Book 98, 2019

[chez_jae]

The Purr-fect Crime by Samantha Silver

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished reading The Purr-fect Crime, by Samantha Silver, last night. It's the first book in the author's "Willow Bay Witches" series. Main character is witch Angela Martin, who shares a home with her sister, Charlotte, and her BFF, Sophie. Oh, and her cat, Bee. Angela's special ability is that she can talk with animals, which has led her to a career as a veterinarian.

Angela enjoys small town life. She has her practice and her magic, even though she's careful not to use it around any non-magical folk. Things are all but perfect, until Angela finds a dead body in her clinic. It's the first murder in Willow Bay in over a century, and people are shook up about it. When someone hints that Angela's business may suffer, she takes it upon herself to try to solve the murder. Sophie is eager to help, but Charlotte tries to be the voice of reason. Of course, Bee eggs her on. Angela is having trouble lining up a viable suspect, but what's with the hot guy she keeps seeing all over town? Angela is convinced he has something to do with the murder. Unfortunately, her snooping around may put her, and those she loves, in danger.

Favorite lines:
♦ My cat was the most dramatic animal I knew.
♦ The closest thing I had to excitement in my life was getting puked on by angry cats.
♦ Because of course you couldn't get a single sheet of paper from the county without paying for it.
♦ "Tom Riddle's Diary," the brown hamster replied. "That's how we knew it was death. He was linked to he-who-shall-not-be-named."

The story was cute, if a tad trite. Angela is likable enough, and I enjoyed her ability to speak to animals. Editing, however, was a smokin' hot mess.


♦ Is Bee black, or a calico? Please decide.
♦ Is Angela's hair chestnut or dark? It was described both ways.
♦ The author told us twice how Lisa and Sophie had taken in Angela and Charlotte.
♦ At what point do you use your smart phone as a flashlight, yet forget to use it for, oh I don't know, CALLING THE BLOODY POLICE?!
♦ Angela was taken to the hospital and had to stay for a day or two because...she was overwrought? She had some scratches on her? I mean...*shakes head*
♦ This paragraph:
Laying on the exam table was a man and I was pretty sure he was dead. The room had been ransacked; it was obvious the man had tried to fix himself up, but didn't manage it. He had wrapped a bandage around his midsection, and his hands were bloody. He had eventually collapsed on the floor, where he lay now, surrounded by a small pool of blood.
Did he fall off of the exam table and onto the floor while she was making this observation? Good grief. This glaring inconsistency was in the same paragraph, not two chapters later.

Giving this one three stars: one for the fact that it was a charming story, one for the talking cat, and one for effort.