Minnie Hamilton first appeared in Lending a Paw and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Minnie.

What is your name?
Minnie (okay, Minerva, but not even my mother calls me that any longer) Hamilton

How old are you?
Thirty-four.

What is your profession?
I’m the assistant director of the Chilson District Library, and my favorite parts of the job is that I get to drive the library’s bookmobile!

Do you have a significant other?
Well, actually, yes.

What is his name and profession?
Rafe Niswander is a principal.

Any children?
Nope.

Do you have any sibling(s)?
One brother, who is nine years older than me. He’s an Imagineer for Disney, which could be the coolest job in the world—other than mine, of course.

Do your parents live near you?
They live in southeast Michigan, in Dearborn, which on good travel days is a five-hour drive away.

Who is your best friend?
Kristen Jurek. She owns and manages an amazing restaurant from May to October, then skedaddles to Key West ahead of the snow to tend bar.

Cats, dogs or other pets?
One cat, the inimitable Eddie. He’d followed me home one day and we’ve been almost inseparable ever since.

What town do you live in?
Chilson, a small town in northwest lower Michigan.

House or building complex? Own or Rent?
This will be a complicated answer. When I first moved to Chilson, I stayed with my Aunt Frances, which worked fine until summer. My aunt runs a summertime boardinghouse, and I finally hit on the perfect solution: I bought the cutest little houseboat you can imagine and I rent a marina slip and stay there until the boarders are gone.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
At the boardinghouse, I love the dining room with its view of the tree-filled backyard. On the houseboat, I love to sit on one of the front deck’s chaises with Eddie on my legs, cutting off the circulation to my feet.

Favorite meal? Favorite dessert?
My favorite meal is any meal I don’t have to cook. But dessert? Kristen makes the best crème brulee in the world, and all summer long we have a standing Sunday dessert time.

Favorite hobby?
Reading!

Favorite color?
All the shades of blue in Janay Lake, the lake where I moor the houseboat.

Favorite author?
Whomever I happen to be reading! I read widely and voraciously; choosing a favorite would be way too hard.

Favorite vacation spot?
Where I live is a vacation spot for thousands and thousands of people, so I tend to stay local when I take time off. But I have to say that one of my all-time favorite places ever is Mackinac Island.

Favorite sports team?
Um, do I have to answer this? I’m not sports-oriented at all.

Movies or Broadway?
Movies! But if I had the opportunity, I’d love to see shows on stage.

Are you a morning or a night person?
Morning! Especially in summer, on those mornings when the air is a bit crisp, the sky is blue, and the entire day lies ahead, just waiting for great things to happen.

Amateur sleuth or professional?
Amateur, but with all the murders I’ve helped the sheriff’s office solve, you’d think I’d qualify for some special certificate. Detective Inwood would have a coronary, though, so I don’t see that happening. Like ever.

Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
Mostly it’s just been me. Eddie thinks he’s helping, but you know how cats are. And Rafe has started to take an interest in investigating. Not sure how that’s going to go. . .

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
On bookmobile days, I take a shower, have a quick breakfast, pop Eddie into his carrier, and drive to the library, where the bookmobile awaits. Eddie’s carrier gets strapped onto the floor of the passenger’s side, my part time bookmobile clerk and I do a pre-flight check, then off we go into the forested and lake-strewn hills to dispense books, good cheer, and Eddie hair across the countryside!

You can read about Minnie in Booking The Crook, the seventh book in the “Bookmobile Cat” cozy mystery series, released July 2, 2019.

It’s all paws on deck as a librarian and her rescue cat track down a killer in the newest book in the national bestselling Bookmobile Cat mystery series.

Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat, Eddie, cruise around lovely Chilson, Michigan delivering happiness and good reads in their bookmobile. But the feisty librarian is worried that the bookmobile’s future could be uncertain when a new library board chair arrives and doesn’t seem too friendly to her pet project.

Still, she has to put her personal worries aside when she and Eddie are out on their regular route and one of their favorite customers doesn’t turn up to collect her books. Minnie, at Eddie’s prodding, checks on the woman and finds her lying dead in her snow-covered driveway. Now it’s up to Minnie and her friends–feline and otherwise–to find the perpetrator and give them their due.

Purchase Link
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About the author
Laurie Cass grew up in Michigan and graduated from Eastern Michigan University in the 80’s with a (mostly unused) Bachelor of Science degree in geology. She and her husband live on a lake in northwest lower Michigan. When Laurie isn’t writing, she’s working at her day job, reading, yanking weeds out of her garden, or doing some variety of skiing.

To learn more about Laurie, visit her website at catmystery.com.

All comments are welcomed.