I’m Emma Jameson, author of the new book A Death at Seascape House (Jem Jago Mysteries #1) and I have four cats. Four of them. Things escalate, mistakes get made, and one day you wake up with a quartet of fuzzy masters. These are mine.

First came Zahara Mao. She’s a silver marbled Bengal, and while she barely weighs eight pounds, she has a big personality. Bengals have a ramped up backside with powerful legs that allows them to do amazing vertical jumps. When Zahara was young, she jumped so far and so high, we called her Sky Kitten: Cat of the Future. (Part of having cats is giving them various trait-based nicknames.) Now that she’s the grand old dame of our feline family, she spends most of her time snoozing, soaking in the sunshine, and curling up in toasty warm places. But every so often she still makes a huge jump to show the boys how it’s done.

Next came Howard. He’s a buff-colored tabby, quite sweet and loving to humans, but a bit of a bully when it comes to his companion cats. In my experience, tabbies can be quite vocal, and sometimes when the mood takes him, Howard will stroll through the house like a troubadour, yowling the song of his people. Howard is a notorious seat-stealer; if your backside vacates a chair, when you come back, you just might find a fat tabby curled up in your spot. And Howard is fat, although like his hero Garfield, he prefers the term “vertically challenged.” Every time the dish hits the floor, Howard eats like there’s no tomorrow. Then he wanders over to another cat’s food and tries to intimidate them out of it. Until recently, he always got away with it. More on that later.

Then came James. Those who follow me on Facebook and Twitter know that my favorite actor is James McAvoy. When I went to look at adoptable shelter cats, I wanted a blue-eyed kitty, because of McAvoy’s piercing blues. So, imagining a soft white kitten with big blue eyes, and I went to the cat cages certain I’d find the perfect James. I didn’t see a cat of exactly that description, but while I was trying to play with a little blue-eyed, gray-furred ball of fluff, a pair of paws extended from a cage above and tapped me on the head. It happened a few times in a row; “playing bongos” is the term that comes to mind. I looked up to find a tuxedo cat with mischievous green eyes determined to get my attention. The shelter attendant offered to take him out of the cage. I agreed, and the tuxie cat was placed my arms. The little scamp licked my nose. And reader, he came home with me. He’s a sweet fellow, but just as audacious now as he was when he picked me at the shelter.

Now we have Bobby, too. I’ll be first to tell you that three house cats seemed like plenty. Our cats are 100% indoors (in our area, letting cats out just isn’t safe) and the litter box duties alone are staggering. Sometimes we’ll glimpse a stray without a collar running around the neighborhood, but sadly, never for long. There are too many cars, dogs, and diseases.

So the first time I saw Bobby, a white cat with orange spots and no tail, I hoped he’d just escaped his happy home and would soon be back inside. Then one day I opened the garage to do some yard work and Bobby rushed in. He’d smelled the remains of James’s meal—a dried-up clot of cat food that none of my cats would give a second look. In clear desperation, Bobby braved the presence of three strange women to run up to the dish and eat. I felt so sorry for him, I opened a new can. He ate it. I opened another. He ate that, too. His ribs were sticking out, but he was friendly and grateful. The road to adopting him required certain steps—we had to make sure no one was searching for him, and that he bore no contagious feline diseases—but after that, he joined our family. Such a sweetheart! He loves being an indoor cat, and clearly treasures regular feedings. Howard never, ever gets away with stealing his food. Who knows? Maybe four is exactly the right number after all.

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Emma Jameson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Lord & Lady Hetheridge cozy mystery series. Book #1, ICE BLUE, Book #2, BLUE MURDER, Book #3, SOMETHING BLUE, Book #4, BLACK & BLUE, Book #5, BLUE BLOODED, and Book #6, BLUE CHRISTMAS are available now.

Her newest venture with digital publisher extraordinaire BOOKOUTURE is the Jem Jago cozy mystery series.

Ms. Jameson is also the creator of amateur sleuth Dr. Benjamin Bones. Set in Cornwall during the Second World War, book #1 is MARRIAGE CAN BE MURDER; book #2 is DIVORCE CAN BE DEADLY. Dr. Bones fans will also want to read the companion series, Magic of Cornwall. This includes DR. BONES AND THE CHRISTMAS WISH and DR. BONES AND THE LOST LOVE LETTER, two charming novellas set in untamed, romantic Cornwall

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