Genre: Mystery
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781516109883
Lyrical Underground Publishing
232 Pages
$15.95; $7.19 Amazon
May 25, 2020
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Wedding bells will soon be ringing in Whisker Jog, New Hampshire. But instead of church bells, they may be tinkling above the door of Bowker's Coffee Shop. Lara Caphart's best friend Sherry and her fiancé David want to tie the knot where they met -- in her family's coffee shop. Lara is overjoyed for her friend, but as she feeds and grooms the kitties at the High Cliff Shelter for Cats in her aunt Fran's Folk Victorian, she can't help but wonder when her own beau, lawyer Gideon Halley, will stop hinting and make their union legal.
It doesn't help that Gideon's old flame, Megan Haskell, just showed up with a tearful yarn about being fired that smells fishier than a can of tuna. But Blue, the Ragdoll cat who only Lara can see, appears to be on Megan's side. Should she ignore her green-eyed monster of jealousy in favor of her blue-eyed spirit cat? When Megan's ex-boss is found dead, Lara has to retract her claws long enough to follow Blue's uncanny clues and clear her rival of a murder charge...
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Lara Caphart owns and runs the High Cliff Shelter for Cats along with her aunt, Fran Clarkson, in Fran's Victorian home. It's unusual in that the cats are not kept in cages, but are allowed the run of the home, therefore they'll adjust to their forever homes easier.
As Maid of Honor, she's been busy helping her best friend Sherry plan her wedding, right down to party favors. If the cats weren't keeping her busy enough, the wedding is. But one night while she's at the coffee shop that Sherry's mom owns, a beautiful young woman knocks on the door and asks if anyone knows where Lara's boyfriend Gideon, an attorney, lives. Stunned, Lara directs her but then wonders who this woman is.
It doesn't take long before Gideon tells her it's his old girlfriend, whom he dated shortly before he met Lara. Without warning, jealousy rears its ugly head and while Lara wants to tamp it down, she also wants to know more about Megan Haskell. She's about to get her wish: Megan arrives on Lara's doorstep and wants her help since her boss, Wayne Chancer, has been murdered and she's a suspect. She tells Lara that she knows she finds murderers and wants her to help prove her innocence. Megan is so distraught and helpless-looking that Lara tells her she'll do what she can.
But when Gideon finds out, it causes problems between them, and even when Lara is determined to let it go and let the police handle it, things keep occurring that pull her back into the case, and her determination doesn't amount to much if a killer can also find out who she is...
In this latest installment in the series, Lara is feeling torn between her love for Gideon and her intentions to do the right thing, no matter what the cost. She's caught up in not so much the murder of Wayne, but something else, something she can't name, and it draws her to a nearby town named Bakewell that might hold the key. But in trying to figure out what is going on, she just might have sabotaged her relationship with Gideon, who wants her to stop doing it.
Knowing that she can't, she unwillingly gets involved with the murdered man's widow, a young woman who holds several jobs and has a secret that she shares only with Lara, and Megan won't stop arriving at her doorstep unannounced, complicating her life even more. It's almost more than Lara can handle, and she can't share what's going on with anyone.
What results is an interesting mystery that has many layers, and while each one seems separate, it takes time to figure out who the murderer might be. The clues aren't overt, and when we discover the reason for the murder, it's well thought out although a bit sad at the same time. I liked the way everything was played out, and of course, the book ended just as we expected it to do, with the killer apprehended and Lara back safe in her home (as we knew she would be); it's an enjoyable book that leaves us with anticipation for the next in the series. Recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Kitten-Tattoo-Lady-Mystery/dp/1516109880/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3300970184
More on Linda Reilly's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/linda-reilly/
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