Review: Claws For Alarm by T.C. LoTempio

Genre:
Cozy Mystery

Format:
E-Book

Publisher:
Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Release Date:
November 2015







Former crime reporter, turned sandwich shop owner, Nora Charles is back with her handsome sleuth buddy, Nick the tuxedo cat. This time they are involved in a case close to Nora’s heart. Her sister, Lacey, has been arrested for the murder of her professor. All evidence points in Lacey’s direction – she had a huge public fight with the professor over a bad grade and then she’s found standing over the body holding the murder weapon. The police are convinced they have an open and shut case, but Nora doesn’t believe that for one instant. She knows her sister is innocent and plans to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Nora soon realizes there is more going on here than a simple bad grade. The professor had quite a few secrets including an angry adult son, an ex with a few secrets of her own, a younger new wife looking to inherit big time, and an ex-mistress who happened to be a student. To say the professor was not well liked, would be putting it mildly. In fact, many people hated the man which means there are many suspects. Each one has more reason to kill him than Lacey.

To add to the mystery, Nick’s original owner has been missing since the first book. The two plan to find out his story as well. So, this is kind of a double mystery in one book.

I loved the first book and the series continues to be just as good with this one. The characters are well-developed and come to life with each page. Even Nick the kitty is a strong character – he provides the best clues and even uses scrabble tiles to get his message across. Of course, being a cat lover, Nick wins my heart over immediately.

I recommend readers start this series from the beginning. The mystery of Nick’s original owner’s disappearance is a continuing storyline throughout the series. Fortunately, there are only two books out now and another coming out next month. So, there’s plenty of time to catch up  You won’t want to miss the clues to find out what happened.

As for this book and this plot, the murder is solved in this book. You aren’t left with a cliffhanger as far as the professor’s murder mystery goes. It’s solved in this book. I have to admit that I was totally on the wrong track in figuring out the killer. Nora and Nick are much better at this than I am. It’s a very enjoyable series with a dash of romance interwoven into it. I can’t wait to begin reading the next one.



For reading challenges:
Blogger Shame Reading Challenge 2016
What An Animal IX Reading Challenge 2016

FTC Disclosure: The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.