Publisher: Signet
Date published:
September
4, 2012
ISBN: 978-0451237811
Genre: Cozy
Mystery
Book format: Paperback
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by
name and email address: Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com
Ex-Vegas showgirl, Bunny Reid always has her eye on the next big
thing. Despite having her hands full running her son, Scumble River’s coroner
Simon’s bowling alley, she can still find time to indulge…her creative side.
No, not her Vegas dancing history but other…lucrative…pursuits.
Okay, so Bunny hasn’t quite made a go at those other ventures
she’s begun but that’s not going to stop her from trying something new and this
time it’s a cat show. Not just any cat show. Bunny’s looking into speed dating
and what could be more fun than a cat show with participants partaking in speed
dating after the event?
When Bunny hits a bump in her plans, her cohort and employee,
Frannie, immediately calls their friend Skye Denison to come sort things out.
Skye is on the fence about helping since Bunny’s son is her ex-boyfriend, Simon
and her fiancé, Wally, isn’t too keen on her continued friendship with said
ex-boyfriend. And Skye really does want to work out the details of her pending
nuptials with Wally. Still, a friend in need…
Skye arrives to chaos that quickly spirals out of control. But what’s
a little chaos? Until someone doesn’t just get hurt, they get killed. With a
murderer on the loose, Skye isn’t about to pussyfoot around finding him…or her.
I’m a fan of Denise Swanson’s Scumble River, “Murder of” series
and just couldn’t resist the little white kitty on the cover of MURDER OF A CAT’S MEOW. Probably not the best reason for picking a
book to read but I can’t resist a book with a kitty or puppy on the cover. I was
also intrigued by the idea of a cat show as the backdrop of a mystery. Add
Bunny’s crazy twist of combining it with a speed dating event I was drawn in.
I will say I was a bit disappointed when the cat show wasn’t much
of a feature in the story. I was anticipating some fun cat antics but they didn’t
quite pan out. And what happened to poor Bingo—no, no kitties were hurt in the
writing and telling—but I’m sure he was mortified. Personally I didn’t think
that whole thread was needed.
The rest of the story went back to the original formula of someone
nasty comes to town, angers a number of people and ends up dead. I have no
problem with nasty and generally mean people being killed off in a book but
when it begins to become predictable I start to lose interest. In MURDER
OF A CAT’S MEOW, however, Ms. Swanson does have a nice and surprising
twist.
The Dooziers make their regular appearance and as usual, for me,
there were some good chuckles to go along with their scenes. The Dooziers are
over the top stereotypes that add to the character of the Scumble River series.
With Skye and Wally about to tie the knot I’m looking forward to
their future crime solving endeavours.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
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