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

What is your name?
Pru Marlowe.

How old are you?
Old enough to know better – ok, I’m in my 30s.

What is your profession?
Dog walker and pet sitter – I’m this close to being a licensed animal behaviorist but haven’t quite finished yet.

Do you have a significant other?
Creighton, this town’s top cop, and I have a thing.

What is his name?
Jim Creighton.

What is his profession?
Professional boy scout? Nah, he’s a cop – and a good one.

Any children?
You’re joking, right? Do you know me?

Do you have any sibling(s)?
Nope. Frankly, I’m amazed my parents got along well enough to have me.

Cats, dogs or other pets?
I don’t know if Wallis, the cranky tabby I live with, would consider herself my pet or vice versa.

What town do you live in?
Belleville, a small town in the Berkshires.

House or building complex?
I have my mom’s rundown Victorian.

Do you rent or own?
I own it outright, but wow. . . the taxes!

What is your favorite spot in your house?
Probably the kitchen, because there’s coffee and bourbon there.

Who is your best friend?
Wallis, no doubt.

Amateur sleuth or professional?
Amateur -I can’t help getting into trouble (or helping my friends get out of it.

Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
I can hear what all the animals around town are saying, so they often help me. Well, at times.

Favorite meal?
Steak and bourbon.

Favorite dessert?
Bourbon.

Favorite hobby?
Drinking.

Favorite vacation spot?
I dream about getting out of here and back to the city, but I don’t know if I’m up to it, really.

Are you a morning or a night person?
I used to be a total night owl, but since my breakdown – which is when I started being able to “hear” what animals are thinking – I’ve become a morning person.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
I get up and go about my rounds: walking Growler, the local bichon, then seeing to whatever the pampered pets of Belleville need. If I have time, I stop by County and help out the old vet there. I know he worries about me. Besides, he pays. In between all that, I make a point of checking in with Wallis and with Frank, a particularly intelligent ferret who takes care of Albert, the town’s official animal control officer. Frank’s possibly the smartest male in this town, excepting maybe Jim Creighton, so I always find a conversation with him worthwhile.

Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a print copy of Fear on Four Paws. U.S. entries only, please. The giveaway ends July 31, 2018. Good luck everyone!

You can read about Pru in Fear on Four Paws, the seventh book in the “Pru Marlowe Pet Noir” mystery series. The first book in the series is Dogs Don’t Lie.

There’s trouble brewing in the woods of Beauville, and the only witness isn’t talking.

When Pru Marlowe is called to a forest clearing to help with an illegally trapped bear, she finds a colleague passed out drunk, his pet ferret locked in his truck. When one of her old running buddies turns up dead as well and then the town’s pampered pets begin to disappear, Pru can’t tell if her heavy-drinking colleague is involved – or how much the ferret, a wise little creature called Frank, knows. Frank’s not communicating – even to her – and for once the bad-girl animal psychic is at a loss.

The offer of a job – and maybe something more – from a hunky warden only complicates Pru’s life as she goes on her rounds between her small Berkshires hometown and the woods that lie beyond. And although her crotchety tabby, Wallis, would have her make some changes in what has become a familiar routine, Pru knows her special skills set her apart as the only one who can shed light on these crimes – and save the animals at risk.

But as the mysteries pile up, Pru is forced to admit that even a city-hardened animal communicator can’t understand everything that’s going on, and that a small town may be as dangerous as the darkest woods when a predator is on the prowl.

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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.