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Purrfect Trap by Nic Saint

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


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Thursday night I finished reading Purrfect Trap by Nic Saint, which is the 15th book in the “Mysteries of Max” series of cozy cat mysteries.

Odelia thinks she has a big story to cover when a local meat market runs out of their beloved Duffer sausages. However, when several people go missing, along with most of the cats in Hampton Cove, she turns her attention to solving the disappearances. But this time, she’ll have to do it without the help of her own cats; they’re missing, too.

This was not entertaining; it was awful. I put two and two together early and hoped I was coming up with five, but no. I was correct in my assumption. The fact that nobody died (neither a cat nor a person) does not excuse the atrocity.

Favorite line: “It’s just like a serial killer to have some sort of weird cat fixation.”

Horrifying. Do yourself a favor and skip this one. It’s getting one star from me, because I can’t give it zero.

Life's A Birch by Annabel Chase

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I finished Life’s a Birch by Annabel Chase last night. It’s the second installment in her “Bloomin’ Psychic” series, starring Mia Thorne.

Mia is getting acclimated to the slower pace of life in Newberry, PA, although she still needs a job, and her great-aunt Hazel’s garden still needs lots of work. At least she has some new friends, Scarlet and Patrick, a potential boyfriend in attorney Dane Fairfax, and hellcat Ophelia seems to be accepting her. Things are going well until a body is found in the canal near Scarlet’s home and Scarlet is tabbed as the primary suspect. Determined to clear her friend’s name, Mia starts nosing around in hopes of finding a more viable suspect or two for the police to focus on. What she encounters is a conspiracy-minded birdwatching group, a creepy set of twins, a snarky knitting circle, and a ghost. The police would prefer that Mia stay out of it, because a killer may just kill again to keep a secret.

As fresh and funny as the first in the series. Mia is a hoot, and I love how she rolls with whatever fresh hell life deals her. The plot moved at a good pace, and characters were well-developed.

Favorite lines:
♦ Ophelia appeared in the kitchen, meowing with a sense of urgency. “What is it, Lassie? Did Timmy fall in the well again?”
♦ Chief Tuck peered at me with those Paul Newman eyes and I immediately started to crave salad dressing.
♦ “You should have taken something from him so you can try to do a reading later, like a strand of his hair, although I’d hate to deprive him of what few hairs he has left.”
♦ She was like a geriatric version of Luna from Harry Potter.
♦ Vacating the bean bag chair was like trying to give birth to myself.

Lots of fun, four stars

The Pernicious Pixie and the Choked Word by Kelly Ethan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I polished off an ebook last night: The Pernicious Pixie and the Choked Word, which is the prequel to author Kelly Ethan’s “Point Muse” series of paranormal mysteries. The main character is librarian Alexandria “Xandie” Meyers, who doesn’t know she’s a witch.

Xandie would rather be doing anything but working for her austere father at the library at Andrews College, but she needs a job. As if working for her persnickety father wasn’t bad enough, Xandie stumbles over a dead body in the library. When paranormal investigator Ethan Jackson arrives to investigate, Xandie learns there’s more to this world than meets the eye. Her father won’t tell her anything, and all Ethan will tell her is to go to Point Muse, where her great-aunt Sera lived. First, however, Xandie must survive harmful hexes and murderous pixies if she wants to live long enough to visit Point Muse.

Not a long story, but put together well for all that. Characters came across fine, the plot was sensible and not bogged down with a lot of incidental descriptors.

Favorite lines:
♦ “What scrapbook nut outlines a dead body in glitter?”
♦ “Never threaten a woman with a broom.”
♦ “He’ll poop hell kittens if I don’t wind this up.”
♦ No one should ever have to deal with the horror of zombie underwear.
♦ “Some tea to go with your sarcasm?”

Lite and lively, four stars!

The Great Witches Baking Show by Nancy Warren

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I finished an ebook last night. It was The Great Witches Baking Show by Nancy Warren. It’s the first book in her Great Witches Baking Show series. The main character is Poppy Wilkinson, baker and novice witch.

Abandoned as a baby, Poppy is determined to learn more about her birth mother. When she sees a painting in a grand British home of a woman wearing a shawl that matches her baby blanket, Poppy is desperate to gain access to the family that live there. Fortunately for her, the newest season of The Great British Baking Contest is being filmed on the grounds, and Poppy has been chosen as a contestant. The show is not without drama, however, with accusations of sabotage. When Gerry, a fellow contestant, dies under mysterious circumstances, Poppy is convinced he was murdered. So does Gerry, who’s shown up as a ghost. Poppy has always had the ability to see spirits, and she learns that it may be due to a witchy inheritance she knew nothing about. Now Poppy has two goals: solve Gerry’s murder, and get into Broomwode Hall.

Fun story. Poppy is a likable character, and I enjoyed how quickly she made friends with some of the other people involved in the show, including other contestants. One of the judges, Elspeth, is a witch, and she’s the one who clued Poppy in to her own heritage. Characters were three-dimensional, and the plot was sensible and entertaining.

Favorite lines:
♦ One bad move could snowball into catastrophe.
♦ “We’re more powerful when we work together. That’s why we have covens.”
♦ “What kind of man sabotages another man’s pie?”

Light, enjoyable read. Four stars.

A Murderous Macaron by Fiona Grace

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


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I finished reading A Murderous Macaron by Fiona Grace last night. It’s the second book in her “Beachfront Bakery” series. The main character is Ali Sweet, who owns...a beachfront bakery!

Now that Ali’s bakery, Seaside Sweets, has established itself via her gourmet cupcakes, she’s ready to branch out. Ali intends to begin offering macarons. Her launch day is a huge success. That is, until Brandon Lennox, a vlogger who gets his views by being rude and pranking people, stops at her bakery. After trying and spitting out her macarons, Brandon drops dead. When it’s determined he was poisoned, everyone assumes Ali did him in. With her bakery now closed as a crime scene, Ali takes it upon herself to find out who really killed Brandon.

I did not enjoy this at all. Murder by poison is completely overdone in cozy mysteries. This isn’t the middle ages, for heaven’s sake! Also, the EMT isn’t going to make a determination as to what killed the victim and then alert the police; it would be up to a doctor to notify the police that the death is suspicious. Since Ali’s bakery was closed down the bulk of the story dealt with her amateur investigation. I thought she was too quick to jump to conclusions, alienating other characters. My favorite scene was when Ali went to talk to Fat Tony, the mobster who has taken a shine to her. The twins who own competing pizza places on either side of Seaside Sweets also provided some comic relief.

Favorite lines:
♦ She loved baking because it spread joy.
♦ “Quite a pickle we’ve found ourselves in, huh?”
♦ Sharing a pizza with the mob was the last thing Ali really wanted to be doing.

Disappointingly ho-hum. Two stars.

A Wild Ghost Chase by Elle Adams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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Earlier this evening I knocked back the rest of A Wild Ghost Chase by Elle Adams. It’s the first book in the “Reaper Witch” series of paranormal mysteries. The main character is Maura, half witch, half Reaper.

After breaking the rules as a Reaper, Maura has turned her back on her paranormal life to live among non-magical people. However, her ability to see and communicate with ghosts continues to plague her. Now she’s been sacked from her job in a morgue and wondering how she’ll pay the rent. Maura is contacted by a teenage ghost blogger who asks her to come to Hawkwood Hollow to lay a particularly nasty ghost to rest. Maura accepts the job, but what she finds in Hawkwood Hollow is unexpected. There are far too many random spirits hanging around, even for a magical town, and she learns that the local Reaper has quit his job and is no longer crossing souls over. Teenage ghost-hunter wannabe, Carey, shows Maura the dilapidated old mansion where the surly spirit refuses to leave. What should be a simple case for a Reaper witch is complicated by a detective who doesn’t want Maura there, a belligerent heir, and her own twin brother, Mart, whose ghost is still attached to her. Maura is determined to get to the bottom of things, if only for Carey’s sake and to show Detective Drew that she knows what she’s doing.

This was a little bit fluffy and a little bit creepy. The ghost of old Mrs Renner was a nasty piece of work, as was her very much alive grandson, Henry Renner. Maura keeps being thwarted by the detective each time she tries to enter the house to communicate with Mrs Renner, and the old harridan is determined to stay put. Maura and Carey were portrayed well, but other characters could have used some fleshing out. The story was almost exclusively Maura’s investigation with some backstory thrown in.

Favorite line: Most magical folk are about as subtle as a troupe of unicycle-riding clowns juggling fireballs.

Not all that substantial, but enjoyable. It deserves 3.5 stars, but since I can’t award halfsies, I’ll bump it up to a four.

A Ghostly Beginning by Ravyn Amara

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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Polished off another ebook last night: A Ghostly Beginning by Ravyn Amara. It’s the first book in the “Cobwebs & Curiosities” series of ghostly cozy mysteries. The main character is Holly Goodwin.

Holly has been able to see and speak to ghosts since she was a child. But, after her mother exploited the ability for her own gain, Holly has spent years stoically ignoring any ghost she encounters, and it’s been working for her. Until the day she comes into possession of a ring with a spirit attached to it. The woman was murdered and wants Holly to help find her killer. Holly reluctantly agrees and begins delving into the woman’s last days in an effort to find out who killed her. The investigation, however, may put Holly’s life in danger as well.

A bit different than the normal ‘mc can communicate with spirits’ trope, in that Holly had to be in proximity with an item the spirit was attached to. The story was interesting. I had hoped for more humor, but Holly is a somber character. This was novella-length, so there wasn’t much world-building, but there was enough to provide a solid framework. I liked Holly’s dog, a hyper, one-eyed Jack Russell.

Favorite line: She was glad she wasn’t going to be alone for her last few moments.

Good, not great: three stars

( Trope Test )

Impurrfect Magic by Paula Lester

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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Last night I finished an ebook. It was Impurrfect Magic by Paula Lester. It’s the first book in the “Unfamiliar Magic” series of paranormal cozies. The main character is Ivy Patterson.

Ivy has ditched her old life in favor of moving back to her hometown, where she works in her uncle’s produce store. Uncle Vincent is training Ivy to take over the business, with an eye on retiring once she’s ready. Things are going well until Ivy finds her uncle dead in the store. While his death appears from natural causes, Ivy can’t help but wonder. When a black kitten emerges into the shop from a secret, back room, Ivy stumbles upon her uncle’s secret. He’s been running a side-hustle—using his magic to do odd jobs for people. It forces Ivy to confront her painful past—her mother once declared that Ivy’s magic was dark and that she must never use it. However, Vince also had dark magic, and Ivy doesn’t believe he ever used it to cause harm. At the kitten’s unspoken urging, Ivy begins to piece together the last few days of her uncle’s life in an effort to find who may have wanted to kill him...and why.

A fun story. Ivy is likable, as were other characters in her “orbit”. Of course, she encountered some unsavory characters over the course of her investigation, but they were only transient. The kitten, Tabby, had magic of her own, but she was not a talking cat. That was refreshing. The narrative unfolded at a sensible pace, although the majority of it was consumed with Ivy’s sleuthing. There were some minor editing errors, such as one character whose name was alternately spelled either Shye or Skye

Favorite lines:
♦ I changed my jeans because the first pair got too tight in the dryer. I swear it was the dryer.
♦ “Hey, didn’t you die yesterday?”

Enjoyable—four stars.

( Trope Test )

Purrfect Cut by Nic Saint

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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I stayed up a tad late last night to finish reading Purrfect Cut by Nic Saint. It’s the 14th in the “Mysteries of Max” series of cozy cat mysteries. Lead characters are Max, the cat, and Odelia, his human.

When a famous fashion designer is found murdered in his bed with his live-in lover hovering over him and holding the knife, the case seems pretty clear. Nevertheless, Detective Chase Kingsley is tasked with investigating, and he’s accompanied to the designer’s home by Odelia and her four cats. The cats, however, are feeling neglected and decide to go on strike and not help Odelia investigate. Their decision has dire consequences when Max and Dooley are accidentally left behind, where they find themselves confronted by another “cat whisperer” and his nasty Siamese, Tank. It’s going to take all of their wits and a lot of luck for them to solve the case and get out alive.

This one took a slightly dark turn in some places, but it was fun and humorous for the most part. Odelia’s grandmother started out being her usual annoying self, although she redeemed herself by the end.

Favorite lines:
♦ I may not be strong or courageous, but what I lack in bravery I make up for in size.
♦ Taking care of one cat is one thing, or even two, but four? Not many humans were prepared to take their love of pets to such an extreme.Four? Amateurs. LOL!
♦ A cat, given the proper training, could run a company just as well as the next CEO. After all, a lot of Fortune 500 companies are run by jackals and hyenas, and some even by an ass.

Solid four stars

A Deadly Turn by Paulette Brewster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished an ebook last night. It was A Deadly Turn by Paulette Brewster, and it’s the second in her “Maple Ridge” series of cozy mysteries. The main character is Liz Marsh, who owns and operates a B&B as well as a farmette.

Liz is settling into her life in bucolic Maple Ridge, VT. Life is going well, until her friend, librarian Shelly, must referee two groups who are vying for use of the library’s community room. On top of that, Shelly has been receiving threats in the library’s drop box. Worst of all, however, is the escalating feud between two of the town’s elder statesmen: Roger and Cyrus. When one of them ends up dead, Liz can’t help but think it was more than a mere heart attack that killed him. In the meantime, her Aunt Esme shows up out of the blue to visit, and Liz’s milk cow, Myrtie, is misbehaving. She has a lot on her plate, but Liz is up to the challenge.

I liked the story well enough, but ( Spoilers! ) Characterizations were fine, and the plot moved at a good pace.

Favorite lines:
♦ “Most of the time I smell like a barn and look like a whirlwind just whipped past me.”
♦ She never believed a lady should openly smirk, but it was so difficult to avoid, once in a great while.

“Holding breath” line: Liz let the air out of her lungs in a whoosh, not even realizing that she’d been holding it in.

Entertaining, but average. Three stars.