A Cat Called Buick

I’m often asked if the characters and situations in my books are based on real people and the answer to that is simple. No. That little blurb on the copyright page—the one that begins with “This is a work of fiction”—is completely accurate and true.

That’s not to say I’m not inspired by the things I see and hear. If you read my July release, Firefighter Daddy, you’ll remember that the heroine, Rory, has a black and white cat named Buick.

I’ve never met a cat called Buick, but years ago I knew someone who had a cat named Evenrude. He didn’t purr quite as loud as a boat motor, but he was loud! However, Evenrude was a tabby, not a tuxedo cat.

More recently my neighbor had a black and white cat named Pete. Here’s a picture of Pete, taken one Hallowe’en on my neighbor’s front steps.

My family loved Pete, so when we decided to get a cat of our own, we fell in love with this black-and-white beauty. Her name is Imilie.

I guess you could say the cat in Firefighter Daddy is three real-life cats—Evenrude, Pete and Imilie—rolled into one. However, his name, Buick, came entirely out of my imagination and if you want to find out where that came from, well, you’ll have to read the book.

As an aside, and so as not to cause any hard feelings between the two felines who rule the roost at my house, here’s a photo of Lucy, our other cat.

Lucy hopes to inspire a story someday, too.

Until next time,
Lee

PS: Firefighter Daddy is available at eHarlequin.com, Amazon.com, and in Canada at Chapters.ca.