Local author launches 'Tiger Lily" mystery series

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Published: Friday, 12 December 2014 20:12

If you love cats, small towns and light mysteries, a recently launched book series by new author Kathi Thompson of rural Star City may just be your cup of tea.

The first book of the series, Turtle Soup: A Tiger Lily’s Café Mystery, was published earlier this autumn and is available in print and electronic versions.

The book series' website, www.tigerlilyscafe.com, describes Tiger Lily as "a beautiful tabby cat" who has six siblings. Each of them help their "mommy," Annie, run her businesses. Tiger Lily is the titular manager of the local cafe.

In the plot line, the cats are in the middle of events in every way. They live in a resort town; the businesses are lakeside and are the premier gathering point for locals and tourists alike; and their friends on the other side of Sunset Avenue are the first to know anything about everything.

The author promises that with every book, another mystery (or two) will unfold.

Thompson says this series is "a perfect read for anyone who likes light mysteries, anyone who loves cats (and dogs!), and anyone who just longs for a more simple lifestyle."

About a year ago, Thompson discovered she could live comfortably, though modestly, on early retirement and took the plunge which allowed her to turn her attention to writing.

Kathleen (Kathi) Thompson was raised on a farm and attended school in Star City, before graduating from Winamac Community High School. She has a degree in sociology from Manchester College and an MBA from Indiana University at South Bend. A life-member of the Indiana Criminal Justice Association, she served as a probation officer, parole agent and juvenile residential counselor before moving into administrative, marketing and fund raising positions in similar organizations.

Shortly before moving back to Pulaski County, after many years in “the city,” Kathi and her mother discovered an injured kitten of indeterminate age. The kitten decided to make Kathi her guardian. She wrapped herself around an ankle, started purring, and wouldn’t let go. Against the advice of her mother, Thompson took the kitten back to Indianapolis, vowing that if she lived through the night, she would take her to the vet to see how badly injured she was. The kitten lived; the vet diagnosed road burn serious enough to take all the fur from the left side of her face.

Tiger Lily eventually healed and took up a huge part of Kathi’s heart. She was eventually joined by all of the cats in the book: Little Socks (thank you, Aunt Mary); Kali, Ko and Mo (thank you, Connie Hall); Sassy Pants (thank you, Sherry Simpson); and finally, Mr. Bean (thank you, Pulaski County Animal Control). Contrary to Thompson’s mother’s worst fears, Kathi does not have a house full of 90 cats. Yet.

Tiger Lily’s Café has been rattling around in Thompson’s brain (she claims there isn’t much else up there) for all of the years since, sometimes as an actual café and sometimes as a book.

"Well," Thompson explains, "it was less expensive to write the book."