The Time for Murder is Meow by T.C. LoTempio

Reviewed by Jeanne

When actress Shell Marlowe’s series Spy Anyone is cancelled, she actually breathes a sign of relief.  Now she is free to go to look after her late Aunt Tillie’s pet store and have a chance to be Crishell McMillan, not a celebrity.  Shell has always loved animals and loved visiting her aunt in the small town of Fox Hollow, Connecticut, so she packs up her Siamese cat Kahlua and moves into her aunt’s Victorian house. 

Getting the shop ready to reopen is a chore, but one made easier by the positive feedback she gets from former customers who are anxious to have a pet store again, and who have fond memories of her aunt.  

Unpleasantness arises in the form of Amelia Witherspoon, a prominent member of the community who had a long-running feud with Aunt Tillie—and, actually, a lot of other people in town.  She turns down Shell’s offer to loan some of Aunt Tillie’s Cary Grant memorabilia to the local museum’s film festival.  Outraged by this show of pettiness, Shell is determined to petition the rest of the museum’s board to use the material and in so doing makes herself a suspect when Amelia turns up dead.

This is a first in series book, but the author does a good job of introducing characters and setting.  I liked Shell, who is down to earth if a bit blasé about her fame.  There’s a good supporting cast, but I especially liked Gary, Shell’s former co-star who is hoping she’ll reconsider her retirement for a new series.  Of course there’s the standard love interest, best friend, adorable cat, etc. to add depth to the mystery.  It’s a promising start, and I’ll be looking forward to the next in the series.

Purr M for Murder by T.C. LoTempio

Reviewed by Jeanne

Sydney McCall’s sojourn in the Big City came to a crashing end when she caught her fiancé cheating—with her best friend, no less.  (There’s a lot of that going around in cozies these days.) So naturally she heads home to Deer Park, NC to lick her wounds and start afresh.  Sydney’s sister, Kat, is director of the local animal shelter and she needs Sydney’s advertising expertise to help with fundraising and pet adoption.  Their first idea seems very promising:  partner with a local café to offer snacks and introductions to adoptable cats and kittens. Trouble begins when the café’s landlord threatens to shut down the event and to raise the rent on the shelter.  Intemperate words are spoken, so naturally when the landlord turns up dead, Kat and Sydney are suspects.

What else to do but follow the lead of her childhood hero Nancy Drew and play detective?

This is a first in series book, so there is a fair bit of introducing the town and the characters which does tend to slow the book down a bit.  The cats are cute and of course Sydney ends up with a new furry friend at the end.  The basic plot was good; the motive was clever and believable.  However, for me the pacing was off:  a clue introduced very early on and mentioned occasionally during the course of the book isn’t really followed up on until 200 pages later, after which the mystery is quickly solved. The animal shelter angle is fresh enough, but so far the characters aren’t especially memorable. 

As mentioned above, Sydney’s motives for returning are pretty much standard for today’s cozies, as is her spunky can-do attitude and her attraction to the local cop. The rest of the characters are rather standard issue as well but I’m hopeful that will change as the series progresses and more time is devoted to developing rather than introducing characters. As it is, it’s not a bad way to spend a couple of hours, especially if you’re interested in animal rescue.