MUSE MONDAY - Joan Lennon's Quiet Cat


Today, children's author Joan Lennon makes a welcome return visit to this blog...


Joan Lennon and friend (don't tell the cat...!)

Who or what is your muse?
Joan: I've already had the pleasure of hanging out with the unicorn on an earlier Muse Monday which was about ferrets. But nobody said you can't have more than one muse! And all the while I've been writing the Victorian detective series, The Slightly Jones Mysteries,* my old cat Katie has curled up nearby and slept in an inspirational fashion. It's true! A quiet room and a quiet cat help the words to flow.

* The Case of the London Dragonfish, The Case of the Glasgow Ghoul, The Case of the Cambridge Mummy, and just out, The Case of the Hidden City (see below).


A quiet cat helps the words flow...


When did you first meet?
Joan: Katie (the cat) is 17 now, so in human terms we met 84 years ago, when she was a kitten.

Does your muse appear in any of your books and/or artwork?
Joan: Her cousins do! There is an elderly cat called Cleopatra who lives at Limpopo House with Slightly Jones and Granny Tonic and the lodgers. Although Cleopatra is important - every cat is important, obviously - she doesn't actually help Slightly Jones in solving her cases. But a younger, French cat called Noir plays a vital role in Slightly's most recent adventure, The Case of the Hidden City. I tell you, things were looking really, really bad when ... but I don't want to give anything away!

If you won the lottery and had complete artistic freedom, what would you write/create?
Joan: Hmmm. I've never done the lottery but, you know, I think it might be fun to write a musical with songs and dancing and poetry, with all the parts played by Cats.

Before you go, does your muse have a message for the Unicorn?
Katie: Hi! Is it okay if I sleep in your manger for a bit?

Of course you can, Katie, though only when I'm not eating out of it. (By the way, your author's musical idea sounds wonderful, but it's probably just as well she doesn't buy lottery tickets because I hear it's already been done... by humans! Cats the musical.)
 
More about Joan
Joan Lennon lives in the Kingdom of Fife, on the River Tay. The Kingdom is said to be shaped like a dog's head. If this is so, her flat is somewhere on the tip of the ear, which explains a lot. She has a husband, four tall sons and one short cat, and plans to go on writing forever. To learn more, visit Joan's website: http://www.joanlennon.co.uk/



Slightly Jones and the Case of the Hidden City
Maria kidnapped. Dare tell no one. Ransom demand signed Hidden City. Afraid.

Slightly Jones arrives in the City of Art and Artists in response to a bewildering telegram. But will her first case out of her own country prove too much for our detective-in-training? Will she discover the truth, or will she be lost forever beneath the streets of Paris?

You can buy this book online from Amazon