Monday, December 19, 2016

T.C. LoTempio's "Crime and Catnip"

T. C. LoTempio is the author of the nationally bestselling Nick and Nora mystery series. When she’s not writing books, she and her cat Rocco fundraise for Nathan Fillion’s charity, Kids Need to Read.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest novel, Crime and Catnip:
When I first got the idea for the Nick and Nora mystery series, it was on a cold afternoon in February. I was bundled up on my couch and I saw Turner Classics had on one of my favorite movies, The Thin Man. I had had a discussion with my literary agent earlier that day about steering away from writing paranormals and veering into cozy mystery territory. As I was watching The Thin Man, my twenty pound tuxedo cat, Rocco, jumped up on my lap. All of which got me to thinking: What if Nick Charles died and came back as a cat? And thus the Nick and Nora mysteries were born. Nora Charles is an ex-investigative reporter who returns to her hometown of Cruz, California to run her dead mother’s sandwich shop. She can’t stay away from mysteries, though, and takes a part time job on an online crime magazine. She’s just starting to dig into her first story: the mysterious drowning of a local socialite – when she makes the acquaintance of her furry partner, Nick the cat.

I think every author dreams of having their books made into movies, and I confess I pictured very specific individuals when I was writing the series: Nora is definitely, without question, Emma Stone. There’s just no other. Her boyfriend, FBI agent Daniel Corleone could easily be played by either Ryan Reynolds or Jake Gyllenhaal. Nora’s BFF was a bit harder. I had to think of someone a bit quirky, and who better than Courtney Cox who played quirky so beautifully on Friends? Lisa Kudrow would be another good choice. As for the character of Nick the cat, well, there’s only one feline who could play him purr-fectly, and that’s Rocco, the Incredible Blogging Cat! If you don’t believe me, visit his blog.
Visit T.C. LoTempio's website.

--Marshal Zeringue