Trapped and Tested: A DeeLo Myer Cat Rescue Mystery
Cozy Mystery
2nd in the Series
Setting – Georgia
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Level Best Books

Synopsis

When DeeLo’s niece, Demi Myer, tries to find her father on an ancestry site, she meets Kwintone, a half-brother with a few secrets. After getting a speeding ticket, Kwintone is assigned to community service in the Pecan Point Humane Society’s Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return program—trapping cats with DeeLo on the new Oakwood Studios lot. The disinterested trainee leaves abruptly on his first night, and later DeeLo finds his car abandoned beside the road, phone on the seat.

Where is Kwintone, and is he connected to the stabbing of the CEO of Neuroscience Laboratories—a medical research facility that tests its products on cats?

DeeLo is still determined to change the county’s animal ordinance to support TNVR, but is the newcomer candidate she backs for the open commissioner slot involved in a murder?

Amazon

Guest Post

My name is DeeLo Myer, and I’m a volunteer for the Pecan Point Humane Society. A real one now.

I got my start with the organization doing court-ordered community service in their TNVR program that helps control the overpopulation of free-roaming cats. (We have a lot of them here in rural Georgia.) TNVR stands for Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return the feline to the location where it was humanely caught. At the spay/neuter clinic where we take them, the veterinarian clips the cat’s left ear so we know it’s already been fixed. Saves everyone a lot of trouble if the animal ever wanders into a trap again.

While I was completing my community service, I was surprised to learn that Pecan County has some really outdated animal ordinances that essentially render TNVR illegal. The law doesn’t distinguish between “pet cats” and “feral cats,” which are not owned by anyone. According to the ordinance, if you trap a cat, house it overnight, and then take it to the vet the next day to be sterilized and vaccinated, you own it. So, when it has recovered from the anesthesia, and you release it back to its outdoor home, you violate the county’s “animal abandonment” clause. You’ve also violated the leash law because in Pecan County, pets—including cats—must be kept indoors or on a leash.

Very few people have actually read this ordinance, and no one enforces it. Well, almost no one. Last year, a fellow TNVR volunteer got arrested for “animal abandonment” when she released a feral cat she’d trapped. The arresting officer had a grudge against her (which had prompted him to read the ordinance in the first place). But then he held her in jail for almost two days as a suspect in a murder that was committed close to where we were trapping.

I couldn’t believe the county would have such a stupid law, so I made it my mission to get it changed. Making the updates necessary to recognize TNVR as a legal activity only required modifying the definition of “owner,” adding a few terms like “community cat” and “community cat caretaker,” and exempting these from the laws governing pet owners. I got my boyfriend/boss, Barry Barton, who is a lawyer, to help me with the legalese. I gathered data from Animal Control and other jurisdictions that had successfully implemented TNVR programs. Then I garnered support from the community and approached the Board of Commissioners for a sponsor to get my proposal on their agenda.

It almost worked. Turns out getting a law changed is more complicated than it sounds. And I nearly died for the cause.

But I’m still determined. The law needs to be fixed so we can recruit more volunteers for the TNVR program. Pecan County is having an election next month for the open commissioner position, and I can’t wait to pitch my proposal to the new candidate. I’m excited that Zach Kirkpatrick, property manager for Oakwood Studios, just threw his hat into the ring, and he is open to supporting animal-friendly initiatives. I told him about my proposal for ordinance reform, and he agreed to sponsor it if he’s elected. He also asked me to be the social media manager for his campaign.

Unfortunately, Barry and I are now at odds over politics. His ex-wife, Victoria, a stuck-up witch who couldn’t even remember my name until she started running for office, is the front-runner in this race, and Barry is giving her his full support. In fact, he’s spending so much time helping her with her campaign, I’m afraid it will bring them back together. He can’t understand why I’m supporting Zach instead.

I really hope Zach is the great guy I think he is. Surely, he had nothing to do with the stabbing of Aiden Green.

The other night, I was trapping feral cats on Oakwood Studios property when I stumbled over the body of a man who’d been stabbed. He was later identified as Aiden Green, CEO of Neuroscience Laboratories, a company that does medical research and tests its products on cats.

Earlier, Aiden Green had been at a meeting at Oakwood Studios with Eddie Fenton, Zach’s boyfriend and campaign manager. Eddie is a big animal advocate; in fact, he was arrested at a protest at Neuroscience Laboratories two years ago that turned violent. He’s had his eye on the company ever since and believes they were awarded a grant under fraudulent circumstances. Apparently, Eddie called the meeting to trick Aiden into admitting to some of his deceptive practices. Zach was there, too.

But both Zach and Eddie insist they had nothing to do with the stabbing. Yes, the meeting with Aiden did not end well, but everyone walked away alive.

I want to believe them. There’s no way I will ever vote for Victoria in this election. Zach has to be the real deal. But if he did this, it wouldn’t be the first time I trusted a killer.

About the Author

SHARON MARCHISELLO is the author of two other mysteries published by Milford House, the fiction imprint of Sunbury Press: Going Home (2014) and Secrets of the Galapagos (2019), which is the prequel to Murder at Leisure Dreams – Galapagos. She also writes the DeeLo Myer Cat Rescue Mysteries from Level Best Books. Besides novels, Sharon has published short stories in anthologies and online magazines, including one that was a 2022 Derringer finalist. She has written travel articles, training manuals, screenplays, book reviews, and a nonfiction book, Live Well, Grow Wealth (2018). She earned a Bachelor’s degree in French from the University of Houston and a Master’s in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California. She is an active member of Sisters in Crime, the Atlanta Writers Club, and the Hometown Novel Writers Association. Retired after 27 years with Delta Air Lines, Sharon now lives in Peachtree City, Georgia. She serves on the boards of the Fayette Humane Society, Hometown Novel Writers Association, and the Friends of the Peachtree City Library. She loves to travel, including a trip to the Galapagos Islands in 2014.

Website * Facebook * X * Goodreads * LinkedIn * Instagram * BookBub