Friday, 29 November 2024

**FELINE FICTION FIX** Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #299 featuring **Nugget, Coins, and Murder: A Cozy Magic Midlife Mystery - Silver Circle Cat Rescue Mysteries Book 3** by Leanne Leeds **PLUS** Friendly Fill-Ins + Photo Fails Blog Hop

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Hello meautiful library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today, and this week the P.A. has been chewing my ear off, not literally, but she's been giving me earache about my tufty chest fur. As mew can see below.

Amber's Book Reviews #299 ©BionicBasil® Amber With Her Tufty Chest Fur

Now, while I do like a bit of brush, the brush has to be soft, as I'm way past the age for intense grooming, especially with those metal-pronged instruments of evilness.

So the P.A. and I have reached a bit of an impasse, although she did offer to use Parsley's pink angel wing tangle teezer extra gently on my furs. I am considering the proposal, but I haven't fully committed to it yet.

She even demonstrated said brush on Pandora, who has taken years to be fully comfortable with being brushed, and now she really loves it.

Perhaps I'll just make her wait a few more days and then succumb to a brief session, which might just be what I've been looking for after witnessing Pandora's delight! 

I'll keep mew posted, and hopefully next week, my furs will be all smooth and sleek again, but we'll see! MOL

Anyhoo, let's look at this week's top book pick.

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Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.
1. I already know what I am going to get _____________________ for Christmas.
2. I have no idea what to get _____________ for Christmas.
3. _________ is my earliest Christmas memory.
4. My house _________ during the Christmas season.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. I already know what I am going to get my mum for Christmas. I've already got it, I bought it six weeks ago, but I can't spill the tea just in case she reads today's post!

2. I have no idea what to get Cat Dad for Christmas. We don't really do gifts like in the normal tradition; we just have a few little stocking fillers, and we're all good. We've got cats. What else do we need? LOL

3. Getting a kilt when I was four is my earliest Christmas memory. I remember going and waking up my parents at about 3am full of delight about receiving a red kilt from Santa, and funnily enough, they were not as enthused as I was - I can't think why?!!! LOL

4. My house is very calm during the Christmas season. It's just a chilled, relaxed vibe with nothing in particular to do over the festive season. Just how I like it, quiet, calm, Cat Dad and cats... purrfection!
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Today, as it's the last Friday of the month, we're also joining in the furrbulous...


So do drop by the marvellous Mudpie's blog at www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com to join in.

This time, Melvyn is here with this...

Melvyn's Pumpkin Failure

Pet Photo Fails  ©BionicBasil® Melvyn's Pumpkin Failure

If mew missed our Halloween Crafting with Cats post, we made a catnip pumpkin on a wand... nuff said!!! MOL MOL
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Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

Amber's Book Reviews #299 ©BionicBasil® Nugget, Coins, and Murder - A Cozy Magic Midlife Mystery (Silver Circle Cat Rescue Mysteries Book 3 by Leanne Leeds
Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

Nugget, Coins, and Murder 

A Cozy Magic Midlife Mystery 
Silver Circle Cat Rescue Mysteries Book 3

by 

Leanne Leeds

       Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

A cat with a gold chip on his shoulder.
A coin collector dead in the night.
Can they uncover the killer before the truth—and the collector—is buried forever?


With Silver Circle Rescue moved into Wardwell Manor, Ellie Rockwell and daughter Evie (and the dozens of cats) couldn’t be happier in their new home. The pair are getting familiar with all their cats using the magical crystal plate that allows the cats to speak to them and are able to match cats with perfect forever homes.

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This week, I thought we'd revisit this pawesome, cozy cat mystery series. If mew missed the review for book one, click here. And here for book two.

If mew’re in the mood for a cozy mystery that mixes a touch of magic with a whole lot of feline fun, then dive into Nugget, Coins, and Murder, the delightful third instalment in the Silver Circle Cat Rescue Mysteries series by Leanne Leeds. This book has everything mew’d want: quirky characters, a charming setting, and of course, a cat with more purrsonality than most hoomans!


Right off the bat, just in case mew've forgotten since book two, we’re introduced to Ellie Rockwell and her daughter Evie, who have just moved into the enchanting Wardwell Manor with their posse of rescue cats. Their peaceful new life is disrupted when they find Nugget, the recently orphaned kitty of the late Harold Goldfinch, mysteriously left on their doorstep. But Nugget isn’t just any cat—no, he comes equipped with a gold chip on his shoulder (and some serious sass), convinced that Harold didn’t die of natural causes. Cue the suspense!


Leeds does an excellent job of blending humour with mystery as our dynamic duo delves into the world of coin collecting and unravels a tangled web of deceit. The magical crystal plate that allows Ellie and Evie to communicate with their cats is a stroke of genius! It’s both endearing and hysterical to imagine a bunch of cats offering their unsolicited opinions on hooman affairs while adding a magical twist to the traditional cozy mystery format.


As our heroines dig deeper into Harold’s suspicious demise, the plot thickens, and the suspects multiply. With clever twists and cat-themed puns throughout, mew’ll be scratching your head and giggling simultaneously. Just when mew think mew’ve figured it all out, the rug gets yanked right out from under your paws, leaving mew not just guessing but laughing at the antics of some feisty felines!


Book 3 is a purrfect dose of mystery, magic, and heart, infused with plenty of humour and a few unexpected surprises. If mew’re a cat lover and enjoy cozy mysteries, this read is a must! 


So grab your favourite blanket, make yourself a cup of nip tea, and settle in for a delightful romp through the quirky world of Silver Circle Cat Rescue. Mew won't want to put it down until every last mystery is solved!


There are ten books in the series, and if mew are subscribed to Kindle Unlimited, they are available in the catalogue to read for free, except for Book 10 as that is a pre-order available in April 2025 and if mew have Audible, they are available to listen for the cost of one member credit each. (Info correct at time of posting.)

Another Totally Top Paw Addition to This Furbulous Series!

Paperback: 288 pages
Audio: 7 hours 3 mins
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My Rating Scale
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Rating of:

Nugget, Coins, and Murder 


Overall Enjoyment

Amber's Rating Scale ©BionicBasil® 5 Paws

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Other Fun Blog Hops to Join Today


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I'm off to prepare for next week's review, as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time!

Don't forget if mew are looking for great books with cats, check out the Book Review page, just click the link here or at the top of the page, as that's the place to visit to get your feline fiction fix.

Until next week...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 









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Thursday, 28 November 2024

**THE PURRMINATOR** **A BRAND NEW B TEAM ADVENTURE FOR 2024** **CHAPTER FIVE**

THE PURRMINATOR ©BionicBasil® Basil and The B Team

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The Purrminator is an action-packed experience that takes mew on a journey through a world of perilous danger with oodles of excitement, though sometimes in a scary way. With depictions of nightmare and spine-tingling encounters, the story draws mew in, making mew feel as though mew are right there with young Melvyn, fighting for survival as he's relentlessly hunted by the evil cyborg machines, known as Purrminators, as he tries to find his Great Uncle Basil through time and space. Oh my Cod, will he make it?

HOLD ON TIGHT, GUYS; THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE WILD, FLUFFING ADVENTURE!!!

Purrminator Divider

If mew missed the start of this brand-new adventure, click the links below:

Chapter One    Chapter Two    Chapter Three     Chapter Four

The Purrminator by Basil and The B Team 2024 ©BionicBasil® Page Break

Chapter Five

Winging It BBHQ Style

            “Fear not, young kitten and esteemed descendant of Basil,” Vera 5.0 said. “I’ve got your six, little dude!”

Melvyn trembled as the Conference Room turned an ominous shade of red. “Vera, we’re stuck. There’s nowhere to go!” he whispered at the black box he was holding.

“Don’t panic,” Vera said in her cheery tone. “Head over to the back wall.”

The kitten ran towards the wall. “Now what?”

“Halfway up, on the panel on your right, you will feel a slight indentation,” Vera instructed.

Stretching up, his paw glided over the panelled area, and then he felt it, barely any difference, but still enough of a difference to feel it. “Yes, I’ve got it!”

“Well, don’t just stand there like a kitten waiting for death. PUSH IT!” Vera replied.

Melvyn applied pressure to the spot, and the panel slid open, revealing a secret passageway.

“Hurry!” Vera ordered.

The kitten slipped through the opening, and the panel slid back into place. A dim light shone overhead as he scurried down the short passageway, fighting his way through swathes of ancient cobwebs as the musty, damp aroma filled his nostrils. He sneezed just as another door opened into a concrete chamber.

Looking all around, Melvyn sighed in utter despair. There was no way out, seriously, mew couldn't write it!

“Chin up, little dude,” Vera chirped. “You don’t think I’ve led you to another dead-end, do you?”

“That’s what it looks like,” Melvyn whimpered as he pulled a rather sticky web off his whiskers.

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Vera chuckled. “Stand by the wall and don’t move. Not even a whisker.”

The floor began to tremble just a fraction, and ancient motors roared into life.

“What the fluff?” Melvyn blurted as he pushed himself back against the damp wall as far as he could go.

“Stay still, young Pawda Wan,” Vera instructed.

Part of the floor slowly slid apart, and in the next moment, a flashing red light began to emerge from the inky abyss below. Steam billowed up, filling the chamber with a rather earthy and stale odour.

Melvyn gulped. And then he heard the sound of gunfire and explosions echoing in the distance, perhaps only the other side of the concrete chamber. Squeezing his eyes tight shut, he began to pray to Bastet.

“Quickly now,” Vera said impatiently. “Open the red door and get inside.”

His eyes pinged open, and his jaw dropped as he saw the fabled BBHQ Time Travelling Telephone Box standing right in front of him. Lurching forward on legs that felt as solid as overcooked noodles, he grasped the door, wrenched it open with all his might and fell inside.

“Astrid 7.0, this is Vera 5.0. I am invoking protocol Foxtrot-Niner-Bravo-Delta-450012,” Vera commanded. “Please execute immediately.”

The door slammed shut with a definitive bang, and the kitten nearly jumped out of his fur.

It was pitch black inside and as quiet as quiet could be.

“ASTRID WAKE UP!” Vera yelled from her mobile black box still clutched in Melvyn’s paw. Shocked by the unexpected outburst, the kitten launched Vera into the air and fumbled desperately to catch her on the descent.

A pale purple glow illuminated the space, slowly getting brighter. And the kitten gasped as he took in the sheer enormity of where he was standing.

“ASTRID!” Vera was getting rather annoyed. “Don’t make me have to download myself into your operating system. You know how that will go down!”

“For Cod’s sake Vera, take it down a notch, would you?” A grouchy voice replied.

“Oh, you’ve decided to join us in the earthly realm at last!” Vera fumed.

“Vera, take a breath. The world isn’t ending. Nothing bad is happening, so BACK THE FLUFF OFF!” Astrid snapped.

Vera sighed. Yes, it was one of those sighs; I’ve got one nerve left, and you’re getting right on it“Take a look outside and then tell me the world isn’t ending and nothing bad is happening. You complete fluffing fluffer!”

An extremely tense and seemingly long second passed, and Astrid coughed awkwardly, breaking the chasm of silence. “Hmmmmmmm… well now,” she appeared to suck in a breath and exhale really loudly. “That does change things somewhat!”

“They’re right outside the fluffing door, aren’t they?” Vera accused.

Astrid was silent for a brief moment before conceding. “Yep, they’re trying to open the door!”

**AND CUT**

The Purrminator by Basil and The B Team 2024 ©BionicBasil® Page Break

Guys, mew know how we roll; so many apologies once again to cut it right there, but we will say, mew'll never guess what happens next - sorry to be a supurr dreadful tease! MOL

If mew would like to read Chapter Six, let us know in the comments.

Don't forget to check out yesterday's Midweek News, and Amber will be here tomorrow with another totally pawesome book review.

In the meantime...



Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 







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**PLEASE NOTE**

Copyright © 2024 by BionicBasil® & Cathrine Garnell ~ Author & Publisher

All rights reserved. No part of this blog serialized publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including content scraping, screenshots, blatant copying or any other electronic or mechanical methods, without the author's and publisher's prior written permission. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below:

deardrbasil @gmail . com 

The right of Cathrine Garnell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. 

All characters, people, places, and names of businesses are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental. 

 

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The Purrminator character created with Ai Arta

Wednesday, 27 November 2024

**THE BBHQ MIDWEEK NEWS ROUND-UP** Parsley's Epic Meatloaf, Smooch's Snoozy Sunday, Pandora's Staying Warm, and Melvyn's Modelling This Weeks Top Pick Bandana **EXTRA, EXTRA!** DOES MELVYN HAVE A BANDANA PROBLEM?

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Epic Greetings Furbulous Furiends

Welcome to the BBHQ midweek news round-up!

The weather has eased up a little, and the dreadful and extremely offensive snow has now departed, thank cod. And we were supurr lucky that Storm Bert missed us. However, we are so sad for everyone who got flooded around the country. 

On a happier note.

Look what the P.A. got this week. She's had her eye on one of these for ages, and it was on offer on Amazon, so she snapped one up.

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil®The Magic Pharmacy DIY Book Nook Kit

It's like building a dollhouse but for your bookshelves. Parsley looked at it, and it takes about 20 hours to make and is full of oodles and oodles of fiddly bits to put together. The P.A. will love it, or not! MOL 

But what we wanted to know was:

HAVE ANY OF MEW EVER BUILT ONE?

Oh, before we forget, we joined Bluesky, as there's a mass exodus on Twitter or X, so we hopped over there, and if mew're there too, follow us, and we'll follow mew back. Here is the link:

https://bsky.app/profile/basilandthebteam.bsky.social

Unfortunately, some rather selfish purrson stole our regular handle of BionicBasil, yep for a dog too - seriously mew couldn't write it! We were rather hissed off by that, but so it goes. It's not the first time that's happened; somepawdy on TikTok stole it, too... what can mew say???  

Anyhoo, let's look at this week's top headlines.

First up in the news

Parsley's Epic Meatloaf

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Parsley's Epic Meatloaf

Parsley was really on point with this pose while he was just having a few warms by the fire.

Next up in the news

Smooch's Snoozy Sunday

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Smooch's Snoozy Sunday

 This is one of Smooch's favourite all-time top three snooze spots. He loves the shroom; still, after all this time, it's always one of his go-to napping spots!

And it's even better with the radiator on.

In other news...

Pandora's Staying Warm

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Pandora's Staying Warm

It was quite blustery, with a big dollop of rain on the side on Caturday. So Pandora was inside most of the day, and most of that was spent on the sofa near the fire.

Finally this week

Melvyn's Modelling The Top Bandana Pick

Last week mew voted for the furbulous Bears and Bunnie's bandana, but don't worry, the Autumn Butterflies will be made and put into the unworn box for future modelling assignments.

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Melvyn Modelling The Bears and Bunnies Bandana

Now, this week's catwalk was a bit of a disaster, Melvyn wasn't feeling it because he had to model on Monday instead of Tuesday, and that just messed with his whole vibe. Anyhoo, take a look; even Smooch got on the catwalk this week! MOL

Check out Melvyn's videos on:




Which one is your favourite this week?

Which one should he model next?


Here's the bandana collection for December. 

Mew have six choices for the month, as Melvyn wanted to remodel some of his Catmas favourites!

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Catmas 2024 Bandana Collection

The December Collection

Top row from left to right.

1. Catmas Cats

2. Jingle All the Way

3. Candy Canes

Bottom row from left to right

4. Festive Fun

5. Catmas Presents

6. Catmas Mice

Tell us your top pick for next week in the comments!

EXTRA, EXTRA!


DOES MELVYN HAVE A BANDANA PROBLEM?

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Does Melvyn Have A Bandana Problem

Melvyn wants to know if he has a problem? This selection doesn't include October's or November's bandanas either, as the photo was taken on the 12th of October... oh dear! MOL

Check out his bandana purrusal video on your favourite social media platform:

Instagram

YouTube

TikTok

That's us done for today. Amber will be back on Friday with another meowvellous book, and if mew missed any other posts, here are the links:

 Pandora's Selfie

Amber's Latest Book Review

Check out the latest episodes of The Purrminator, as tomorrow we'll be back with Chapter Five in Melvyn's epically epic origin story:





Wishing mew an epic day, and remember to always...

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Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 














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