Black Cat Crossing (A Bad Luck Cat Mystery)

Author:  Kay Finch
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780425275245; 9781541465411
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$6.39; $17.38; $2.99 Amazon

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Sabrina has never been the superstitious type.  Still, when she moves to Lavender, Texas, to write her first novel and help her aunt, Rowe, manage her vacation rental business, Sabrina can't avoid listening to the rumors that a local black cat is a jinx - especially after the stray in question leads her directly to the scene of the murder.

The deceased turns out to be none other than her aunt Rowe's awful cousin Bobby Joe Flowers, a known cheat and womanizer who had no shortage of enemies.  The only problem is that Aunt Rowe and Bobby Joe had quarreled just before the cousin turned up dead, leaving Rowe at the top of the long list of suspects.  Luckily for Sabrina, she's got a new sidekick, Hitchcock the bad luck cat, to help her sniff out clues and stalk a killer before Aunt Rowe winds up the victim of even more misfortune...

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Sabrina is an aspiring writer who moved to the Texas Hill Country to be with her aunt, who has a broken leg due to a fall.  She hears rumors that her aunt's cousin Bobby Joe Flowers is soon to arrive, and he's not going to be a welcome sight.  But when he arrives sooner than expected, he tells a tale that intimates Sabrina's grandfather had an affair with a relative and he's the product of that affair and therefore part owner of Aunt Rowena's business.  Rowena, or Rowe as she is known to friends, naturally doesn't take kindly to the tale and hits Bobby Joe with her cane, demanding he leave - after telling him he won't get a single part of anything.

Sabrina has also heard tales of the black cat around town that is supposed to be bad luck, and sees him for herself.  She doesn't believe in superstition, and follows the cat down to the river, where she discovers the body of Bobby Joe.  When she discovers that her aunt is suspected of the murder, Sabrina decides to look for the killer herself, but is the killer also looking for her?...

I wanted to read this because it's a book about a cat, and what could be better?  Anything, apparently.  I really wanted to read it because it takes place in the Texas Hill Country where my family lives, and I actually got to page 49 before I became disgusted with it.  For a character to state that black cats cause "bad luck, misery, disease and even death" is irresponsible, and portrays these people as being low-educated, superstitious rednecks.  I would really like to believe that Ms. Finch doesn't actually think Texans are that stupid, but I have my doubts.

I also didn't like the fact that everyone thought the cat was evil and wanted to get rid of it.  Who on earth in this day and age truly believes an old wives' tale about black cats being evil?  Drivel like this only enforces these type of beliefs.

I'm also tired of the stereotypical deputy who hates the protagonist for one reason or another - this time it's because Sabrina is trying to write a mystery and Deputy Rosales thinks she's asking the police too many questions.  Really?  The police don't want to help her in being accurate?  Sure, that's believable.  But then Rosales - after arriving at the scene of the crime - asks Sabrina if she's excited about seeing a dead body.  What kind of person does something like that?  Not only is in inappropriate, it's not professional.  You'd have to be a particularly rotten type of person to make that remark.  I couldn't even like her after that and was kind of hoping she'd get killed off immediately, but no such luck.

Below is a major spoiler of the ending which really killed this book for me; at least I'm grateful it was at the end and not somewhere in the middle, which makes it a little more palatable.

A man is so terrified of seeing Hitchcock the black cat that he runs screaming from the room. A grown man. Runs screaming. From the room. Because of the "bad luck cat". He was already having the worst luck he could possibly have, and he does this. The only good thing that came out of this book is the fact that Sabrina made Hitchcock her pet.

When all is said and done, the book wasn't terrible, which is why I gave it two stars; but to have people act like complete morons when they see a black cat?  I just couldn't get over the fact of how absurd it seemed.  I will read the second in the series to see if it's improved in any way - the deputy lightening up, and the same goes for the people in this town regarding black cats.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Cat-Crossing-Luck-Mystery/dp/0425275248/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2425024274

More on Kay Finch's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/kay-finch/