Cat Got Your Cash: A Kitty Couture Mystery

Happy Sunday!  The Hideaway by Lauren K. Denton will be published on Tuesday, April 11.  It is a Christian novel.  One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline also releases on Tuesday.  There are new books coming out every week this month!

Cat Got Your Cash by Julie Chase is the second book in A Kitty Couture Mystery series.  Lacy Crocker owns the Furry Godmother in New Orleans, Louisiana.  She designs outfits for animals and creates organic treats.  Lacy is picking out which of her pet couture creations she is going to show Annie Lane, fashion designer.  Lacy is hoping to partner with Annie and have a pet companion line to Annie’s Mardi Gras designs.  Lacy arrives at Annie’s home and receives no answer to the ringing of the bell.  Lacy knocks on the door, and it swings open to a meowing Siamese kitten.  Lacy follows the kitten into the kitchen where another kitten awaits along with Annie in a pool of blood. A startled Lacy drops her box of designer creations into the blood, and then picks up the murder weapon.  Lacy contacts Detective Jack Oliver instead of 911 believing he will understand the situation (like her fingerprints on the murder weapon).  When Lacy finds out that the kittens are being sent to animal shelter, she steps in and offers to take care of them.  The next day Lacy returns home to pick up the kittens to find them gone.  Someone broke in and stole them.  Thankfully, the kittens are quickly retrieved, and Lacy relocates them to her parents’ home.  Lacy discovers that Annie set up a trust for Cotton and Cashmere, the kittens.  Dylan Latherope, Annie’s ex-husband, wants to regain custody of the kittens and stalks Lacy trying to obtain them.  Lacy sets out to discover the identity of Annie’s killer while working on new costume designs and handling obligations she has incurred from her parents in return for cat sitting duties.  She does manage to find time to flirt with Jack Oliver and Chase Hawthorne.  But then the killer decides to take matters into his own hands, and Lacy finds herself and her beloved cat, Penelope in danger.  Lacy will need her wits about her if she is going to make it out of this situation alive along with Penelope.

Cat Got Your Cash is easy to read and has a fast pace.  This book is definitely more cozy than mystery.  I felt that more time is devoted to the Lacy’s zany antics than the murder mystery.  There was one wacky incident after another in this book.  It is a screwball type of humor that reminds me of I Love Lucy (I know I am dating myself with this reference—how about Young and Hungry for the millennials).  I did find information repeated especially regarding Penelope wanting to ride the robotic vacuum cleaner at the store, Lacy’s mother with her phone calls and parties, Lacy’s attraction to the two men, and Imogene, her shop assistant, mystic abilities.  I give Cat Got Your Cash 3 out of 5 stars.  The mystery is not complicated and many readers will be able to identify the killer.  Cat Got Your Cash is the second book in the series, but it can be read alone.  Details from the Cat Got Your Diamonds (first book in series) and Lacy’s history are included in this novel.  I was not a fan of this cozy mystery.  It was just too inane and unrealistic for me.  Lacy is a businesswoman (running her shop at a profit), but comes across as seriously lacking in the brains department.  Then there is the love triangle (they certainly are popular in books this year) that dominates the story.  If you enjoy outlandish, humorous type of novels (my mother loves them), then you should check out Cat Got Your Cash (releases 04/11).  The next book in A Kitty Couture Mystery series is Cat Got Your Secrets.  It will be out on September 12, 2017.

Thank you for visiting today and reading my review.  I will be reviewing Kale to the Queen by Nell Hampton.  I am currently reading Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen.  I hope you have a lovely, relaxing Sunday.  Take care and Happy Reading!

Kris
The Avid Reader