Cat Trick: A Magical Cats Mystery (Magical Cats, #4)

by Sofie Kelly

The fourth mystery in the New York Times bestselling series about two extraordinary cats whose owner can't keep her nose out of trouble...
 
Kathleen Paulson enjoys her life as a small town librarian, but sometimes even small towns can have big problems. The local businesses of Mayville Heights hope to convince Chicago-based company Legacy Tours to sell a vacation package for their town. Legacy Tours partner Mike Glazer grew up in Mayville Heights, but he’s no longer the small town boy people once knew. Even the local bootlegger has an issue with the bossy loudmouth Mike has become—until someone shuts him up for good.
 
When Kathleen discovers Mike’s body on the boardwalk, she can’t help but get involved in the investigation—even if her beau, Detective Marcus Gordon, would rather she didn’t. Now, with a little help from her cats Owen and Hercules, it’s up to Kathleen to make sure the killer is booked for an extended stay in prison before some else takes a permanent vacation.

• ISBN10: 0451414691
• ISBN13: 9780451414694
• Publish Date: 5 February 2013 (first published 1 February 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Berkley
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451414694

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

Not as good as the earlier books in the series. The whole Marcus storyline is contrived, there's no chemistry between them at all. The plot was painfully slow to develop. I hope it's just a mid-series slump and doesn't carry over to later books.

[MurderByDeath]

A highly entertaining, escapist read, especially (and probably only) if you like cats. These are magical cats and they have very distinctive, strong personalities as well as "superpowers". They help Kathleen solve mysteries in her little Minnesota town, much to the consternation of the detective and chief love interest, Marcus.

I genuinely enjoyed the story overall - great characters, lots of solid dialogue and I really got 'into' the story and didn't want to put the book down. But I have to admit the mystery was a bit secondary to me in this one. I found myself not really caring one way or the other about the murder victim, the suspects, or whether it was solved or not. I *did* think the ending was a bit dumb - Kathleen is either dishonest or acting out of character at the end and it just felt like the author was forcing her character into a TSTL moment. Occupational hazard if you're a cozy writer, I guess.

Luckily, a new adventure with Owen and Hercules (the cats) comes out in October and I'll be looking for it.