When Cathy Jefferson’s builder is found dead at the construction site of her new home, she’s pulled into a murder investigation that will test her detective skills like never before.While sorting through her grandmother’s attic, Cathy uncovers a secret about her parents, who died in a car crash years earlier. Now juggling two cases and determined to learn the truth about her parents’ death and catch her builder’s killer, Cathy teams up with her fellow detectives Nancy and Howard.
Their investigation leads them to a ranch where a prize bull is kept, and to Cathy’s estranged uncle and her college roommate. As secrets unravel and danger closes in from every direction, Cathy discovers that the biggest surprise of all may still be waiting for her.
Will Cathy catch her builder’s killer so that her new home can be finished, and will she receive closure about the death of her parents? Find out in THE CASE OF THE BULLFIGHTING BUILDER, the sixth book in the Buttercup Bend Mysteries series by Debbie De Louise.
Before I became a published author, I was a voracious reader. I still enjoy reading but have less time for it. As a reader, I often wondered, and still do, how much of a fiction author’s real-life experiences are included in their books. For me, the answer is quite a lot. I bend the truth, though, and disguise it in multiple ways.
I believe that the one of the perks of being an author, besides money which is not much for most authors and besides leaving a legacy which is appealing but not the main draw, at least not for me, is sharing a part of oneself with others and also acknowledging new insights into our own past. Writing is cathartic. It’s a creative process in which you learn so much about yourself. It’s subconscious and, like a dream, elements come together in different ways than you expect.
Here are some examples from my own writing. In my first published book, Cloudy Rainbow, I was involved as a librarian in the virtual world of Second Life©. I used the theme of virtual reality in the book, creating a fictional virtual world and a virtual séance. The main character, Dulcie Mills, was a name I’d used for my avatar. In the book, each chapter is told my a different character and takes place at different times in Dulcie’s life. In one section, she’s in college working at the student newspaper. I was a features editor on my college paper. In addition, the cat in my book, Floppy, was named after the one I’d recently lost. My grief helped me pen the words, and I featured real scenes from my experiences with Floppy. For instance, the one where he made himself a nest under my mattress, and I panicked because I thought he couldn’t breathe, really happened.
In the first book of my Cobble Cove series, A Stone’s Throw, the main character is a librarian and also a photographer for the local newspaper. I drew upon my real-life occupation as a reference librarian at a public library and my hobby of taking photos to create Alicia Fairmont. I also featured an older character, Mac, who had the habit of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day. A man I knew when I worked part-time in my college library had that same habit. Although he and Mac had many differences, their lunch habits were the same.
The Case of the Cat Crazy Lady features the murder of a woman who owned many cats and also cared for stray cats outside her home. My mother was modeled after this lady. Although the neighborhood didn’t refer to her the same way, we always had a number of cats and kittens in our house. I even ended up taking one of my mother’s strays after I married and another one of her own cats many years later. In my book, the main character, Cathy Carter, has a pet Siamese named Oliver. He was the cat I adopted after my mother began to suffer from dementia and became too old to care for him. He was a senior cat who we were blessed to have a few years before he passed away from kidney disease. As I was finishing this book, I had to make the decision to let him go. Although Cathy’s cat lived on, another cat in the book died and was buried at her pet memorial center. The poem the cat’s owner recites at the burial was one I’d written after I lost Oliver.
Two years ago, I moved to South Carolina from Long Island with my two cats. The first year we were in our new home, my daughter rescued an orange female cat that she called Soup. Our move and this kitten were the inspirations for Murder at Meadows Lake Clubhouse, the first book of my new Soup the Supernatural Kitten series.
While readers may not be aware of all the “real” themes, characters, and scenes in authors’ books, there’s a thin line between the fictional elements and the true ones. In my new release, The Case of the Bullfighting Builder, Buttercup Bend #6, I include two characters from Cathy’s past who were modelled after a guy I had a crush on in college and the woman he was dating. Of course, I got over him, as did Cathy, but it’s another example of fictional truth telling.
How can you spot an author’s truths in their books? It isn’t easy. Authors are storytellers and tight-rope artists who walk that thin line between fiction and reality. But rest assured most mystery authors haven’t killed anyone in real life, even if they’ve thought about it.
Cathy considered making herself a sandwich while Harry and Hermione ate their chow, but she wanted to continue her work up in the attic. She also figured she’d check on Zippy, the bearded dragon lizard she’d adopted after solving a murder case on her and Steve’s honeymoon.
The cats ate quickly, so she was able to remove their bowls and clean up before heading to the den where they kept Zippy’s tank. Entering the room, she saw the reptile clinging to a log. Steve had quickly taken a liking to him and, when she finally agreed that they could adopt him, her husband promised to be his caretaker. Besides the right heat, lighting, and diet which often consisted of bugs, Zippy was easier in some ways to care for than her cats. He didn’t do much and didn’t ask for much. She couldn’t cuddle with him the way she did with Harry and Hermione, but Steve considered him a pet. He liked to take him out of his tank and even for walks when the weather was warm. As it was early October, Steve took advantage of the nice days and also let Zippy loose to walk around the house or ride on his shoulder. The cats sniffed his tail when they first met him but didn’t try to harm him. She still kept an eye on them when they were together.
Leaving Zippy to his nap on the branch, Cathy went up to the attic to resume sorting through her parents’ stuff. Harry followed her. The black cat ran to a box she hadn’t checked, his yellow eyes staring at her.
“Alright, Harry,” she said, “I’ll check that one now.” She lifted the lid. Inside were more things of her mothers’ – blouses, dresses, and other clothing that Gran hadn’t had the heart to take to Goodwill. As Cathy went through them, she realized her mother must’ve been the same size as she was when she was killed in the car accident ten years ago. Maybe she could wear some of them. It might make her feel connected. As she had that thought, she fingered the light scar on her cheek, a reminder of the accident that had cost her so much.
At the bottom of the box, underneath all the clothes, she found a folded piece of paper. It was strangely out of place as if it had been tossed in and covered. Unfolding it, she read the typed words, “Accident Report.” It was dated a few days after the car crash. She’d been in the hospital recovering from her injuries during that time and had never seen this report or been told about it by her brother or grandmother.
Harry meowed as she sat cross legged on the floor reading the paper. She pet his head absently as the words blurred before her eyes, and she realized she was crying. Sheriff Miller had signed the report. An examination of the car after the accident had revealed the brakes had been tampered with. How could that be? Who would’ve wanted to harm her family? And why hadn’t an investigation into the crime been conducted? Cathy had to know. She needed to confront Gran and ask for answers.
After the local “Cat Crazy Lady,” Maggie Broom, is found dead in her home, Cathy is stunned to learn that Rainbow Gardens and Rainbow Rescues is the recipient of most of Maggie’s estate.
Maggie’s estranged brother and sister come to town and are upset with the terms of their sister's will. Sheriff Leroy Miller is convinced one of them killed Maggie.
When another person turns up dead, Cathy sets out to solve the murders with her reporter friend, Nancy Meyers. But who really wanted to kill the "Cat Crazy Lady," and why?
Debbie De Louise is an award-winning author and a retired reference librarian. She is a member of Sisters-in-Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Cat Writers’ Association, and the South Carolina Writers Association. She’s written over twenty books including three cozy mystery series: the Cobble Cove Mysteries, Buttercup Bend Mysteries, and her new series, Soup the Supernatural Kitten Mysteries. She’s also written a paranormal romance, standalone mysteries, a time-travel novel, and a collection of cat poems. Her stories and poetry appear in more than a dozen anthologies. Originally from Long Island, she moved to South Carolina where she now lives with her husband, daughter, and three cats. Learn more about Debbie and her books by visiting her website at https://debbiedelouise.com.
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Thanks for hosting a spot on my blog tour and featuring my author guest post.
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