Book 38, 2023

Claws for Suspicion by Deborah Blake

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Earlier this evening I finished the book Claws for Suspicion by Deborah Blake. It's the third part of her "Catskills Pet Rescue" mystery series. Narrative is in third-person pov, and the main character is Kari Stuart, who used her lottery winnings to buy an animal shelter.

Kari is settling into her role as owner of the Serenity Sanctuary, and she's enjoying the new life she built for herself. She has a solid circle of friends, a potential new romantic interest, and a purpose in helping rescue and rehome animals. Kari's own serenity is shattered, however, when her ex-husband, Charlie, comes to town claiming their divorce paperwork was never officially filed and that he's now entitled to half of her lottery winnings. Charlie has big plans for the property where the animal shelter is located, and he blithely assumes that Kari will fall over herself to get back together with him. Each time Kari tries to set him straight, he bulldozes over her protests and carries on, just like when they were married. When Charlie dies of a mysterious illness and it's determined he was poisoned, Kari finds herself atop the list of suspects. She didn't kill him, but Kari is determined to find out who did, if only for her own peace of mind.

The first book in this series had someone posing a threat to the animal shelter, getting murdered, and suspicion being cast on Kari for having the strongest motive. In that respect, this seemed like too much of a rehash of the initial plot. Zero points for originality. That being said, the plot was taut and twisty, characters were portrayed well, including Charlie the Terrible. I wanted to murder him myself. Ass. I figured things out about midway through the book, although the motive escaped me until the end. And now for the big plot hole: ( Spoiler! )

Favorite line: They said a tiger never changed its stripes. Apparently that went for skunks as well.

The story was interesting and kept my attention. I like Kari and the setting of the animal shelter. This was heading for a solid four-star rating, but I'm deducting a star for the recycled plot and the egregious error it contained. Three stars.