Cats and Crime, A Panzer And The P.I. Mystery Collection

By Fiona L. Woods

Meet Lori Stockley, the mail order Private Investigator, and Panzer, the black cat in this short story collection. Oh, and we can't forget Lori's Granny Gladys. Put these three together and it's a recipe for chaos. Follow them as they catch drug dealers, burglars, bank robbers, and carpet snakes.

Five of the stories in this collection feature P.I. Lori Stockley, her Granny Gladys and Panzer; one features P.I. Lori Stockley working on her own; and one features Panzer home alone. Also included are two additional stories featuring Lori's husband homicide Detective Matt Stockley.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fiona L. Woods
• Release date: Dec 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301132027

Fiona L. Woods

I write the Lori Stockley, P.I., short stories and police Detective Matt Stockley murder mysteries. Like Lori Stockley, I like solving a good cat mystery. My past careers have included working as a bookkeeper, an insurance agent, a Notary Public, an administrative assistant, a jewelry designer, and a Social Media Information Technology Administrator. None of which were nearly as much fun as chronicling P.I. Lori Stockley and Panzer's adventures as evidenced by "Cats and Crime." I started writing in the second grade with a story about my horse named Booger. Yes, that really was his name and the teacher and my classmates couldn't stop laughing when I read it to the class. I was hooked on the joy of laughter and writing from then on. Now a fulltime freelance writer and cat herder, I've written a short story collection, two novellas and two novels.

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Cats and Crime

By Fiona L. Woods

Copyright 2012 Fiona L. Woods

Cover Design by Jennifer Barnhouse

Smashwords Edition

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

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All rights reserved without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and publisher of this book except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction One

You’re Out!

The Case of the Cat and the New P.I.

The Case of the Kamikaze Cat

The Case of the Peeping Tom Cat

The Case of the Santa Claus Caper

Bonus Story: For Sale

Introduction Two

Bonus Story: Seeing Double

Bonus Story: Dirty Trick

About the Author

Dedication

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INTRODUCTION ONE

My husband’s passion is woodworking. Me? My passion is crime. Grab a cup of tea and let’s get right to it!

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It’s really the cat’s house. We just pay the mortgage. -Anonymous

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YOU’RE OUT!

The burglar’s first strike was breaking in when I was home.

His second strike was pushing me from the desk chair.

His third strike was trying to kick me down the basement stairs.

Now he’s out - out at the bottom of the stairs.

Nobody kicks this cat.

THE END

You’re Out! was first published online in Flashshot.

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Cat people are different, to the extent that they generally are not conformists. How could they be, with a cat running their lives? -Louis Camuti

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THE CASE OF THE CAT AND THE NEW P.I.

People don't take me seriously. It doesn't help that I'm short-only five feet two inches. Or that I'm only 24 years old. And it definitely doesn't help that I'm blonde. Don't even start with the blonde jokes. They started in grade school and didn't end with high school. I've heard every one there is. Anything that starts, "Lori, how many blondes does it take... and ends with and one to..." I've heard. So, when I told my husband Matt about my new career choice, his reaction didn't surprise me.

I want to be a private investigator, I said.

He just nodded his head, muttered, Blondes, and went back to sleep in front of the TV. I took $250.00 out of our savings account to take a correspondence course from an ad I read in the back of a mystery magazine. Seven weeks later I got my certificate. When I showed Matt my badge in its genuine imitation leather case, he just nodded his head and went back to watching sports on