own this one, just wanted to comment.
Jaine and Prozac’s interaction in this blog was fun — especially Prozac’s “catty” responses to Jaine’s comments! I definitely need to read this book and appreciate the giveaway ~
My kitty & I both know she owns me. I love Jaine & Prozac!
I just discovered this series this year and am having a great time making my way through all the books! The mysteries are very good and the humour makes me laugh out loud! Thanks for the chance to win Ms. Levine’s latest offering!
My dog believes my function is to feed, walk, play and give belly rubs on demand.
This sounds like a fun time.
I love this series! Jaine and Prozac are so much fun. Can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
I haven’t missed a single one in this series and wouldn’t dream of missing this one! It sounds delightfully typical Jaine! And Prozac! What fun. Thanks for the information about the new book and for the chance to win a copy!
Oh and Laura…Merry Christmas!
I love this series. I have 5 cats, so it’s not a question of whether my pet owns me, but which one.
Yes I’m the beck and call girl (well actually I’m a senior citizen) for two dogs, Maggie, a Bulldog and Betty, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
Your stories are so amusing and I so relate to the elastic waistbands.
This is one of my favorite series! So happy you featured Laura Levine. I eagerly wait every single one of her releases. I can never get enough of Jaine and Prozac. Such a witty, fun series.
**** WINNER ****
This Pen For Hire is Peggy Hyndman
Congratulations!
Thank You for sharing this Book
Thank You for the chance 😊🍯🐝😊
Looks Great
And Yes and My hubby is not allowed to touch me or even talk to me LOL 😁 most of the time anyway
Shared on Twitter 😍💞😘
https://mobile.twitter.com/LindaMoffitt02/status/1044923554184286208
The book sounds great–I’d love to read it! Legallyblonde1961@yahoo.com
I think this ended in Sept not Oct it must have been a mistake there is already a winner picked