Book 43, 2026

[chez_jae]

Shock and Paw by Cate Conte

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


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May has been a busy month for me, which is why it’s taken so long to finish any of my current books. This morning, I finally got through Shock and Paw by Cate Conte. It’s the 8th “Cat Cafe” cozy mystery, starring Maddie James and her cat, JJ. It was a holiday setting, but I didn’t want to wait until December to read it!

Maddie is keeping busy with the cat cafe, JJ’s House of Purrs, and helping to decorate it for the upcoming holiday lights contest. She has no intention of getting involved with organizing the town’s holiday events...that is, until things start going off the rails and several people beg Maddie to step in and help. In the meantime, her Grandpa Leo has taken a tumble and injured his ankle. Adding to Maddie’s woes, her friend Katrina, who is the local Animal Control Officer, keeps finding fliers for expensive, exotic cats. Katrina and Maddie would much rather see people adopt. When someone steals an exotic kitten from the cat cafe, Maddie finds herself investigating an illegal cat-breeding operation. When a woman who’s also been investigating the cat angle winds up dead and Maddie’s friend Becky is looking like a prime suspect, Maddie goes all in on solving the crime.

I really enjoyed the story. There was so much going on that it held my interest. I like to reconnect with regular characters and meet new ones. The author always portrays her characters well, and the plot made sense as it went along.

Favorite lines:
♦ Her personality was ninety percent sass and ten percent cat-masquerading-as-human.
♦ The tail---the cat’s middle finger.
♦ The news was a little piece of happy after a crappy couple of days.
♦ “Most church people who talk about how church-y they are are full of crap.”
♦ “We all want to save the world but at some point we have to come to terms with the fact that we can’t.”

Wonderful story! I only wish I’d read it during the holidays. LOL! Five stars