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Today, I’m welcoming Mollie Hunt, along with her Camelia Collins from Ghost Cat and the Haunted House, for a special character interview. This cozy coastal mystery brings readers into Ocean Cove, where Camelia’s retirement takes an unexpected turn thanks to a very unusual companion.
Let’s step into her world and hear directly from Camelia.
Interview with Camelia Collins
The septuagenarian hero of Ghost Cat and the Haunted House, authored by Mollie Hunt
Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your role in the story?
Certainly. Thank you for having me by. My name is Camelia Collins, and I live in Ocean Cove, Oregon. I recently fulfilled my lifelong dream of retiring to the coast by purchasing a sweet little place called Love Cottage on a bluff overlooking the sea. It’s perfect, though my real estate agent neglected to tell me it was haunted. Yes, I live with a ghost cat named Soji, who has led me into all sorts of adventures.
What is your life like in Ocean Cove?
Ocean Cove is a small community of fascinating people. My neighbor Vera, though physically challenged, likes to bake. Oh, and she happens to be psychic. I especially enjoy company with artist Ellery Evans, a gentleman of similar age and one of the first people to greet me when I arrived. Then there is Soji, my ghost cat companion. Her visits sometimes ruffle the peaceful beach atmosphere. She is a trickster, but she has saved my life.
I enjoy visiting with neighbors, walking up to Linder Square, and meeting friends for dinner at the Sea Dog. Our local shops include an independent bookstore and a hardware store that sells nails by the pound. Most days are spent peacefully, but there are times of high adventure too.
How would you describe your personality in just a few words?
Optimistic, open-minded, learned a lot in my seven decades and remember all of it.
What is something readers might be surprised to learn about you?
Besides that I live with a ghost cat? Let’s see. I have solved a cold case murder that was perpetrated on the doorstep of my cottage before I moved here; I have helped save an aging tiger get into a wildcat reserve where she can live out the rest of her life in comfort; I have seen a ghost or two. Not so surprising is my love for cats. Blaze, my real cat companion, is family to me.
What is your biggest challenge or struggle in this story?
So many things happened when the celebrity ghost hunter came to town and discovered not a ghost but a dead body in the old, abandoned house on the hill. Murder, endangerment, betrayal: it’s difficult to choose which was the worst, but the betrayal was the most personal.
I’d heard the stories about the haunting of Jacks House, but one day I actually saw her! She and Soji were dancing and twirling around the rundown parlor. When I told Ellery, he scoffed at the idea, said it was a trick of the light. But he was wrong.
It was disheartening to have my faithful friend disbelieve me, and it meant I had to go it alone with what came next. No spoilers, but suffice it to say the age-old web of secrets and lies made for some disastrous happenings.
Who do you trust most when things start to get complicated or mysterious?
Usually I run to Ellery, but this time I had to keep my distance since he found my belief in the Jacks House ghost laughable. Soji, with all her powers, is a trickster and cannot be relied upon, but thank goodness she decides to step up once in a while.
What motivates you to keep going when things get difficult?
What choice is there? I was never one for pretending difficulties don’t exist. As an optimist, I believe all problems have a solution. And I can’t resist a good puzzle.
What do you hope readers take away from your story?
Mostly I wish for readers to be entertained. I hope they find moments of respite from the real world in our cozy little village while indulging their perceptions in solving the mystery. I also hope they learn a little about cats.
Ghost Cat and the Haunted House (A Tenth Life Cozy Mystery) by Mollie HuntAbout Ghost Cat and the Haunted House
Ghost Cat and the Haunted House (A Tenth Life Cozy Mystery)
Cozy Cat Mystery
4th in Series
Setting – Ocean Cove, a fictitious town on the Oregon Coast
Independently Published
Print length : 277 pages
Publication date : June 30, 2026
Paperback
ISBN-13 : 979-8272313546
ASIN : B0H339K7DS
Digital
ASIN : B0GXNY458L
Ghost cat Soji draws Camelia into an age-old web of secrets when a body turns up in the long-abandoned house on the hill.
Decades ago, Ida Jacks died a tragic death in her old ancestral home. Since then, the place has stood empty, just another of Ocean Cove’s moldering landmarks. Now paranormal investigator Griffin Gage is about to change all that. But Gage’s plan is to contact dead Ida takes a tragic turn when, instead of a spirit, he finds a corpse.
Ghost cat Soji has been acting strange, trying to tell Camelia something, but what, the octogenarian cannot discern. Is it about Ida? The Jacks House? The murder? And why does her own cat Blaze keep disappearing to the guesthouse with no apparent means of transport?
Handsome Sheriff Jamie can’t figure it out, and neither can Camelia’s clairvoyant confidant Vera nor her very special friend Ellery. Camelia is on her own to uncover the killer, but can she solve the mysteries in time to save innocent lives, and maybe a ghost or two?
About Mollie Hunt
Long: Cat Writer Mollie Hunt is the award-winning author of two cozy series: the Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries featuring a sixty-something cat shelter volunteer who finds more trouble than a cat in catnip, and the Tenth Life Paranormal Mysteries involving a ghost cat. Her Cat Seasons Sci-Fantasy Tetralogy presents extraordinary cats saving the world. She also released a COVID memoir she calls, “an ode to the very real and healing presence of cats.” Her cat health memoir, “Creating Comfort for Your Senior Cat: Stories, Poems, and Illustrations of Cats in Their Golden Years,” recently won a Certificate of Excellence from the Cat Writers’ Association.
Mollie’s cat writing has earned her various other honors, including CWA Muse Medallions and World’s Best Litter-ary Awards. She is the recipient of the prestigious Michael Brim Distinguished Service Award (CWA) and the Catalyst Council Connect to Care Award, celebrating a true story of the profound connection between a shelter cat and its adoptive pet parent. Her mystery, Cat’s Paw, was a CIBA Mystery & Mayhem Semi-finalist. Mollie is on the Board of Directors for Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA) as well as being the librarian for the Cat Writers’ Association. Additionally, she is a member of Sisters in Crime, Willamette Writers, and the Oregon Writers Colony. Mollie lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and a varying number of cats. Like her cat lady character, she is a grateful shelter volunteer.Short: Cat Writer Mollie Hunt is the award-winning author of two cozy mystery series and a sci-fantasy tetralogy. She has also published a COVID memoir and a cat health chronicle, both of which won recognition from the Cat Writers’ Association.
Mollie is a member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA), Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, the Cat Writers’ Association, and Willamette Writers. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and a varying number of cats. Like the cat lady character in one of her cozies, she is a grateful shelter volunteer.
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June 23 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
June 23 – Romance Novel Giveaways – SPOTLIGHT
June 24 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 24 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 25 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 25 – Cozy up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 26 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 26 – Books1987– SPOTLIGHT
June 27 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
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June 28 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
June 28 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 29 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 29 – Sarcastically Yours, Jen – SPOTLIGHT
June 29 – Salty Inspirations – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
Excerpt: Chapter 1: The Ghost of Ida Jacks
The ghost cat twirled in the middle of the carpet. Around and around she went, not so much as a cat chasing her tail but a small, white tornado. Every so often she would slow to utter a single cryptic sentence: She is not what she seems. Then the whirling would begin again.
Camelia Collins watched the cat’s antics from her couch. When it started, she’d been concerned. She asked her little ghost cat companion what was wrong, what was bothering her, but got no response. Soji was an enigma, an entity unto herself, and if she didn’t want to communicate in any other way than with a macabre dance, there was nothing Camelia could do about it.
Still, the septuagenarian couldn’t quite manage to go about her usual business—not with a ghost cat whirling in her living room.
Camelia’s tuxedo cat Blaze also watched with fascination. A few times, he’d tried to catch that ghostly tail as it whipped past, but it was a doomed effort. Since Soji was in her noncorporeal form, he could no more touch her than touch a dream.
Camelia had grown accustomed to the odd behaviors of Soji, the cat spirit who unexpectedly accompanied her recent purchase of Love Cottage, but it had taken time. When she acquired the little coastal home with its name lettered in seashells on a driftwood plank out front, “ghost companion” wasn’t mentioned in the contract. Even when she discovered the decades-old gravestone concealed at the back of her overgrown garden inscribed with the epitaph, Now Gone to Her Tenth Life, Beloved Soji, Camelia couldn’t have predicted it housed a very real, very feline spirit. That came later, as Soji began appearing to her, communicating with her. Camelia, who in her seventy years on the planet had seen, heard, and felt many things she couldn’t explain, was an accepting soul, and after some consideration, the presence of a ghost cat seemed to be just one more to add to the list.
Camelia was brought back from her musing by a claw piercing her thigh.
“Ouch, Blaze, dear.” She plucked the talon from her pant leg. “Please…”
Then she saw what had made the tuxie flinch. The ghost cat had stopped her twirling and stood as if frozen to the floor. Her ghost-white fur was raised, and her legs were spread. Her ears and whiskers lay flat against her head, and her red eyes flashed.
“She is not what she seems,” Soji repeated in that not-quite-real, not-quite-human voice of hers.
“Bewarrre, bewarrre!” she hissed through bared teeth. “Bewarrre the ghost of Ida Jacks—she is no ghost at all.”
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Thank you to Mollie Hunt for sharing this character interview from Ghost Cat and the Haunted House. Readers are invited to add the book to their TBR and explore more guest features across Salty Inspirations.
As always, thanks for stopping by for some Salty Inspirations! —Michelle❤️
Thank you for featuring my newest Tenth Life Mystery! Camelia had a great time being interviewed.
Note from the author about the giveaway: I made a mistake when I posted the giveaway, but it’s one that will be good for you. I’m supposed to be giving away a copy of Ghost Cat and the Haunted House, but the promo highlights another book of mine, Cold Case Cat. The winner will receive both books as a prize!