Into the popular genre of cozy mysteries, two Southern authors, Rebecca C. Barrett and Susan Y. Tanner, long-time friends and well-received writers, have collaborated to introduce a new series. The first full-length books in the series include Callahan on the Case by Barrett and Cat Callahan and the Horses of Hope by Tanner, both released January 2024, with Callahan’s Savannah Caper by Barrett released in February and Callahan Goes Rodeo out in April.
These Callahan novels are twisty, clever, well-written, and utterly charming cozies. Each has just the right touch of whimsy, yet both contain serious sleuthing, an authentic set-up, page-turning pacing, and of course danger. Romance readers will have much to enjoy in the books, as will mystery readers. As with most cozy mysteries, the Cat Callahan series requires willing suspension of disbelief, which is all part of the fun.
Callahan on the Case introduces Callahan, who is a Scottish Fold, otherwise seen as a gray cat with flop ears, plenty of cat attitude, and a penchant for solving crimes. After all, Callahan can go where people can’t, he can see and hear better than human detectives, and his sense of smell is radically better, plus he is closely observant. Callahan can read people with a thoroughness that’d be clairvoyant in a person but is the norm for him. What he can’t do is talk, read, or open doors—which adds a bit of fun in the novels as he finds new ways of access and communication.
Callahan is his own cat, belonging to no one yet he is fed, indulged, and treasured by a cast of human characters. Callahan’s wry musings often add a delicious touch of humor to the stories. He even has his own Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/cat.callahan.2023, which describes him as: “Cat Callahan, cat of the street, cat of mystery… artful, cagey. A vagabond of the roads and rails.”
The new series does have a history, as the books are inspired by a cozy series featuring Trouble, the black cat detective, which was the brainchild of best-selling author Carolyn Haines. Barrett and Tanner had both written several books in that series. When the publisher decided to discontinue the Trouble-black cat detective series, Secret Staircase Books, an imprint of Columbine Publishing Group, LLC, opted to publish the Callahan series. Secret Staircase also publishes other Tanner novels.
Callahan on the Case “is entirely original,” Tanner emphasized, but the next couple will be revamps of her and Barrett’s former Trouble books, followed by additional new Callahan novels. She added, “We’ve been working hard on this for a year. It’s been fun but I’ll admit it’s been grueling as well.” Tanner praised their publisher, Secret Staircase Books for their contributions “on all of this with us. It’s exciting to be here finally.”
Barrett agreed the first two novels are the culmination of a long year of focused effort. “It’s a lot more work than I thought it would be because we have to be so involved in each other’s manuscripts.” She added, “So far Susan hasn’t brought out the garland of garlic or put a stake through my heart.”
Here’s what else authors Rebecca C. Barrett and Susan Y. Tanner have to say about writing and friendship and, of course, Cat Callahan.
Claire Hamner Matturro
CHM: How long have you two been friends? How did you meet?
SYT: I met Rebecca through the Deep South Writers Salon years ago. I joined in the months before my first book (one of several I’d written years earlier and—clichéd as it sounds—stored in a box under my bed) sold in December of 1989 so wow! Of the members who came and went through the years, Rebecca and I held together, I think because we’re both dedicated to the craft of writing but also because we became friends far beyond our writing.
RCB: I got the writing bug in earnest when The Pensters chose my short story as the winner of their contest. They paid me $100! That sent me off to find ways to improve my writing. A continuing education creative writing course at the University of South Alabama offered me that opportunity. That’s where I met Carolyn Haines. I have one up on Susan. I have old calendars (yes, I’m a hoarder when it comes to my writing) that show us forming the Deep South Writers Salon in late 1987. Carolyn worked in the PR department at South Alabama and was teaching this course. No one was published. None of us, including Carolyn, knew what we were doing! But from that beginning, we decided we could help each other through editing and learning the craft.
CHM: How far apart do you live? More specifically, how easy is it for you to get together to brainstorm and write or do you do it via email or phone?
Susan Y. Tanner
SYT: We meet in person monthly. Between times, we email or text more than we talk on the phone.
RCB: The hour drive isn’t a hardship usually, and it’s time well spent from a work perspective as well as a social one. It motivates and inspires productivity. And, Susan cooks a mean pork loin. Delicious!
CHM: Will you alternate writing the books or actually write one together as co-authors? Do you each have your own voice or do you try to write so there is one voice?
SYT: Co-authoring is not something that appeals or seems feasible. Although Callahan’s voice is the same regardless (which is good for continuity), our individual voices are very different (which is good for readers and for the mysteries we craft.)
RCB: I can be bossy. There, I said it. I don’t mean to be it’s just that when ideas pop into my head, they come out of my mouth. Susan is the one to weigh the merits of my foolishness. She keeps us on track and she is so good at story concept. That said, I love that we are free to write our “people” story in our individual voices. Callahan is Callahan. He’s going to do what he’s going to do but we can settle into our individuality with our human characters.
CHM: What were the thought processes and discussions in creating Cat Callahan? It seems he owes something to “Dirty Harry,” the cop Clint Eastwood played who was named Harry Callahan in the movies.
SYT: The tough cop/tough guy concept of Callahan’s persona was Rebecca’s. I loved it and, yeah, we developed the nuances together and decided on Clint Eastwood above ‘that other guy’, but the concept was Rebecca’s and completely opposite Trouble!
Rebecca C. Barrett
RCB: It was important if we were going to continue to write cozies that there be a distinction between the main characters (cats) [in the Trouble books vs. the Callahan books]. Trouble had a very distinctive voice that came off as a bit of a toff at times. Nothing could be more different than a tough guy street cat.
CHM: Do either of you have a cat that looks like Callahan?
RCB: I’ve always had cats until I developed asthma. I find it funny that Susan can write Callahan so well when she can’t be around cats because of her severe reactions to cat allergens. Kit Kat being the exception ‘from afar’.
SYT: KitKat rules the barn but, finicky eater that she is, she’d never lower herself to hunting mice so her presence is ornamental only.
CHM: For each of you, how do you find writing as a lifestyle, so to speak, and how does the friendship boost that?
SYT: Writing can be a very invisible, solitary existence. My other world is horses which is very visible, boisterous, and supportive. Writing can be cut-throat. Rebecca is my sounding board, my encourager, but also my critic because every writer needs a critic. That honesty is crucial to good work.
RCB: I agree with Susan’s view of writing. I find the social aspect of this collaboration helps keep me writing when other things in my life would distract me. The end result should always be quality writing and through the years and our collaborations on many projects, I’ve come to depend on Susan’s insight and knowledge of the craft.
CHM: Thank you both, Rebecca and Susan, for sharing your time and answers. And all the best for the continuing success with the Cat Callahan series.
Tanner, who brings her personal knowledge and experience with horses and her love of history to her novels, is the author of sweeping historical romances of the American West and Scotland. When not at her desk, Tanner—a competitive barrel racer as well as a multi-published author—can usually be found in the barn or on a horse. Visit her at https://susanytanner.com/
Barrett also writes historical fiction, as well as short stories of life in the South, and Children’s stories. She fell in love with cozy mysteries after discovering Lillian Jackson Braun series. In addition to the Callahan series, she writes a detective series set in the deep South of the 1960s featuring a Vietnam veteran. Visit her website at https://rebeccabarrett.com/
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