Book 43, 2024

Purrfect Alibi by Nic Saint

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I finished Purrfect Alibi by Nic Saint last night. It's the 9th installment in the "Mysteries of Max" series of cozy cat crimes. Main characters are Max the cat and Odelia, his human.

Odelia's mother, Marge, has accomplished quite the coup in getting a best-selling author to come to town and do a book signing at the library. When the author is murdered, Marge finds herself on the list of suspects, despite the fact that her own brother is the chief of police. Chief Alec doesn't really believe Marge killed anyone, but he needs to follow the evidence. That's when Odelia steps in to help investigate, utilizing her secret weapon: her cats, who can question other animals in the area and listen in on human conversations to glean clues. The cats, however, have issues of their own. Max's friend, Dooley, is convinced the apocalypse is nigh, and Harriet's boyfriend, Brutus, is convinced the spots on his chest mean he's going to die. Nevertheless, the cats do their part, finding a new ally in Big Mac. In the meantime, Odelia and her boyfriend, Detective Chase Kingsley, are busy interviewing suspects. Between them and the cats, they have Hampton Cove covered, and it's only a matter of time before somebody's alibi implodes.

This particular book in the series was quite enjoyable. The plot progressed smoothly, no strange cat was causing trouble among the feline friends, and even Odelia's odious grandmother, Vesta, was...well, not behaving herself, but less annoying than usual. This was also probably the funniest installment in this series so far.

Favorite lines:
♦ As everyone knows, no cat wants to be seen watching dogs on TV.
♦ "If you're here to steal my food I can tell you right now I will beat you and I will kick you and when I'm done beating and kicking you I will scratch you and then I will bite you." I can relate to this.
♦ "With a barbecue chicken pizza and a side of straitjacket."
♦ "If he's been having an affair I can tell you right now that I'll rip him to shreds and stomp on his remains then spit on his cheating carcass."
♦ "I swear to God, I'll kick you so hard your backside will become your new face and you'll wear your tail as a nose."*
♦ "Keep your shirt on, Brutus," I said, which probably didn't make sense. Cats don't wear shirts. Dogs do, but then we all know dogs are idiots.
♦ How was I to know that Jesus would smite us with a viral infectious disease?
♦ This obviously wasn't Ed Sheeran straining his vocal cords but some amateur caroler, or it might have been a cat undergoing a thoroughly painful castration.
♦ The final note died away, Chase smiling up at her. And then he was hit with a skillet and went down hard.*

Typically I read one of these stories, roll my eyes, and wonder why I keep reading them. This one reminded me why I do. I laughed out loud more than once while reading. It's probably deserving of 4.5 stars, but you know what? I've been busting the author's chops over these books so much that I'm going to award this one a five.