Book 19, 2026

[chez_jae]

Meow Means Murder by Jinty James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


View all my reviews

I finished reading Meow Means Murder last night. It’s the second book in author Jinty James’ “Norwegian Forest Cat Cafe” series of cozy mysteries. Main characters are Lauren (who owns the cafe), Annie, her Norwegian Forest cat, and Zoe, Lauren’s cousin who works at the cafe.

The small town where Lauren and Zoe live and work is excited about the arrival of a noted food critic. When he arrives at Lauren’s cafe too late to score any of their locally famous pastries, Lauren decides to take some to him at his hotel. There, she finds the food critic dead. There seems to be no shortage of suspects, from the critic’s intern to another eatery owner to those he gave poor reviews to. Lauren worries that she may be a suspect, too. Being questioned by the police at least means she gets to see more of dreamy Detective Mitch Denman. Lauren is torn between investigating or staying clear of the situation.

Spoiler alert: Lauren didn’t do much active investigating, although information seemed to drop in her lap throughout the story. I enjoyed the mix of her being at work, socializing, and kinda-sorta sleuthing. Characters were portrayed well, including Annie, who was a cult of personality (purrsonality?) on her own. The narrative was a tad simplistic, but that’s okay when you’re in the mood for something entertaining that isn’t going to tax your brain.

Favorite line: “We’ll bring a doggy bag—or a pussy bag back for you.” A what?!

And the good ol’ ‘didn’t know I was holding my breath’ line: Lauren let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

Tasty-sounding baked goods, a lovely cat, and a budding romance equals four stars.