As it turns out, not only does Mandy become part of an investigation into several murders, one of which involves a transsexual with a very valuable diamond that carries a so-called curse; but she is thrown into Mia’s world—a world of luxury international hotels, Ferrari cars, insidious characters, younger men, a bunch of bitchy drag queens, drop-dead gorgeous gay boys, and a lot more. To make matters worse, and really test the friendship between the two protagonists, Mandy develops a crush on Mia’s archenemy, the very good looking Detective Sergeant Phil Smythe.

I won’t go on with the plot and spoil it for you, but I want to point out that from a cyber-friendship between two authors who are continents apart was born the fictional friendship of Amanda Wilson and Mia Ferrari (our respective protagonists). This led our protagonists--both strong and independent mature women, to adventure, the challenge of overcoming rivalry between two good friends, sexual fantasies of "playing with some bad boys", and even hoping to convert a few sexy gay boys--and finally, solving a number of murders before more bodies piled up. 

The message in this particular novel, The Gay Mardi Gras Muders, is that through all the obstacles of life, friendship is the most important thing there is—sometimes, friendship is stronger than love, as Mia Ferrari soon learns.

So how’s that for the power of a fictional friendship, which was born in the minds of two authors who became online friends?  Personally, I think this takes friendship to a whole new level.

Hi all, Cat Ryan here. I just want to say that I have now exhausted my internet dating exploits and I just give up! I’ve had it with the Nigerian scammers, the married men posing as single men, the married men telling me they’re married and still looking for “a bit on the side”, the weirdos, the psychos, the tightarses who make you pay for your own coffee, the ones who want to make contact with you but are not prepared to send you an email through the online site because it costs them money to make initial contact—so yeah, they expect Cat to fork out. And let's not even get into the "gigolos" who tell Cat she looks like she's 25 years of age (just to get her in the sack) when she knows very well she's in her 40s--mind you, a good looking 40! Yes, I still got it. LOL.

God, you name it and Cat’s been through it. For a millisecond, Cat actually considered running off with a lipstick lesbian who propositioned her. LOL! But no, Cat’s a straight girl and she’s looking for a real man. It seems the quest is over though, and Cat hasn’t found “the one”.

The good news is that Cat is the main character in my novel “Like  Casablanca”, so she’s lucky in that in the end she’ll find the prince; well, that’s if she doesn’t blow it. But what’s in store for Cat’s creator, novelist Sylvia Massara? Well, she’s now planning “murder and mayhem”, a more entertaining pursuit than trying to find romance.

This is Cat Ryan and Sylvia Massara signing off from the Cat Ryan Internet Dating Capers—and we thank every one of you who’ve left comments in the past on Cat’s posts.

Ciao for now!