My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A fun read, not quite as good as the second book in the Cats in Trouble series, but still better than many I’ve read!
Summary via Goodreads:
Cat quilter Jillian Hart finds a gorgeous stray cat belonging to the fabulously wealthy Ritaestelle Longworth, who believes she’s being drugged. Before Jillian can get to those charges, a body turns up in the lake-and her cat Chablis finds Ritaestelle nearby. Can Jillian’s cats aid her in solving a mystery with decades old roots?
As always I liked spending time with Jillian and her friends, and appreciated the update on her life since the previous book, The Cat, the Professor and the Poison.
This book made it within my plausibility parameters for cozy mysteries, but not by much (and I allow quite a bit of leeway for them!). Still, I really wanted to believe that the grand matriarch of a small town would take one look at Jillian, and know she was the one that could help her, and I equally wanted to believe the Jillian would take on her cause (and her cat) without any further thought; offering her spare bedroom and her sleuthing skills to solving her problems.
The characters did hit the right balance on the quirkiness scale– just odd enough to be interesting and unique, but still within those plausibility parameters I mentioned above. At least, the humans were. I love the cats in these books, but they did push one of my buttons by producing the vital clue at just the right moment
Overall, the mystery was fine, particularly by cozy standards. It primarily served as an excuse to get to know this group of characters, which works for me in a cozy. There weren’t any glaring inconsistencies, and it did keep me wondering about the motivations of several people.
I’d suggest starting this series at the first or second book if you enjoy quiet, fun, character driven cozy mysteries.
I received this book for review from the publisher. Thank you, Penguin/Obsidian Mystery!
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