A frog, a cat, and a hobgoblin walk into a bar…in the Jurassic period. Nope…not kidding. Okay, maybe it wasn’t really a bar. But it was definitely the local drinking establishment. For dinosaurs…
What could be more fun than riding a time-traveling tortoise into the past? That’s easy, riding said tortoise into the Jurassic era to dance (or run for your life) among the dinosaurs. Well…fun might not be the best word…terrifying maybe?
Anyway, imagine the age of the dinosaur with a vegetarian T-Rex, an accident-prone heroine with no deodorant, a magical cat, a talking frog, and an irreverent, irrepressible hobgoblin with a flare for finding trouble, and you have…well…you have Turtle Croakies. Book 10 in my fun and fast-paced paranormal cozy mystery series. Enjoy the ride!
Also…you have a little pterodactyl poop…right…there…
It’s all fun and games until somebody gets eaten.
From Turtle Croakies…
Sebille and I shared a long, shocked look.
Holy turtle toes! The car-sized dinosaur was a lumbering, lettuce-eating time machine!
Sebille bent closer to Tildy, peering carefully into the tortoise’s calm, dark eyes. “So how do you work her? Is there a remote control or something?”
Alice harumphed. “Don’t be daft. She’s not a blooming telly. She’s a living creature, i’nt she?”
I watched the two cats on the windowsill. They were both sitting upright, staring with fascination as a street sweeper crawled slowly past beyond the glass. Fenwald’s long tail was scruffier than Mr. Wicked’s, the fur patchy and rough. But it swung in time and rhythm that matched my beautiful boy’s sleek gray one. They were two peas in a pod. It made me smile.
“Aren’t they adorable, then?” Alice said.
I skimmed her a grin. “They haven’t forgotten each other.”
“Course not. It’s only been a few months since I left after all.”
Or three years. But who was I to quibble over thirty-three months? “Seems like just yesterday,” I said, my lips twitching.
“Saucy thing,” Alice said, bumping my shoulder with hers. But I heard the smile in her voice.
I turned my gaze to the elephant-sized problem in the room. “So…what do you need from me?”
Alice opened her mouth to respond but never got the chance.
The front door opened with a jangle of the bell. I frowned. I could have sworn I’d locked it behind Rustin and Lea. My pulse spiked. I couldn’t have customers walking in to find a giant magical tortoise sitting in the middle of the store.
My panic quickly turned to shock when I saw who it was. “Oh!” I said, because…witty. “What are you doing here, Mr. Pudsnecker?” My mind slid to the envelope I’d hidden beneath a pile of books on Shakespeare’s desk, and guilt ate a path through me. What if he was there to demand my reaction? I’d have to admit I’d been too afraid to read past the first few sentences.
I was a coward.
But Archibald Pudsnecker didn’t seem to have come for me. He was busy glaring at Alice.
I barely had time to feel relief.
“Oy, Pudsy. How’s things?” Alice asked with a smile.
Pudsy? I frowned, a fragment of a memory slicing its way from my subconscious and splatting on the floor as it unfolded fully in my mind.
Oy!
Pudsy!