Telling Tails: A Second Chance Cat Mystery (Second Chance Cat Mystery, #4)

by Sofie Ryan

In this novel in the New York Times bestselling Second Chance Cat Mystery series, secondhand shop owner Sarah Grayson and her rescue cat, Elvis, get caught up in a case of she said, she said...
 
When Sarah Grayson opened a secondhand shop in the quaint town of North Harbor, Maine, she was expecting peace and quiet. Then she was adopted by a rescue cat named Elvis and a kooky trio of senior sleuths known as Charlotte’s Angels. Now she has nine lives worth of excitement...
 
Sarah’s friend and employee Rose is delivering a customer’s purchase when the quick errand becomes a deadly escapade. Rose arrives just in time to see the customer murdered by his wife, but before she can call the police, she is knocked out cold. When she wakes up, no one believes her, especially after the woman claims her husband is very much alive and has left her for someone else—and has a text message and empty bank account to prove it.
 
Despite her convincing story, Sarah is sure something is fishy—and it’s not Elvis’s kitty treats. Sarah, Elvis, and the Angels are determined to unravel this mysterious yarn, before the feral killer pounces again...

• ISBN10: 1101991208
• ISBN13: 9781101991206
• Publish Date: 3 January 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Berkley
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101991206

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

Meh.  Definitely not the strongest in the series so far.  Ryan had a Rear Window theme going on in the plot, and I'm not a fan of the trope, although I give her credit for using it as an effective device for bringing society's view of seniors, and how easily they're dismissed, into the book's storyline.   The mystery itself was obfuscated by both the question of whether or not a crime took place at all, and the lack of any clear motive until very nearly the end of the book.  By the time it's revealed that a crime did take place, it was pretty clear who had to have done it.   While I generally love the setting (I find the whole repurposing thing interesting), and I like the characters, I found Rose (the witness the maybe crime), in particular, a bit trying.  She was just a little too exaggerated.  There's a weird romance vibe going on in the series too; it's not quite a love triangle but the potential is obvious.  Meanwhile nothing but internal musing has been going on for 4 books and I'm tired of hearing about it.  One party of the triangle, Nick, seems to have zero chemistry with the MC and was a total ass in this book. Total. ass.   I'll read the next one on the strength of the author's other books, and how much I usually enjoy them.  Hopefully the mystery, at least, will be a better one.

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

I received this book for free from Berkley Prime Crime in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I had no idea who the killer was until the end. I had a few guesses, but they were all wrong. It did end up fitting, once we found out the why though.

I really like Rose. It was amusing how much trouble she got into, and how stubborn she was. She dragged Sarah along for the ride, whether or not she wanted to go! There is a lot of humor and twists in the book. Some of which you expect, a number of which you won't.

The main characters are well fleshed-out, and each have their own personal quirks. The story line sucked me in from the beginning, and I didn't want to put the book down until I had finished it.

There's a bit of romance in the book, nothing overt, just a few hints here and there. The Angels keep trying to push Sarah and Nick together, but it never really quite works. And Sarah finds out that Mr. P. is dating one of the Angels.

If you like mysteries with older sleuths, and that are full of humor and family interactions, you should try this series.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon