Murder Faux Paws: A Nick and Nora Mystery
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – California
Beyond the Page (February 22, 2022)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 273 pages

Synopsis

Dead men tell no tales, but in the riveting new Nick and Nora Mystery, they sure leave a lot of clues . . .

 

When a local PI’s untimely death is ruled a suicide by the police, budding sleuth Nora Charles has no intention of letting sleeping dogs lie—or sleeping cats, for that matter. Certain it was a case of foul play, Nora rouses her trusty sidekick Nick and launches an investigation of her own. Then a second PI is murdered, and Nora knows the two men were on to something—and that she’s on to something too.

Following the enigmatic clues left by her late predecessors, Nora soon uncovers a plot that involves a local politician, missing campaign funds, and what could be a bogus real estate deal. But when hints of treason surface, what started as small-time thievery soon balloons into a matter of national security. With the uncanny Nick sniffing out—and spelling out—leads, Nora follows a trail that will take her to the heart of a shadowy conspiracy, and into a trap set by a conniving culprit that will have her wishing she had Nick’s nine lives . . .

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Guest Post

Picking Character Names

by T. C. LoTempio

Two questions I get asked most often are:  How do you get your plots?  And How do you decide on character names?

My answer to the first question is always the same:  I have no idea.  They just come to me.  Anything could inspire it – a name, an event, something I ate (no really).  For example, I got the idea for my Nick and Nora series from my cat jumping on my stomach while I was watching The Thin Man.   I got an idea for a YA book from the name on the side of a garbage truck (true story).  And I got the idea for one of my gothic thrillers that I wrote way, way, back in the day when my friend Vi moved to Arizona and she told me the name of her street.

Picking character names can be more difficult.  The name, I feel, should suit that particular character and his or her particular personality.  Picking out the names, of course, for my main characters in the Nick and Nora series was easy.  My main female character is, of course, Nora Charles named after the fictional detective’s wife.  Nick, the tubby tuxedo cat and the star of the show is naturally named after Dashiel Hammett’s famed detective.  The supporting characters followed.  I wanted Nora’s human sidekick to be a bit quirky – she’d have psychic powers (or think she had) a French accent (just because she liked it) and adore Nick.  So, I looked up French names on the internet and decided on Gillard for the last name.  I picked Chantal because we had an intern at work with that name, and she rather reminded me of the character I was creating.  Nora’s beau was named Daniel Corleone, and that too was easy….he’s named after Danny Corleone, a real-life person, the husband of one of my best friends in NJ.

There are some points I try to remember when constructing a character name: I try to make them memorable, unique, and not distracting.  As to how I name them, well, I’ve used all of the below methods:

1. Consult the phone book.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shut my eyes, flipped to a page, plopped my finger down, and Wolla!  Sydney McCall was born (of course the name was Sidney, a guy, so I just made the adjustment)
2. Consult a baby name book. You would be surprised at how many unique and beautiful names there are in a baby name book!  You can also find nicknames there too!  That’s how I got the nickname for a character named Charlotte: Charley.  (that’s in an as yet unsold manuscript, so I can’t say any more about it!)
3. Use a random name generator. Another fabulous tool, from which I managed to cobble together the name of Nora’s other beau, Leroy Samms.
4. Pay homage to characters from movies and tv shows: I”ve modeled characters after famous people – for example, Lola Grainger in the first Nick and Nora mystery is my tribute to the late, great Natalie Wood.  I thought about calling her Natalie Grainger but I thought it might be too obvious, considering the character dies in a boating accident on page 4.  I’ve also named characters after ones I liked on tv shows – one, also in an as yet unsold manuscript, is called Victoria Chase – my homage to Wendie Malick’s character in Hot in Cleveland.

The best advice I can give on this topic is:  don’t get hung up on the name.  If necessary, call them “X” and get back to it.  Believe me, the perfect name will come.

Just ask Nick and Nora.

About the Author

T.C. LoTempio is the national bestselling author of the Nick and Nora mystery series, as well as the Pet Shop Mystery Series and the Cat Rescue mysteries. She lives in sunny Phoenix Arizona along with her two cats, Maxx and ROCCO, who is a talented blogger himself.

ROCCO’s blog * Website * Facebook * Twitter

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