Book Review: THE BLACK CAT DETECTIVES

Title: The Black Cat Detectives

Author: Kit Gray

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Pages: 304

My GoodReads Rating: 

Mila MacAllister is a 28-yo magician in a small town, Corvin’s Crossing, hoping to make it to the big league. On the morning of her performance, at which she expects to be scouted for a resort that is looking for performers, Mila finds three black kittens, with the mother nowhere in sight, in a box in the alley outside the club where she is to perform. She rescues them and takes them to the vet and decides to adopt them.

That evening, Mila’s successful performance comes to a sudden close when the body of her boyfriend and manager, Brandon, comes crashing through the roof to the stage, with Mila’s pocket knife protruding out of his chest.

 

The story is written in four PoVs, the 3^rd person PoV of Mila and the 1^st person PoVs of the three kittens named Bippity, Boppity and Boop. Bippity is female, Boppity is male, and Boop is non-binary. The other two kittens use they/them pronouns while referring to Boop.

 

WHAT I LIKED:

I liked the emphasis on friendships and the family ties you build for yourself.

I am no lover of cats, yet I was quite amused and intrigued by the antics of the kittens. The characterization of the kittens is done with a gentle touch. Bippity sees herself as a leader, born to lead her siblings. Boppity fancies himself as a great warrior and is always ready for battle. Boop is always gentle, preferring naps and cuddling to anything else. The curiosity, independence and vulnerability of the cats rang true, even though I know very little about cats.

The voices of the three kittens were strong and striking.

The descriptions of the foods cooked by Ms Fi, and Q and Mrs Scarborough all popped off the page.

In terms of diversity, Asia is well represented through Ms Fi and Becca Varma, Mila’s best friend.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

The focus should have been on the murder mystery. Instead, the cats took up excessive space, causing a lot of repetition, given that there are three kittens and only one Mila.

Why Becca should be a Varma, an Indian origin surname, makes no sense. We see no evidence of her background or culture, making the name tokenish. She might as well have been white.

In keeping with what has almost become the trope of the genre, Mila was both smart and dumb.

I found the conclusion rather tame. The killer wasn’t convincing enough, nor was their rationale for killing.

The Physics-based superpowers of the kittens weren’t very clear.

Mila’s back story was minimal. It was unclear why she left her parents’ home. They neglected her, and led their own lives, but her trauma suggested something far worse. Also, where and how she learnt magic was something that wasn’t explained.

 

WHAT DIDN’T QUITE WORK:

In one place, Bopp had male pronouns used, possibly a typo that slipped past.

There is a whole chapter set at the vet’s where Mila takes the three kittens. This chapter was wholly unnecessary.

 

ALL SAID AND DONE:

This was a cozy mystery that ultimately ended up being more cozy and less mystery, with the kittens overshadowing the resolution of the mystery. 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: A MOST PECULIAR PROVIDENCE

Title: A Most Peculiar Providence

Author: Angela Hunt

Publisher: Hunt Haven Press

Pages: 428

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Twenty-six-year-old Joshua Donnelly lives in a small town called Peculiar, with his mother. He handcrafts wooden toys for a living. When she passes away unexpectedly due to a stroke, his world is upended. He decides to fulfill her last wish that he “fill the house with love” by getting a dog, Hoss.

Meanwhile, Heather Thomas and her boyfriend, Brett Steelhawk, of three years, are homeless and busking together near Peculiar. Heather is pregnant but Brett doesn’t want the baby. On their last day in town, she miscarries and then finds that Brett has abandoned her.

When Sarah, a vagrant, gives birth to a baby girl, she gets Heather to promise to hand over her baby to someone kind in Peculiar who will look after the baby. With no choice, Heather leaves the baby outside Josh’s front door. What happens next? Will Josh look after the baby? And is there any hope for Heather?

When Hoss digs up a human bone in Josh’s backyard, the past threatens to overshadow Josh’s happiness in the present. Who is responsible for the crime? And will Josh pay for it?

 

The story is told from the first-person past-tense PoV of the town police chief as well as in the third-person omniscient past tense.

 

WHAT I LIKED:

The story had a warm, fuzzy vibe to it from the very first sentence. I felt as if I knew and loved the characters. I particularly loved the similes:

Like loose change in a coffee tin.

Frost glazed the glass, glittering like crushed sugar.

This story had slipped past me like a cat burglar in socks.

 

I liked the character of Josh, even though he came across as a little odd. It was sweet that he got Hoss, a huge English mastiff, because he promised his mother that he would fill the house with love.

I particularly liked the scenes between Josh and baby Maggie. The narrator, through Josh’s actions, tells us how easy it is to care for an infant. You fed them, you changed them, you held them close. You kept them safe. You loved them.

 

Some more quotes that I liked:

When you pull on the past, it doesn’t come back gentle. It comes back hungry.

Sometimes when a man stops pacing, it means he's found a place to stand.

Order is a comforting thing, but it’s fragile. And when it cracks, strange, even miraculous things have a way of slipping through.

 

The book ends with fun recipes for Hoss’s Favourite Dog Treats, Josh’s Bologna Sandwiches, Josh’s Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Mama’s Homemade Lasagna, all written with dollops of affection and humour intertwined with life lessons and some easy philosophy.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

I felt a little note of dissonance when Heather and Josh met. Josh was so kind, and Heather’s animosity felt forced. Of course, the reasons are explained later, but I never got over my dislike of her.

There is an element of the fantastical that runs through this book, which is unfortunately not pursued. We learn early on that Josh has the power to heal, but it isn’t used with any kind of significance. The fact that he has the power to heal should have played a greater role in the plot.

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME:

The story felt very old-fashioned, even though it is set in 2006. There was no mention of mobile phones or the Internet or anything that would root it in this century.

 

ALL SAID AND DONE:

This was a sweet and gentle story well told.

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: THE MURDERER'S GIRL

Title: The Murderer's Girl

Author: KL Murphy

Publisher: Level Best Books

Pages: 308

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 

Gordon Little, whose podcast, Catch a Criminal, went viral with the cold case he last investigated, is now in small-town Hampstead at the invitation of dear friend and ex-girlfriend Lynnleigh Lawson. He plans to investigate and cover on his podcast the cold case of the murders of Lynnleigh’s mother Lisa and Lisa’s best friend, Tina Cox, 15 years ago. Lynnleigh’s father Harry, who insisted he was innocent, that he was in Washington DC at the time, was arrested for the murders.

Fifteen years later, a video has surfaced showing that Harry was exactly where he said he was, absolving him of the crime. Unfortunately, the video has come too late, as Harry died in prison.

Now there are two investigations running parallelly. Detective Callie Forde and Gordon are both running their own investigations, determined to find out who was the real killer and to clear Harry’s name posthumously. But there is someone in town who is determined to put an end to the investigation.

Meanwhile, there is another issue that is plaguing the police. Two houses have been robbed, with some trinkets, a laptop and some cash stolen. Is it a random case or is it connected with the Lawson and Cox killings? And will the truth ever surface?

 

The story is told in two timelines, 15 years ago and now, and from the 3^rd person past tense PoVs of Callie Then and Now, and Gordon Now. Set in a small town, the story has the air of a cozy mystery.

 

WHAT I LIKED:

I enjoy stories about cold cases, where a long-suffering innocent person is finally acquitted, and so I was eagerly looking forward to this one.

I enjoyed the parts that showed the podcast coming together, and the details shared about what it takes to run a podcast, the equipment etc. Gordon and sound engineer Jeremy made a good team.

Every chapter ended with a mini-cliffhanger, which was nice. The last few scenes had a good spell of action and description, and a brisk pace. Major and minor characters were both drawn out well, giving them the required motivation and increasing stakes. The character that touched me the most was Harry; I wish there was more of him, in flashbacks or in the narrative of the past. Even the old records and testimonies didn’t include any interviews with him.

We get bits of the past in the present, memories which give way to flashbacks, but it was done well enough.

The author brings up the question of the nature of today’s media where opinions and lies are often passed off as fact.

There were some sweet and warm scenes as when Maura, Callie’s mother, tells her the owl story, related to Callie’s grandmother, and another scene, Lynnleigh’s flashback, when Harry tells eight-year-old Lynnleigh that he would always choose her to be his daughter.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

The initial dump of back story about Gordon, as soon as his character was introduced, was unnecessary.

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME:

The mystery of who had broken into the houses and how whatever came to be found there had come to be put there in the first place was not adequately answered. We also learn nothing about who released the video that proved Harry’s innocence.

Henderson and Chang were hard to relate to. At the outset, we learn a little bit about them, but then they turn into flat characters, always in the background, never taking any initiative at all.

There were too many characters whose names began with the same letter. For instance, Lynnleigh Lawson’s mother is Lisa Lawson. Then Gordon’s previous case was that of Hamilton Hayes. In Hampstead, another H, for the Lawson case, he meets police officers Henderson, another H, and Chang. A minor character is salon owner Karen Huddleston, another H, who is interviewed by Gordon.

It was odd that even when the story was told from the PoV of Callie Then, the narrative shifted to referring to her mother as Maura, something a daughter would hardly do.

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: Early on, I had an idea about the identity of the real killer, and it was satisfying to be proved right. I still enjoyed the story and how it was drawn out.

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: MURDER AT THE BRIGHTWELL (Amory Ames #1)

Title: Murder at the Brightwell (Amory Ames #1)
Author: Ashley Weaver
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Pages: 336
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

The very first line, It is an impossibly great trial to be married to a man one loves and hates in equal proportions. With that almost Austenian beginning, the novel began.

While romance as a genre isn’t my preferred choice, I don’t mind it if it shows up in other genres, just as long as it stays unobtrusive. I had hopes it would be so, given that there was the word, Murder, in the title. But it wasn’t so.

 

Amory Ames’ marriage is strained within just five years. Husband Milo neglects her and prefers to spend all his time gambling in Monte Carlo. Amory regrets her whirlwind wedding with him.

When former fiancé and old friend Gilmore Trent invites her on a seaside holiday to the Brightwell hotel to warn his sister, Emmeline, to break off her engagement with her fiancé, Rupert Howe, an untrustworthy cad, Amory readily agrees.

At the hotel, Milo shows up, testing her friendship and Gil’s intentions towards her. When Rupert is found murdered and Gil arrested for the crime, Amory is determined to find the real killer and prove Gil’s innocence. Will she succeed? Or will the killer strike again?

Also, as Milo ingratiates himself to her, can she sort out her feelings towards Milo and Gil?

 

The story, set in Kent, England, in 1932, is written in the first person past tense point of view of Amory.

I liked the author’s descriptions. She describes a mismatched couple as something akin to a cinema star on the arm of a parish priest. Of another character, she says, The sort of person one liked at once, but for whom the fondness fades after a short time.

Amory’s back story, her issues with Milo were written well, but they took away the focus from the murder.

Amory was a good strong character. She is willing to stand up for herself, even if it means facing ridicule and going against the social mores of her times, and she dislikes the term, husbandly rights. She is quick on the uptake and has a delicious sense of repartee. Most of the time, she didn’t do stupid things to advance the plot.

The author makes a comment on the upper class who, no matter what the tragedy, still put social niceties above everything else.

In keeping with the traditions of the Grand Ole Dame of Mystery Fiction, the book is chock-filled with characters, but the air is more that of a cozy mystery than anything else.

The author or her editor would do well to pay more attention to her sentence construction, particularly sentences with ‘one’ as the subject.

I found the pace a little rushed towards the end, compared to the beginning and middle which devotes too much space to the stay at the hotel and the holidaying. I also had my doubts about the names, Milo and Amory, particularly in the England of the 1930s, when most classical literature of the time featured characters with traditional names.

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.) 

Book Review: SOMETHING WICKED (ANDREW BASNETT #1)

Title: Something Wicked (Andrew Basnett #1) 
Author: EX Ferrars
Publisher: Felony & Mayhem
Pages: 218
Goodreads rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Seventy-year-old retired professor Andrew Basnett moves into the cottage of his nephew, Peter Dilly in the country, while his own flat in London is being redecorated.

There he meets Peter’s neighbours, Jack and Amabel Fidler, Godfrey and Hannah Goodchild, Simon Kemp and his estranged wife, Ruth, who is the daughter of Pauline Hewison, the widow of Charles Hewison. Charles was shot dead on a day when heavy snow and an electricity outage had caused the village to be cut off from the town.

Pauline has been under suspicion for the killing of her husband. Everyone believes there is something wicked about her. The charge was never proved, with Jack and Amabel giving her a rock-solid alibi, but almost everyone else thinks she is guilty.

Now six years later, Henry Hewison, brother of Charles, is found dead in Peter’s cottage. Andrew believes there is a strong connection between the two killings. But the question is, is Pauline guilty or is the killer someone else?

 

A cozy mystery, this book fit right into the style employed by British mystery novelists of the last century. I could actually imagine the polished notes of a British accent delivering the narrative parts in a BBC production.

Peter has won tremendous fame after shifting gears and becoming an author of science fiction books. His character is like a Raymond West to Andrew’s Miss Marple, allowing his uncle the use of his cottage at no cost. The author references Agatha Christie not only by mentioning that Andrew enjoys reading her books (he reads two books out of Peter’s collection), but also through Peter's character.

It was interesting to read about a protagonist at 70, with the added risks from an advanced age. The author gives us a sense of the character’s age when she writes, There is nothing like the ageing of people much younger than oneself for making one feel really old.

I really liked Andrew. He is intelligent, and listens to the things people say and don’t say. He is intuitive when it comes to the tone and intent of what people speak. At 70, he is at what I see as the youth of old age, and very well suited to the role.

With just eight chapters, the book was a quick read. There was a faint tone of menace, exuded by the inclement weather, and the fact that the electricity is out for much of the time. The setting of a charming, if slightly isolated, English village at Christmas comes through.

The resolution was very satisfying and the book cover is utterly charming. 

(I read this book on Edelweiss. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Edelweiss.) 

Book Review: THE SIGN OF DEATH: A VICTORIAN BOOK CLUB MYSTERY

Title: The Sign of Death: A Victorian Book Club Mystery (A Victorian Book Club Mystery #2) 

Author: Callie Hutton

Pages: 322

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

The Sign of Death, set in January 1891 in Bath, England, is the second part in a series.

William Viscount Washington has enough to worry about. His mother, who has made it her business to see him married, is planning to move into his palatial home. To make matters worse, he had been suspecting that James Harding, who handled his financial affairs, was guilty of some irregularities in handling his money. And now he is dead.

Somebody pushed a drunk James into the river. It’s not hard to believe James capable of theft and villainy, but William knows that James was a staunch teetotaller and would never consume a drop of alcohol. Could another of his clients have done him in?

Matters come to a head, when the police, constables Carson and Marsh, suspect William of having murdered James. William needs to find the real killer or face the prospect of being sent to jail or, worse, strung by the neck himself.

William’s best friend, Lady Amy Lovell, is a young society woman who is also secretly a well-known murder mystery author, ED Burton. She is excited at the thought of attempting to solve the mystery and anxious to clear William of blame.

But will the two succeed in proving William’s innocence or will they meet with foul play themselves?

 

What I liked was the fact that the author didn’t feel compelled to endow Amy with external beauty. We are told that Amy fills out her clothes. Nor is William the kind to hold her weight against her.

Since both William and Amy are readers and members of a book club, we are treated to references to AC Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books and the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

Unlike Sherlock Holmes who enjoys something of a cult status with the police, detectives Carson and Marsh don’t appreciate the meddling on the part of William, particularly as he is a member of the nobility and ranks high on their list of suspects. Both main characters are also great advocates of women’s rights at a time when such views were not the norm. In fact, Mr Colbert, a member of the book club, mentions that women are good only wiping children’s noses and gossiping. It is not an uncommon view, which is why women authors then received greater traction if they wrote under a male pseudonym.

 

All the characters are very likeable, even the ones playing bit roles, such as Amy’s Aunt Margaret, and the members of the book club.

The character of Amy, in particular, was sweet. She has a tendency to put on weight, but has a positive body image. She is feisty and unafraid, an equal partner with William in the murder investigation. Also, at a time when women didn’t have their own careers or business interests, Amy is a successful best-selling author of mystery fiction. A woman holding her own in a man’s world.

There is a charming sub-plot about ED Burton being required to show up as a special guest at a book fair. The dilemma of how to handle this situation plagues Amy, given that anonymity was the only condition when Amy’s father gave his consent to let her publish her books.

 

The banter between William and Amy was sweet and clever; it was good to see a fictional relationship based on friendship and mutual respect.

 

Lady Amy’s full name is given to us the fourth time it is mentioned, not the first. Also, there were times when the transition between paragraphs was too abrupt.

The language isn’t always appropriate to the time. Aunt Margaret describes James Harding as an “arse.” It felt odd to see the word, axe, spelt the American way as ‘ax.’ At another point, Amy asks William’s mother if she would like a tisane, a herb tea. The word itself emerged from the French language in the 1930s.

Other than these errors, I found this work cozy mystery a good read. 

(I read this book through NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley) 

Book Review: COZY CASE FILES, A COZY MYSTERY SAMPLER, VOL 10

Title: Cozy Case Files, A Cozy Mystery Sampler, Vol 10
Author: Ashley Weaver, Carolyn Haines, Ellie Alexander, Jane K Cleland, Donna Andrews, Vivien Chien, Elizabeth Penney, Diane Kelly, Cate Conte and Susan Cox
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Pages: 300
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

A Deception at Thornecrest by Ashley Weaver: A pregnant woman, Amory Ames, is disturbed when a young woman, Imogen Prescott, tells her that she has married Milo Ames, Amory’s husband, a few months ago. In the rest of the novel, Amory, heroine of her own book series, will go on to solve the mystery behind the killing of the stable-hand.

Hidden Treasures by Jane K Cleland: Josie Prescott and her husband Ty buy a new house. The previous owner, Maudie, has been moved to an assisted living facility by her nieces. Then the nieces want a trunk that, they claim, Aunt Maudie forgot to move.

Author Jane K Cleland, according to her bio, once owned her own antiques and rare books business. Her personal experience and knowledge enhance the book.

In a Midnight Wood by Ellen Hart: The body of Sam Romilly, a high school student who disappeared, is found 20 years after the fact. The body is found buried beneath the grave of the principal’s wife.

A Garland of Bones by Carolyn Haines: Private eye Sarah Booth, on a road trip with her best pals during the Christmas season, finds herself encountering one accident too many. When too many people begin to get hurt, she is determined to catch the wrongdoers.

Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews: Meg is part of the Helping Hands for the Holidays project, volunteering to help neighbours with things they can’t get done. She is assigned to help Harvey Dunlop with his hoarding problem. But then Harvey gets wondered and  Meg begins to wonder which of his hoarded possessions led to his death.

A Whisker of Doubt by Cate Conte was good. Even though I am not a cat lover at all. Maddie James runs a cat café and volunteers to help feed feral cats in a gated community. But some of the residents aren’t pleased with their efforts. There is a lot of friction, and then one of the residents is found dead.

Without a Brew by Ellie Alexander: Sloan Krause and her boss, Garrett, run an inn which specialises in beer. One of the brewery patrons, Liv Paxton, has an unpleasant encounter with some other patrons. The unpleasantness escalates until Liv disappears.

Bending the Paw by Diane Kelly: The police team of Megan and her dog, Birgit, are called to the scene of a brutal murder. But the strangest thing is that while there is blood everywhere, there is no victim. For once, they will have to find both murderer and victim.

Thread and Dead by Elizabeth Penney: Iris Buckley’s apron shop is doing well. When the rich and reclusive spinster Eleanor Brady calls her home to have a look at her trunks full of vintage fabrics and buy whatever she likes, it’s an offer that Iris just cannot resist. But Ms Brady has rented her house to a team of environmentalists, and one of them is killed.

Killer Kung Pao by Vivien Chien: Lana Lee runs her family’s Chinese restaurant, not an easy task. Then she witnesses a car accident in the parking lot and finds herself involved in more than she can handle.   

The Man in the Microwave Oven by Susan Cox: Theo Bogart has left her old life and town behind and started a new life with a new name and history. Fleeing from a tragedy in the past, Theo finds that the peril from her past is far from over and that someone she knows might be a murderer.

In each case, we get the synopsis and about three to four chapters of each novel. I felt as literary agents must feel when they have to make up their minds about a book based on a few chapters.

This is certainly a good way for readers to be introduced to new authors, and for new authors to make a splash with their target audience.

Garland of Bones and The Gift of the Magpie took too long to come to the point, and at the end of it, Garland of Bones had lost me. Other than that, I liked most of the others, and look forward to reading them.

(I read this book through NetGalley. Thank you, NetGalley, the author and the publisher.)