Scratch the Surface

I don't know how this book ended up on my TBR; at a guess it was a freebie a bookseller threw into one of my orders, but it's about cats and I'd read the author's dog series years ago, and remembered enjoying it.

At first I didn't think I'd get through it - the mc struck me as shallow - but there's a strong satiric vibe to the story; a lot of tongue-in-cheek fun poked at cozy mysteries, their authors, and the preponderance of cats involved in mysteries. The flagrant use and acknowledgement of all the cliches, as well as serious name and title dropping, kept me going. And the cats of course. They don't talk, thankfully, but there are a few chapters told in the third person, but from the cats' perspective. Nothing unreasonable, but show more contributing to the plot's resolution.

The mystery of who killed the dead guy ends up solved accidentally - although the cats' get some credit, or course - and the solution didn't feel all that plausible. Or, maybe it felt plausible but too abrupt to work for me. Regardless, it was a decent read and I enjoyed it, just probably not enough to make any wild efforts to buy any further books (if there are any). show less

This is the first and apparently only book in a new series by Conant involving an amateur detective-actually an author who writes about an amateur detective named Prissy LaChatte. The author, Felicity Pride, focuses hard on a sub-genre, lets call it the "cat who" genre of mystery novels. Her created character relies heavily on the help of her two cat companions, Morris and Tabitha.

The catch?

In real life, Felicity doesn't own any cats, has never had a pet of any kind and now someone has deposited both a dead body and a drugged cat on her doorstep. She feels compelled to both care for the cat and solve the murder of the unknown man, not because she has any desire to become either a detective or a pet owner, but because the PR value is show more so high! The situation could really boost the sales of her books.

Personally, I liked the set up. It's a clever addition to the kitty-litter clogged cat-mystery genre. Felicity's fussy personality creates a lot of humor. There's a lot of room for growth and with this first novel, Conant has designed a solid foundation for the series and set the tone. This one is strickly for laughs. show less