Reviewed by annieb123 on
Claws for Alarm is the 5th book in Cate Conte's cozy Cat Cafe mystery series. Released 27th July 2021 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in 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. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a lighthearted island small-town cozy full of whimsy, a cat cafe, and eccentric small-town characters. Out-of-towner celebrity influencer Jillian blows into protagonist Maddie's orbit like a hurricane. Readers are clearly invited to take an instant dislike to her (which is handy since her role is mostly as Victim Number One) and I found my antipathy so extreme as to make me question reading past the first chapter.
The pacing and narrative are cleverly handled and although this is the 5th book in the series, it works well as a standalone. There are some relationships and developments which will slightly spoil earlier books in the series if read out of order, but nothing egregious. I found the dialogue glib and slightly unnatural occasionally but nothing which yanked me out of the story. The resolution and denouement are complete and mostly satisfying. There were some of really out-of-character actions on the part of protagonist Maddie with which I disagreed strongly and it colored much of the read for me.
Four stars. This is a very light and easy cozy and is both entertaining and diverting.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 4 January, 2022: Finished reading
- 4 January, 2022: Reviewed