Curiosity Thrilled the Cat: 05/03/21

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly is the start of the Magical Cats mystery series. Librarian Kathleen Paulson has recently moved to Mayville Heights, Minnesota to oversee the remodel of the 1912 library. The remodel is behind schedule and fraught with accidents and errors.

Meanwhile there's the music festival. The guest conductor ends up dead the day after he ridicules Kathleen because the computers aren't set up yet in the library. Circumstantial evidence makes Kathleen a person of interest. To clear her name, she decides to solve the murder.

Mayville Heights is built around a now abandoned mansion. The grounds host a colony of cats who are related to the original pets. Kathleen owns two of these cats who followed her home: Hercules and Owen. As this is the "Magical Cats" series, these two cats are capable of things other cozy series pets aren't. Their skills help in the tracking down of clues. Despite them being magical, they are still primarily cats.

The mystery itself has two parts: the A plot (the murder) and a B plot (the problems with the remodel). They come together in ways similar to the Constable Molly Smith mysteries. The specifics, though, also brings to mind Careless Whiskers  by Miranda James (2020). Both mysteries Kathleen faces are pretty easy to solve but the characters and the town are interesting enough to keep reading.

The second book is Sleight of Paw (2011). Sofie Kelly is the pseudonym of YA author and multimedia artist Darlene Ryan. She is from New Brunswick, Canada.

Four stars

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