Familiar Double by Caroline Burnes

Harlequin Intrigue #729, October 2003
Genre: Romantic suspense

Fear Familiar is back for another fun adventure! I so love this sleek, black cat and his crazy antics. Most of the time he knows so much more than the humans in the book. LOL

This story finds Familiar in the role of a “stunt cat” on a movie set. When the beautiful stuntwoman, Nicole Paul, is accused of stealing an expensive piece of jewelry, Familiar is on the case. No way does he believe this sweet woman could do something so awful. He’s convinced she’s been framed and he intends to prove it. He lets Nicole’s boss, Jax McClure, share in the investigation. It doesn’t hurt to have a human involved, too.

Jealousies and old hatreds are flying high on this movie set. The last straw is when Nicole’s father is released from prison after serving a 20 year sentence for stealing an expensive and cursed diamond. When he hears that his daughter is now being accused of a similar crime, he’s sure it has to do with the false accusations that left him in a jail cell for all these years.

Nicole, her father, Jax and Familiar set out to find who is behind framing them. The stakes get higher when Nicole’s father is kidnapped. If they don’t crack this case, time could run out on her father’s life. With Familiar playing detective, and a bit of a matchmaker too, things are bound to work out.

This is a quick read that had my hysterical – especially when Familiar gets insulted at his treatment at a local restaurant. Familiar may not actually speak, but he gets his thoughts across  I love this series so much. I only have two books and a novella left in my TBR. I hope Burnes never stops writing these delightful books.

For reading challenges: What an animal reading challenge, a to z reading challenge

I'm also giving it the Socrates' Book Reviews Great Book Alert

Familiar Oasis by Caroline Burnes

Harlequin Intrigue #673, August 2002

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Familiar, the sleek black cat detective, is at it again! Just as he’s about to go back home to the United States with his human family, he finds himself detained in Egypt trying to crack another mystery. This time the beautiful Amelia Corbet finds herself thrown into danger as she tries to help her sister. It seems as if the only ones to help her are a strange black cat and her sister’s new brother-in-law. Amelia doesn’t particularly like either one.

Although Harad Dukhan separated himself from his family’s life in the desert, he agrees to watch out for Amelia for his brother’s new bride. As soon as Amelia lands in Egypt, she becomes the target of several people who seem to think she holds the key to a mysterious plot in the desert. Harad has his hands full trying to keep her safe, but when she’s kidnapped, his only hope is Familiar. To add to his trouble, he finds himself falling in love with the beautiful Amelia.

This is one of my favorite series and it has been for years. This is the 15th book in the series and they just keep getting better. Familiar is a cat with attitude! It’s so much fun reading how he systematically tries to solve each mystery and always ends up bringing an unsuspecting couple together in the end. It’s a quick, fast-paced story that leaves you wearing a big grin after the last page is turned.

Familiar Lullaby by Caroline Burnes

Harlequin Intrigue #614

Genre: Romantic Suspense

The sleek black cat, Familiar, is back for another mystery. This time he has his beautiful lady cat friend Clotilde by his side. When his humanoids neighbors are left with an abandoned baby on their doorstep, Familiar decides to lend a paw in finding out how any mother can leave their child in the hands of strangers.

Homicide detective Mel Haskin strays away from his usual cases to figure this one out. This case is a particularly personal one to Mel and he isn’t about to allow the mother off the hook. He wants to find her and have her declared an unfit mother. He never expected Lily Markey, a top Washington DC reporter, to be involved. The question was, why a reporter leaving an abandon child on doorsteps?

Lily had her work cut out for her. She couldn’t let Mel find out who the parents of this child was or the child would never be safe. Neither would the baby’s mother. Lily vowed to do all she could to protect both of them.

This story had everything from romance to mystery, it will keep readers turning the pages until the very end. I actually found myself in happy tears at the end. I love re-visiting Familiar and following his adventures.

I read this one as part of my Harlequin/Silhouette reading challenge, plus I’ve read all the previous books in this delightful series.