Book 94, 2017
Nov. 20th, 2017 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chez_jaeYesterday, I started reading A Midwinter's Tail by Sofie Kelly, and I finished it tonight. The book is part of the "Magical Cats" mystery series, featuring small town librarian Kathleen Paulson and her two extraordinary cats, Owen and Hercules.
Kathleen is busy organizing a fundraising event for the library's Reading Buddies program, which she hopes will allow the program to not just continue, but expand. The gala event is ruined, however, when one of the guests dies of anaphylactic shock after eating a truffle. The victim was none other than the estranged wife of one of Kathleen's friends, gruff Burtis Chapman. Dayna Chapman hadn't been back in over twenty years, and it seems too coincidental that she returned just in time to die. Knowing that Burtis will be a main suspect, Kathleen begins a subtle investigation of her own, taking care not to interfere with the official investigation being conducted by her boyfriend, Detective Marcus Gordon.
In addition to making inquiries about Dayna, Kath is busy with her job, helping her friend Rebecca plan her upcoming wedding, getting ready for the holidays, and refereeing the recent squabbles between her cats. It's their behavior, however, that helps Kathleen put the clues together. Unfortunately, she's been asking too many questions, and now Kathleen may be in danger herself.
A charming cozy mystery, as the others have been in this series. Once again, I really appreciate reading about Kathleen's day-to-day activities. The author doesn't just concentrate on the investigation, which would make it seem as if that's all the main character is doing. There was one thing that I found terribly irksome, and that was the constant vacillation between spelling the victim's name as Dayna or Dana. Grah!
Favorite lines:
♦ "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you'd better start making the orange sauce."
♦ "It was actually Skeletor from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."
♦ "Don't wait too long for your happily ever after."
Other than the spelling schmozzle, an excellent book. Five stars:
*****
Kathleen is busy organizing a fundraising event for the library's Reading Buddies program, which she hopes will allow the program to not just continue, but expand. The gala event is ruined, however, when one of the guests dies of anaphylactic shock after eating a truffle. The victim was none other than the estranged wife of one of Kathleen's friends, gruff Burtis Chapman. Dayna Chapman hadn't been back in over twenty years, and it seems too coincidental that she returned just in time to die. Knowing that Burtis will be a main suspect, Kathleen begins a subtle investigation of her own, taking care not to interfere with the official investigation being conducted by her boyfriend, Detective Marcus Gordon.
In addition to making inquiries about Dayna, Kath is busy with her job, helping her friend Rebecca plan her upcoming wedding, getting ready for the holidays, and refereeing the recent squabbles between her cats. It's their behavior, however, that helps Kathleen put the clues together. Unfortunately, she's been asking too many questions, and now Kathleen may be in danger herself.
A charming cozy mystery, as the others have been in this series. Once again, I really appreciate reading about Kathleen's day-to-day activities. The author doesn't just concentrate on the investigation, which would make it seem as if that's all the main character is doing. There was one thing that I found terribly irksome, and that was the constant vacillation between spelling the victim's name as Dayna or Dana. Grah!
Favorite lines:
♦ "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you'd better start making the orange sauce."
♦ "It was actually Skeletor from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."
♦ "Don't wait too long for your happily ever after."
Other than the spelling schmozzle, an excellent book. Five stars:
*****
