chez_jae

Thursday night, I finished reading Familiar Motives by Delia James. It's the third book in the "Witch's Cat" mystery series, featuring witch-in-training Anna Britton, and her familiar, Alistair.

When Anna goes to the vet for Alistair's annual, she meets Ruby, the famous feline known as Attitude Cat. Even Alistair seems star-struck. Later, however, the veterinarian, Ramona, is murdered and Ruby is missing. Ramona had agreed to board Ruby while her owner was out of town. Because Ramona was a witch, Anna's coven leader, Julia, wants to be sure that magic wasn't involved in the murder. She tasks Anna with doing some subtle investigating. Anna learns some interesting facts, but not all of the sources are reliable. It's up to her to separate the truth from the lies, all while protecting her friends and coven, and trying to find Ruby.

The book was entertaining. Anna didn't seem to get much done other than investigating, however. I prefer stories where the protagonist works the investigation around real-life activities. There were too many viable suspects for me to pinpoint one, although I was leaning towards the actual murderer. I did figure out where Ruby was long before Anna did. Hah!

Favorite line: There are days I manage to convince myself I couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler and a set of directions.
I've had days like that!

Good story, four stars:

****

Last night, I finished reading A Familiar Tail, which is the first book in a new series by author Delia James.

Annabelle Britton decides to travel to the small town of Portsmouth to visit her BFF Martine. While exploring the garden of the B&B she's staying at, Anna responds to the plaintive meows of a gray cat and follows him into a charming cottage. As a result, Anna finds herself in possession of a witch's wand and a feline familiar, named Alistair. Unfortunately, Alistair's former owner was found dead in the cottage, and Anna's sixth sense, which she calls her "Vibe", leads her to believe that Dorothy was murdered.

Annabelle meets a group of women, Dorothy's coven, and together they try to learn what became of Dorothy and what she was involved in that may have led to murder. Anna learns that her own grandmother used to live in Portsmouth and was part of the coven. She has difficulty discerning friend from foe as she sorts through the information that she learns about Dorothy and her nephew Frank, her own grandmother (the original Annabelle) and her grandmother's friends and frenemies, including the wealthy Elizabeth Maitland.

Frank rents the cottage to Anna in order to keep Ellis Maitland from hounding him to sell it, but that plan may have placed Anna right in the path of danger.

The story was entertaining and fast-paced. I'm not sure if there's a budding romance between Anna and Frank, although I'll be happy if there is. Frank is not in law enforcement; rather he's a reporter. Yes!

Favorite lines:
♦ "I am not being stalked by the magical mystery cat with the murdered mistress."
♦ Pride rebelled. Common sense would have rebelled, but common sense was whimpering under the bed somewhere and refused to come out.
♦ Only guys who wear hats can use words like "dastardly".
♦ "I do know a whole lot of horror movies would be about five minutes long if somebody just let the cop check the spooky basement first."

Looking forward to reading more in this series. Five out of five:

♦♦♦♦♦