About Kitty Larsen
Kitty Larsen, the senior sleuth who hunts down The Tap Dancing Gorilla, fled the family ranch in Sidewinder, North Dakota within minutes of graduating from high school. Her Betty Grable good looks and minor dancing talent were enough to get her a job with a traveling dance troupe, but a run-in with the godson of a real South Philadelphia Godfather forced Kitty to flee to Florida, where she earned her living swimming in a giant fish tank. But making like Esther Williams six days a week wasn't her idea of a great long-term career, so she packed her bags once more and headed for Broadway where she got minor parts in hits like My Fair Lady and Hello Dolly. Kitty's big break and the end of her show business career came simultaneously. Within weeks of winning a coveted spot as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette, she tripped on a loose banana hanging from the train of her Carmen Miranda costume and went flying over the proscenium, landed in the middle of a kettle drum and smashed her right leg in a dozen places.
The drummer, Henry Kesseldorf, became Husband #1. Kitty soon left him for Husband #2, a sleazy realtor who was the father of her sons, Kevin, Brian and Sean. Kitty dumped Mr. Houlihan after she caught him in a very compromising position with his secretary. In order to support herself and her kids, Kitty took a succession of weird jobs, like playing Mrs. Santa Claus in a department store window, demonstrating one hundred and one ways to tie a scarf, and selling lingerie door-to-door.
Her only normal job, an employment counselor at Solly's Employment Agency, proved to be the launching pad for Kitty's professional success. One rainy afternoon, faced with an empty office and silent telephones, Solly and Kitty decided to play a friendly game of poker. Two hours later, after Kitty racked in the final pot, Solly confessed that he didn't have enough cash to cover his losses, but he would give her something better than money -- the agency. It took Kitty only a couple of years to transform the seedy 42nd Street company into Career Steps - The Agency with a Heart and relocate it to prestigious Madison Avenue. Around that time, she married Husband #3, "Darling Julius Silverberg the Jeweler." After Julius left her to stay with that Great Diamond Cutter in the Sky, Kitty met and fell in love with Husband #4, Charles Darrell Blumenfaux, the world-famous Seer to the Stars, with whom she shares a sumptuous apartment on Manhattan's ritzy Sutton Place. Kitty vows that he will be her last husband.
Now on the downhill side of 65, Kitty Larsen Kesseldorf Houlihan Silverberg Blumenfaux is a feisty, larger-than-life character, with a marshmallow soft heart hidden under a cloak of gruffness. Though her youthful beauty has faded and her figure has shifted from hourglass to pear-shaped, Kitty is a happy woman. She has three sons who have never caused her a minute of trouble, a husband who adores her, a successful business and the respect of her peers.
Kitty is not a woman to be overlooked. She wears false eyelashes thick as furry caterpillars, custom-made tent dresses accessorized with dyed-to-match Reeboks and gobs of jewelry left to her by Darling Julius. Tootie, a male Shih Tzu, accompanies her almost everywhere she goes, including the office and the hair salon. Kitty hates to exercise; she even hates to walk. Feet, she once declared, were created solely to give shoes something to hold onto. But she puts aside her aversions when she must pursue the terpsichorean ape that is killing the members of the health club for the rich and flabby where her beautiful niece works.
Kitty is a typical New Yorker -- that is she wasn't born in the Big Apple, but has adopted it as her very own and will fight anyone who tries to defame it. Like other typical New Yorkers, Kitty can be brusque one minute and perform an act of incredible kindness the next. Kitty loves ethnic food, and her Sunday dinner is more likely to be Peking duck than fried chicken, the same as fifty percent of the New York City population.
Meet Kitty inside the pages of The Tap Dancing Gorilla.
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Renée's Useful Links
- www.mysterywriters.org - Website for Mystery Writers of America, the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers and those who are devoted to the genre.
- www.sistersincrime.org - Website for Sisters in Crime, a world-wide organization offering networking advice and support to female mystery authors. (Men are also eligible for membership.)
- www.mysteryinternational.com - Website for Lady M, a source for articles, reviews, e-books and story downloads.
- www.mysteryscenemag.com - Website for Mystery Scene Magazine, publishes mystery related articles, reviews, interviews and news.
- www.malicedomestic.org - Website for the Malice Domestic annual convention that salutes the traditional (cozy) mystery.
- www.bouchercon.com - Website for Bouchercon, the largest and oldest annual convention of mystery fans, authors, publishers, book dealer, book sellers and agents.
- www.mysterynet.com - Website that provides a resource for mystery books, TV shows and games as well as online discussions for everything related to the mystery genre
- www.blackraven.com - Website for Mystery News, a guide to the latest mystery books, writers and events
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