Shock and Paw

by Cate Conte

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Shock and Paw is the 8th Cat Cafe mystery by Cate Conte. Due out 20th Aug 2024 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 320 pages and will be available in mass market paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This is an enjoyable and well written holiday themed small town cozy mystery with an appealing female protagonist. I had read the first couple of books in this series, then sort of lost track of it and hadn't read any of them for more than a year. I didn't have any trouble following the story or keeping the main characters straight in my head whilst reading. The setting is a small relatively isolated island community in New England which gives the author broad scope to pepper the narrative with "eccentric" local characters.

The denouement was perhaps a trifle heavily foreshadowed, but nevertheless well written and executed. The cats (as always) are delightful, are featured in central roles, and add a lot of whimsy to the story. With 8 books in the ongoing series, it would make a great candidate for a long binge/buddy read.

Four stars. This will appeal to lovers of small-town cozy mysteries (with lots of cats). 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.