Cat Thursday - March 15th

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! This fun meme is hosted by The True Book Addict. Go over to her site to join in the fun.

Probable Claws by Clea Simon

Genre: Mystery

One of my favorite kitties is back…Musetta and her human, music critic Theda Krakow, is in big trouble.

When cats start getting sick at her friend Violet’s cat shelter, Theda is convinced that this is no accident. Encouraged by Violet’s claim that her animals were poisoned, Theda begins an investigation which leads to some nasty political views, threats and eventually murder. Things get worse when Theda is the prime suspect and the police have no intentions of looking any further.

It’s not long before Theda finds herself losing her job and friends, not to mention that her boyfriend, Bill, isn’t happy with her either. The only one to stand behind her is her beautiful cat Musetta, but Theda’s investigation could mean they are both in danger of being the next victims.

This is the fourth book in the Theda Krakow series and these books just keep getting better. Clea’s writing clearly shows she knows her cats and, for a cat lover like me, it’s so much fun to read. The story took a few twists and turns along the way. I kept changing my mind who the culprit was, but it all came to a satisfying conclusion. This is a fast-paced book that left me wanting more.

It’s my second book in a row that I truly loved and am giving my Socrates’ Book Review Great Book Alert medal to.



For reading challenges:

A to Z Reading Challenge
Cat Sleuth Reading Challenge
Read Your Own Book Reading Challenge

The Tail of the Tip-Off by Rita Mae Brown

Genre: Mystery

It’s winter time in Crozet, Virginia and the town is caught up in cheering the local women’s basketball team. Following one exciting game, H.H. Donaldson, a local building contractor, suddenly dies. At first it’s believed to be a heart attack, but it doesn’t take long before the police realize it was a cold blooded murder.

Harry Haristeen is determined to find the murderer. Her trio of furry best friends, kitties Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, plus Harry’s faithful corgi, Tucker are more than happy to protect their human “mom”. When another body turns up dead, the animals vow not to let the same thing happen to their mother.

I always like to revisit this series led by the tiger kitty Mrs. Murphy. This is a fast-paced mystery, although the outcome wasn’t really all that surprising, it was a good read. The characters are all well developed with most of them reappearing in each book. It’s always fun to check in on characters we’ve grown to love over the years. This wasn’t my favorite of the series, but it was a good one.

For reading challenges:

What an animal reading challenge
Cat Sleuth Reading Challenge
A to Z Reading Challenge
Mysteryreader Café Reading Challenge
Read Your Own Book Reading Challenge

Familiar Texas by Caroline Burnes

Harlequin Intrigue #831

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Stephanie Chisholm returns to her hometown of Pecos, Texas to attend her aunt and uncle’s funeral and settle their affairs. It’s not long before she learns that their deaths weren’t as accidental as she’d been led to believe and their will turns up, but quite a different version than the one she possesses. This one shows that her aunt and uncle disowned her completely, but this couldn’t possibly be true. It made no sense.

Hank Dalton is quite taken with the appearance of Stephanie. When he realizes Stephanie’s life is in danger, he is determined to keep her safe. He has a bit of help, too. Stephanie hires the sleek black feline detective, Familiar, to uncover all the mysterious happenings at the ranch and to learn the true story of her aunt and uncle’s deaths.

As always, I love this series and it’s always fun to have the handsome black cat, Familiar, on the scene. He makes me smile. The characters were very well developed and readers had an excellent feel for the setting of this book. I enjoyed it very much.

For reading challenges…

What an animal reading challenge
Cat Sleuth Reading Challenge

The Cat, The Quilt and The Corpse by Leann Sweeney

The Cat, The Quilt and The Corpse by Leann Sweeney

Genre: Cozy Myster, “A Cats in Trouble Mystery”

Jillian Hart is too young to be a widow, but when her beloved husband suddenly dies, all she has to keep her company are her three beautiful cats, Syrah, Chablis and Merlot. They make their home in a small town in South Carolina where Jillian has her own business of making quilts. When she returns from an overnight business trip, she finds her home has been broken into and her precious Syrah has been cat-napped!

Jillian turns to the police for help, but when they hear nothing but her cat was stolen, they don’t offer much help or concern. Basically, they don’t take her seriously at all. She asks for assistance from a local private investigator who installs a new alarm system and it doesn’t hurt that the P.I. is a sexy hunk as well.

With the help of a newfound friend, police officer Candace Carson, they conduct their own investigation but continually run into dead ends. Jillian is convinced she knows who did it, but when her suspect turns up dead, she becomes the number one suspect herself. Jillian races around the clock to prove her innocence and find her beloved Syrah before any harm comes to her.

I absolutely adored this story. I’m a huge cozy fan and if you toss in a few kitties, all the better for me. I fell in love with all the human characters, as well as the furry ones. The characters were well-developed, the story moved along at a fast pace and it kept you guessing until the end. It had everything I love in my mysteries. The next book in the “A Cats in Trouble Mystery” will be out in the spring. It’s already on my shopping list.


For reading challenges:

Amateur Sleuth Reading Challenge
2009 Suspense & Thriller Reading Challenge
Cat Sleuth Reading Challenge
Mysteryreader Café
What an animal II challenge

I'm also giving this the Socrates' Great Book Alert Medal

Cat Sleuth Challenge

How in the world could I possibly resist a cat sleuth reading challenge? Cats, mysteries... two of my favorite things. Here's the info...

Rules & Sign-ups

1. Challenge runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. Join anytime, as long as you can read the required books.

2. Read 12 Cat Sleuth books from at least 4 different authors. A list would be nice but not necessary and is not written in stone (or even pen).

3. Overlaps with other challenges are purrfectly acceptable.

4. Blog about the challenge (with a link back to this post) then sign up. When you sign up, link to your challenge post, not your blog, unless we can easily find the link on your site.

5. You do not need your own blog to join the challenge, you can do all your challenge related posts here. Just email me (book dragons lair at gmail dot com) after you've signed-up and I'll add you to the blog. In fact, everybody can do their challenge related posts here.

6. You do not need to review your books but it would be nice. You could just post what book you read and a bit about it so we could see if we'd like to read it.

7. Come back often to report on your progress or just in June to leave a link with your wrap up post. I hope to have prizes but I'm undecided on the "rules" for receiving them, any ideas? To sign up, go to Cat Sleuth Challenge Blog

Here are my choices for now...

1. The Tail of the Tip-Off by Rita Mae Brown Click for review
2. Cat Breaking Free by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
3. The Cat, The quilt and the Corpse by Leann Sweeney Click for review
4. Familiar Texas by Caroline Burnes Click for review
5. Familiar Escape by Caroline Burnes
6. Familiar Vows by Caroline Burnes
7. Whisker of Evil by Rita Mae Brown
8. Cat Pay the Devil by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
9. Probable Claws by Clea Simon Click for review
10. Cat Deck the Halls by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
11. Cat's Eyewitness by Rita Mae Brown
12. Sour Puss by Rita Mae Brown