A Novel Way to Die
by Ali Brandon

Darla Pettistone may have inherited her great aunt Dee’s Brooklyn bookstore, but it’s the store’s mascot—an oversized black cat named Hamlet—who acts like he owns the place. And when someone turns up dead, Hamlet smells something rotten in Brooklyn...

As the owner of Pettistone’s Fine Books, Darla is settling nicely into her new life, even reaching an uneasy truce with Hamlet. Unfortunately, when she needs to hire a new clerk, the finicky feline decides to lend a paw to the hiring process. He chases away applicants who don’t meet his approval, finally settling on an unlikely candidate: Robert, a book-loving Goth kid who has a secret only Hamlet knows.

And Hamlet can’t seem to stay out of trouble. One of the bookstore’s regular customers, a man who is renovating a local brownstone, claims he’s seen Hamlet prowling the neighborhood. When the man’s business partner is found dead, Darla discovers that Hamlet may have been the only witness to what could be murder. With the crafty cat’s help, she wonders if they just might be able to pounce on a killer...

Other Books by Ali Brandon

Plot Boiler
A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery #5

Literally Murder
A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery #4

Words With Fiends
A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery #3

Double Booked for Death
A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery #1

Ali Brandon's Bio

Ali Brandon, author of the upcoming contemporary cozy series, The Black Cat Bookshop Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime. Mix a bad-tempered black cat named Hamlet with an unwitting bookstore owner named Darla, add a dead body or two, and you have the kind of fast-paced murder mystery that will make you purr with satisfaction.

And, shhh! Don't tell, but Ali is also Diane A.S. Stuckart, author of the award-winning Leonardo da Vinci Mystery series. To learn more about Ali/Diane and the first Black Cat Bookshop Mystery, DOUBLE BOOKED FOR DEATH (on the shelves December 2011!), go to www.dianestuckart.com.