Shock and Paw by Cate Conte

 

Shock and Paw by Cate Conte

Reviewed by Jeanne

It’s Christmas time on Daybreak Island, Massachusetts,  and things are getting festive.  This year Maddie James is determined to stay out of all the holiday planning for the community events and just concentrate on her cat café, JJ’s House of Purrs, named for her ginger rescue cat.  (Who, by the way, is adorable.) Things are being done a bit differently this year, with a cash prize for the best decorated house, a handyman/ electrician on call to help residents do their best, and someone else in charge.

Of course, this is all too good to be true, so when the substandard handyman’s work causes Maddie’s grandfather to fall and hurt his ankle, the decorating is going to fall on Maddie. Then of course, other things start going wrong and Maddie’s mother calls her in desperation.  Maddie is not going to get involved—

But who are we kidding?  Maddie lives for this sort of thing!

It’s just that there’s a lot going on in general. Oh, the café is doing great and the rescued cats are getting adopted, Maddie’s romance is on solid ground, but someone is posting advertisements for pricy designer cats.  There’s even a poster outside of Maddie’s cat café. The Christmas decorating contest has a cash prize this year, and tempers are flaring.  Then a prominent citizen is found dead under unusual circumstances and one of Maddie’s best friends is the prime suspect.  Can Maddie tie up all these loose ends into one big Christmas bow?

This is the eighth in the Cat Café Mystery series, but they don’t need to be read in order.  The series has had its ups and downs, but for the most part I find it entertaining.  I’d saved this one for December because of the holiday setting, and it certainly has helped set the mood.  The plot is competent with a few twists thrown in for good measure.  There’s not a lot of character development and there were a few times when I wanted to give Maddie a good shake, but I give the author credit for introducing an important theme: designer pets created by unscrupulous breeders. (I also liked that for the most part  she avoided listing specific exotic breeds just in case readers decided that it might be nifty to own one.)

If you’re in the market for a light cozy read in between holiday activities, this might be the book for you.