A Whisker of Trouble: A Second Chance Cat Mystery (Second Chance Cat Mystery, #3)

by Sofie Ryan

The New York Times bestselling author of the Second Chance Cat Mystery series offers another adventure with secondhand shop owner Sarah Grayson and Elvis the rescue cat.

Spring has come to charming North Harbor, Maine, and with the new season comes a new haul for Second Chance, the shop where Sarah Grayson sells lovingly refurbished and repurposed items. Sarah is turning her keen eye to the estate of collector Edison Hall, hoping for fabulous finds for Second Chance—but when her rescue cat Elvis discovers a body in the kitchen, everything goes paws up.

The body belongs to an appraiser who had been hired to check out Edison’s wine collection. When Edison’s sister shows up at Second Chance, she hires Sarah’s friends—the kooky and charismatic trio of ladies who call themselves Charlotte’s Angels and work out of the shop—to solve the murder, Sarah knows she and Elvis are only going to get deeper into the case. But as it becomes a cat and mouse game of lies, cons, cheats, and family squabbles, can Elvis and Sarah claw their way to the truth before the killer slinks away forever?

• ISBN10: 0451419960
• ISBN13: 9780451419965
• Publish Date: 2 February 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: New American Library
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451419965

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

Sofie Kelly and Sophie Ryan and both pseudonyms for the same author, and both are among the few cozy mystery series that have survived both my expanded reading tastes and my increased intolerance for insipid cozy mysteries.

Sarah and her cat Elvis, along with her team from her repurpose shop, have been hired to clean out a hoarder's house after his death.  The first day on the job, they find a dead man in the kitchen.

Ryan takes an interesting path in these mysteries: the MC, Sarah, is only the amateur sleuth by proxy, as she tries to rein in the exuberance of her grandmother's friends (who have quite a surprise for her in this one) in their rush to investigate all the crimes.  Of course she doesn't succeed, but at least this avoids that obnoxious trope of the MC thinking she knows better than the police.

I really like the characters and so far there isn't a love triangle - although there are two eligible men on the scene.  I like one over the other, so that probably means she'll end up with the 'other'.  I love reading the small bits throughout the story about the stuff she finds and how she re-purposes it, and Elvis is a total scene stealer.

An entertaining, light, beachy sort of read, perfect for summer, that avoids being vapid.  I'll keep reading these.

[Silvara]

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

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

I liked that the main sleuths weren't actually the main character in this book. Sarah helps out a lot, and comes up with a number of clues, but the actual detectives centered around her grandmother and her grandmother's friends. They call themselves Charlotte's Angels as a play on Charlie's Angels.

I liked how all the characters had their own quirks. And how Rose, Liz, and Charlotte were pretty much ignoring Sarah and Nick's attempts to get them to act more like 'normal' old people and not get into trouble. My favorite characters were Sarah, Mr. P, and Nick, though I did like Elvis the cat too!

Elvis behaved more like a cat who should be in a magical cat mystery book though. Way too smart for a normal housecat, and the fact he found a few of the clues for Sarah and the others. He behaved like a normal cat for the most part, but I had to check the book a few times to be sure I hadn't picked up a paranormal cozy instead of a regular cozy.

The only irk I can think of, is that all the main characters had the same mannerism of rubbing the back of their necks with one hand. I can see one or even two doing it, since they're all like family and grew up around each other. But way too many characters were doing it by the end of the book, and it made me wonder if the author realized how often that gesture was used, or forgot who was supposed to have that mannerism.

The mystery was well-done. And there were a few minor mysteries tied in with the main one. I didn't guess the killer until past the half-way mark of the book, and I didn't guess the twist about it at all. If you're looking for a new cozy series to add to your list, you should try this one!

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

[Mystereity Reviews]

Enjoyable read, and I thought it was better than the last one (although I liked the last one pretty much.)

I liked that the character development moved along a little bit (although I still suspect a looming love triangle) and the plot was pretty good. I figured out the who fairly early on in the book but not the why. Actually, truth be told, I had other suspicions:

I thought Ethan had killed his father, since it was never mentioned in the book how he died. Still kinda wondering.