My name isn’t on the marquee sign in front of the store. Instead of “Mimi Lee” in bright lights, it reads, “Hollywoof.” The place, though, is my very own bone-afide pet grooming shop, my life’s goal. All courtesy of a huge investment from Pixie St. James, whose active shih tzu I rescued from the waves off Catalina Island. I almost have to pinch myself to remind me it’s all real, everything from the Bark of Fame on the floor with its doggie stars to the large-screen television showing canine flicks to the spotlight aimed at the cash register.

Of course, there are parts of my life that aren’t so dreamy. Take my cat for example. Oh, please take the cat. A gift from my kind sister, he’s turned out to be trouble—typical, given the bad luck I have with males. (Though matchmaking Ma tries hard to reverse this inauspicious fortune.)

My Persian cat likes to channel his cat-titude telepathically. At first, I thought the stress of opening the store had caused my mind to imagine things. I’d learned about such situations in college psych class after all. But I soon realized I was stuck with a sass-spouting cat who could truly speak to me.

Today, my life ventured into nightmare territory when a homicide detective arrived at Hollywoof. I’d been overheard arguing with an unscrupulous local dog breeder—and the man’s turned up dead. Now the detective’s barking up the wrong tree and has me at the top of his suspect list.

Mimi Lee Gets A Clue is the first book in the NEW “Sassy Cat” cozy mystery series, released March 10, 2020.

Mimi Lee is in over her head. There’s her new Los Angeles pet grooming shop to run, her matchmaking mother to thwart, her talking cat Marshmallow to tend to—oh, and the murder of a local breeder to solve. . .now if only Mimi hadn’t landed herself on top of the suspect list.

Mimi Lee hoped to give Los Angeles animal lovers something to talk about with her pet grooming shop, Hollywoof. She never imagined that the first cat she said hello to would talk back or be quite so, well, catty—especially about those disastrous dates Mimi’s mother keeps setting up.

When Marshmallow exposes local breeder Russ Nolan for mistreating Chihuahuas, Mimi steals some of her cat’s attitude to tell Russ off. The next day the police show up at Hollywoof. Russ has been found dead, and Mimi’s shouting match with him has secured her top billing as the main suspect.

Hoping to clear her name and save the pups Russ left behind, Mimi enlists help from her dreamy lawyer neighbor Josh. But even with Josh on board, it’ll take Mimi and Marshmallow a lot of sleuthing and more than a little sass to get back to the pet-grooming life—and off the murder scene.

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About the author
Jennifer J. Chow writes the #ownvoices Sassy Cat mystery series (Berkley/Penguin Random House) and the Winston Wong Cozy Mysteries under J.J. Chow. She’s active in Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers of Color.

Connect with her online at jenniferjchow.com.

All comments are welcomed.