A Whisker of Trouble by Sofie Ryan

A Whisker of Trouble (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?

Reviewed by MurderByDeath on

4 of 5 stars

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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.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 21 June, 2016: Finished reading
  • 21 June, 2016: Reviewed