Book 26, 2018

Plot Boiler by Ali Brandon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I just now finished reading Plot Boiler by Ali Brandon. It's the fifth installment in the "Black Cat Bookshop" mystery series, featuring store owner Darla Pettistone and her cat Hamlet.

Darla is busy organizing a Fourth of July block party, along with help from other shop owners in her neighborhood. Things are going smoothly except for the lone holdout, the owner of a coffee shop who feels that Darla's newly-installed coffee bar in her bookstore is competition. When Hamlet discovers the man's wife dead, and another local business owner is found dead the following day, the police initially rule it a murder-suicide. However, Darla and Hamlet aren't so convinced. It's up to them to find the clues that will out a killer before anyone else dies.

The story was entertaining and moved at a good pace. If I had any complaints, it was that the first murder didn't take place until almost a third of the way through the narrative, and there was a minor loose end or two that never got resolved. The story featured some surprising twists, although I was on to the killer long before anyone else. Hah!

Favorite line: "She keeps bringing up the old chestnut about diamonds being a girl's best friend. Well, she's wrong. Cats are girl's best friend."

Very good, five stars:

*****