Janice Bennett has the eclectic sort of background often encountered in writers. She has a B.A. degree in anthropology from UC Santa Cruz, another in classical civilizations from UC Irvine, and an M.A. degree in folklore and mythology from UCLA. Over the years, she has worked as a bookkeeper, an archaeologist, and a college instructor in crafts, jewelry making, needlework and novel writing, and has been a frequent presenter of workshops on a variety of writing topics. She also teaches t’ai chi and is a certified hypnotherapist specializing in pain management and a certified past life regression therapist.
To relax, she quilts, knits, crochets and spins the sheddings from her Newfoundland dog. Because of all this yarn-related activity, she has started an organization known as Crochet 4 Cats (patterns can be found under the CONTESTS & FUN tab), dedicated to providing mini afghans for the comfort of the inmates of cat shelters. Her preferred vacation spot is Yosemite National Park, as close to a river as she can get.
To date, she has written nine novellas and twenty-four novels. Many have received 4+ ratings from Romantic Times/Rave Reviews and 4 1/2 and 5 Star ratings from Affaire de Coeur. She has won several awards, including two Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice awards and two Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards, for Time Travels and for Regencies.
Janice lives near the top of a sloping hillside on the outskirts of a tiny rural town, looking out over nothing but trees. With her reside her husband, her son (during college breaks), her computer, and, over the years, an assortment of birds, cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, horses, and any other animal currently in need of a home.
In Black Cats and Boondoggles the action starts from the first page and keeps right on going to the last page. {…} The continuing growth of the characters along with the intricate plots makes this series a true joy to read. Would I recommend Black Cats and Boondoggles? Wholeheartedly YES.
Novelspot
What do you do when life becomes too stressful and everything feels out of control? Let yourself disappear into a fun-filled book, of course, where the chaos is tamed and everything turns out happily in the end. Or, if you’re a writer, you write that book.
That’s how my Events Unlimited series began. The books in it are lighthearted because life can be way too serious. They’re cozy murder mysteries because I love a puzzle, and because unraveling the “who-dunnit” of the story is a fun way to forget one’s own tangled problems in a fictional world where all problems can be solved. The main character, Annike McKinley, is an event-coordinator—and anyone who has ever planned an event knows how unpredictable and challenging that can be. There is something very satisfying and reassuring as Annike manages to create order out of chaos.
The books are set in the very tiny fictional town of Upper River Gulch in the equally fictional Merit County, located on California’s not-so-fictional central coast. This is a town—and county—filled with eccentrics and warm-hearted people…and the occasional murderer—who naturally is brought to justice. The sheriff is far from bungling, and doesn’t believe in the vengeance of the law but in the well-being and security of the people in his charge. He’s also in love with Annike who, as the widow of the former sheriff, is afraid to become involved with a law enforcement officer again.
The first book of the series, COLD TURKEY, is set over a particularly crazy Thanksgiving weekend, when Annike arrives at her aunt’s house a day before she’s expected, finds a body in her aunt’s study and is roped into organizing the town’s holiday events. By the second book, BUNNY HOP, which takes place over a particularly memorable Easter, Annike has launched her new career and is organizing events professionally. In Black Cats and Boondoggles, Annike takes on the town’s Harvest Festival, leading up to a nearly fatal Halloween.
Come join me in the world I created to escape into. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Black Cats and Boondoggles
Book #3 of the Events Unlimited Series
by
Janice Bennett
It’s time for the annual Harvest Fair and Halloween Trick-or-Treating in Upper River Gulch, and the SCOURGEs gather under the banner of Annike McKinley’s company Events Unlimited to plan the most enthusiastic festival Merit County has yet endured. But when Hugh Cartwright, owner of Upper River Gulch’s sole industry, Brandywine Distillery, is found in the town’s tiny park, propped up on bales of straw in a scarecrow costume with his head inside a giant jack-o-lantern, Annike insists a murder was not one of the scheduled events. While Annike and the other SCOURGEs organize pumpkin carving contests, hay rides, a kid’s carnival and a haunted house that takes on a sinister twist, they also turn up suspects in the murder. With the help of two black cats and an adolescent bloodhound named Boondoggle, Merit County’s sheriff Owen Sarkisian wades through a morass of motives and clues and the chaos created by the town’s furiously debated proposed incorporation. Then one of the suspects becomes another victim of oleander poisoning and it becomes a race to find the killer before he–or she–strikes again. Then comes Halloween night when kids and adults alike dress in costume and parade the tiny town’s few streets. Only this time a murderer walks among them.
Read an excerpt
Buy this Book!
Cold Turkey , Bunny Hop, and Black Cats and Boondoggles are also available in print!
[...] Original post by Jenyfer Matthews [...]
by Books and Magazines Blog » Archive » Friday Feature: Janice Bennett October 31st, 2008 at 2:06 amThese are wonderful books. Very amusing!
by anny cook October 31st, 2008 at 9:43 am