Series Review: The Cat Who Series by Lilian Jackson Braun

This is the first of the promised amateur sleuth series reviews I mentioned in August. I deferred the posts until the Follow Me Tour was over.

If you are a mystery fan and cat (or animal) lover this series will grab your attention straight away.
The sleuth of the series is a Siamese cat called Kao K'o Kung (Koko for short). He meets his human assistant James Qwilleran in the first book when he is left homeless after his first owner is murdered.
Of course a male needs companionship, and Yum Yum is the perfect female to fit into his domain. They have Qwill well trained when it comes to their choices in food, nothing so ordinary as canned tuna, thank you very much!
These three characters, Qwill, Koko and Yum Yum, will steal your heart and before you know it you will be as addicted as I am. Fortunately, there are many still for me to read. Ms Braun wrote 30 books in the series before she passed away in 2011.
I read the books in order, and find that it is best to do that. The mystery in each book stands on its own, but the backstory is better understood if you read them in order. Aside from the mystery to be solved in each book, you follow the path of James Qwilleran (Qwill to his friends), a middle aged, recovering alcoholic newspaper reporter, who also wants to write a novel. His return to the world of newspaper ink, also brings some really weird, funny and interesting people crossing his path to give added colour to the stories.
Life events, interesting women (read sometime girlfriends), cats with attitude and murders make for an entertaining series with the three companions as they dig up (or dig out) clues to find the murderers.
If you love character driven stories, old fashioned murder mysteries, and cats that have their own personalities, this series is definitely for you.

Follow Me Tour: The last of Botswana

Hippo not happy with us being so close

With almost 4000 photographs under my belt for this trip, it will take several weeks, if not months, to work through them all.
It was an amazing experience to take these photographs from a boat on the Chobe river, or a Unimog driving overland in the Chobe Nature Reserve on the northern most area of Botswana.

I have added more of the photographs to Pinterest if you want to have a look. As I work through to 4000, more will be added to my Botswana board. My perfect picture turned out to be not so perfect after all.
The composition is very good, but the photograph is not perfectly sharp so there is not much that I can do with it in terms of printing and framing it for an exhibition we will be having later this year. But such is life :)
I am thinking of painting it in oil, then at least the effort will not have been wasted.
Then again, my husband thinks it can be fixed since the photograph is good enough. I am so happy now!
He just made my day, and via Skype too!
Oh, if you want to see what the hubbub was about - here is the link :)

Water monitor basking in the early morning sun

Infographic Thursday: The Creative Process...a comic

A little humour for the day before Friday! :)

Issuu Sept/Oct Edition

In this issue, cover author New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Dianne Duvall shares with us about her Immortal Guardian’s paranormal romance series. Join us as we chat with Dianne about her work, then take a sneak peek at Night Unbound, the latest in her popular series.

Many more wonderful authors including A.L. Jackson, Quinn Loftis, Mary Manners and more.

Don't miss these entertaining columns -> Our New Column Debut
Bestseller’s Secret
FROM DYSLEXIC TO BESTSELLER...

Chic Trends in Romance
SEXY GOES BUMP IN THE NIGHT

The Hot Hunks of History
DARK DUKES OF HISTORY

The Heat Diva
HOT SUMMER WRAP UP

Ali B. and the Forty Spaceships
TO READ, PERCHANCE TO DREAM...

The Scrying Eye
GHOSTS OF THE PAST... DEMONS OF THE PRESENT

Forever Young
THE RETRO SCREAM: HORROR NOVELS THAT NEVER GET OLD

BTS Goes Hollywood
ALEX BLEDSOE

Follow Me Tour: Bluster and Chop

Juvenile African fish eagle

Day 4 (29 August) started with a wind that promised two things: it was going to be cold on the water, and the animals were going to hide away from us. And it was windy! We didn't see many animals, although the birds were out in full force.

Who says an African fish eagle doesn't hover? The wind was so strong that this bird had to hover for several seconds before it could manoeuvre itself to land on the branch...where it started off in the first place!

There were not many animals out, but here are some more elephant photographs. The hovering eagle is also on display. Enjoy!

PS: All my Botswana photographs (the ones that were worth keeping) will find themselves onto a board on Pinterest. Some are pinned already if you would like to take a peek.

Adult and baby elephants drinking water

The struggle of the fish eagle!