The Black Cat Detectives book tour is through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours and includes a giveaway and a fun character guest post. Check it out below, share, comment, subscribe.
Book Details
The Black Cat Detectives: A Mystery
Cozy Animal Mystery
Setting – Corvin’s Crossing—a small fictional island off the coast of New England
Publisher : Crooked Lane Books
Publication date : May 26, 2026
Print length : 304 pages
Hardcover
ISBN-13 : 979-8892425520
ASIN : B0FNW3NQ3C
Paperback
ISBN-13 : 979-8892425537
ASIN : B0FNVM2SHD
Digital
ISBN-13 : 979-8892425544
ASIN : B0FNW6TDN4
A charming cozy mystery with a delightful twist: The detectives are three kittens with magical powers, determined to solve a most purr-plexing case.
Precocious kittens Bippity, Boppity, and Boop are exceedingly loyal to their human, the twenty-eight-year-old up-and-coming magician Mila. She saved them from starving to death in a dingy Corvin’s Crossing alleyway and has been nothing but loving ever since, even though her own life is in shambles.
So when Mila’s sketchy boyfriend and business manager turns up dead at the end of her big magic show—she’s the prime suspect. With evidence mounting, there’s nothing stopping the sheriff from hauling away Mila to the human pound. Unless the kittens can solve the crime and clear her name.
The kittens will have to use their dubious control over the laws of physics and every whisker of know-how they’ve got to catch the real killer if they want to save their happy home with Mila. This is one meow-stery more tangled than any ball of yarn they’ve encountered yet.
Tips and Tricks for Conflict Resolution
with Boppity MacAllister
Hello, humans! Everyone has conflict in their life. It’s what you do with that conflict that defines what kind of cat (or human) you are. I can already tell you’re clever. You came to me for battle advice. Not to brag, but I’m the boldest, fiercest warrior you’re ever
going to meet. So you’ve come to the right place.
Without further blabber, here’s my list of tips and tricks for resolving any battle you find.
- The Stare
The stare is about two things.
First, you’re showing them what you’re made of. Humans talk about staring like it can pierce. I don’t know about that, but I can tell you that in terms of body language, a stare is like a shout. So make it bold and deep and unflinching.
Second, and maybe more importantly, size up your opponent. They probably think staring is just the preamble, but that’s because they’re not as strategic as we are. If you’re clever, you can get everything you need to know about them by
reading their body language right now. Do their eyes dart? Does their nose twitch? What about their whiskers. Are the paws relaxed, or curled and clenching whatever surface they’re touching? This will signal you about whether they’re raring for a fight or receptive to your perspective. Now look at the position of their ears. Back, tips up shows battle-readiness. But back, tips low shows fear. What about their shoulders and haunches? Be sure to get a good look at those haunches especially. You need to know if they’re preparing a covert pounce.
2. Know the Situation
What is this conflict all about? What do they want? What do you want? Are you 100% sure you understand the situation from every angle? A wise warrior doesn’t go into battle with blind spots. It’s embarrassing to thwap someone in the face only to discover that they were just trying to trade meat-feasts with you all along. Learn from the wisdom of my battle-experience.
3. Know the Stakes
Sometimes, you’re fighting for respect. Sometimes for a pink mousie-toy.
Sometimes for your life. Be sure you know what you stand to gain. Or lose. And be sure it’s worth it.
4. Thinking and Feeling are Different
If big things are happening, big feelings can be happening too. Sometimes, battle even includes causing big feelings in your opponent on purpose. Feelings can be helpful—they make you fierce. But they aren’t very clever. So let your feelings
lend you strength, but don’t let them make your strategic decisions. And if your opponent is all spun up on emotions, watch out for unpredictable ferocity and watch for your opening.
5. Use the Minimum Necessary Force to End the Battle
Absolutely pulverizing someone is satisfying. I’ll give you that, human. But when you go beyond defeating someone and destroy them, you run the risk of crushing their spirit. Then they won’t want to play with you anymore.
Of course, this is fine if you’re battling a villain. But most times, you are going to have to watch carefully for the moment when you’ve made your point, and then rise above everything that came before and be the bigger cat.
6. Respect your Opponent
If they land a valid blow, it’s okay to tell them good job. I’m not sure why, but a lot of times, doing this actually makes them more interested in becoming your ally.
Maybe not everyone who fights enjoys it, though I can’t imagine why not. But what I do know is that noticing what your opponent is doing well is good for the battle, gives you new ideas for strategies and attacks to try, and might just help you make a friend.
7. Allies are There for a Reason
It’s easy to think a warrior should stand on his own four paws and need nobody and nothing except for himself. But there’s a reason we have allies. Accepting support and letting your siblings help you win a tough battle doesn’t mean you’re weak, it means your strong and wise. A good warrior needs to be both.
8. Use Your Voice
Mumble. Growl. Shout insults. Scream a battle cry. Being noisy is great fun, and helps bring your fierceness to the surface and give you more strength. Plus, it makes you more terrifying, and an intimidated enemy is already halfway defeated. Which brings me to my next point.
9. Get Big
Turn sideways and hunch your shoulders. Arch your back. Stand your fur on end and make it as spiky as possible. If you have a beard or anything, stand that up,
too. Humans are sadly lacking in fur, but do your best. You don’t have tails, either, right? That’s a real shame, because a poofed out tail, arched just so, is terrifying. Don’t worry, human. You can still shuffle sideways on stiff legs and then dramatically hop from side to side, and you can open your mouth wide and shake it at the sky so they know you mean business.
Honestly, getting big is more about your attitude than your body, anyway. If you’re unsure, your opponent will know it. If you’re standing there like an immovable mountain of impossible ferocity and you know in your bones that you’re bigger and tougher than the guy you’re squaring off against, regardless of their physical size, believe me. They’ll know it, too.
10. You Do You
This is the most important one of all. No matter what, always be true to yourself.
Don’t say or do things because I said so, and don’t say or do things just to win.
Be real with yourself and be real with your opponent. Any conflict is in the mind at least as much as in the body. Always be true to yourself. That way, even if you get knocked down and fall off a table, you’ll shake it off and be ready to go again in no time.
About Kit Gray
Kit Gray aka Elise Scott writes from their lived experiences of queerness, disability, neurodivergence, fat-positivity, and petting three cats with two hands. Their life has been an adventure, from facilitating equine therapy for trauma survivors to counseling at-risk youth with the aid of an inordinately large sub-woofer and beyond. They earned their BA from Mount Holyoke and their MS from Capella University. Their debut novel, a cozy mystery featuring three kittens with the ability to bend the laws of physics, who must solve a murder to save their rescuer from the human pound, is forthcoming from Crooked Lane in May 2026. Elise is a Not Quite Write Prize winner and Best-of-the-Net nominee. Their short work has appeared/is forthcoming in The Advocate, Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror, The Not Quite Write Anthology 2025, The B’K, Five Minutes, Knee Brace, All Existing, and Quibble, among others. Find out what they’re working on now at http://elise-scott.com.
Author Links
- Website https://elise-scott.com/
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorEliseScott/
- BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/elisescott.bsky.social
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/elisescottwrites/
- X https://x.com/buttonjar1
- GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/58697146.Kit_Gray
- Storygraph https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/authorkitgray
Purchase Links – Penguin Random House Amazon B&N Bookshop.org
Giveaway
Prize – Giveaway One winner receives a signed ARC of The Black Cat Detectives with an adorable Cuteness Care Package, which is a collection of stickers, bookmarks, and other swag. 3 runners-up will win only the cuteness care package.
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 3 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
June 3 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 4 – Storybook Lady – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 4 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 5 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT
June 5 – @bibliophile_foodie – REVIEW
June 6 – Baroness Book Trove -SPOTLIGHT
June 7 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
June 8 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows -CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 9 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
June 9 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 10 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 11 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
June 12 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 13 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
June 14 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 15 – Sarandipity’s – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 16 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
