A Whisker of a Doubt: 01/07/22

A Whisker of a Doubt by Cate Conte and Amy Melissa Bentley (Narrator) is the fourth book in the Cat Cafe mystery series. Maddie James is stewing over being snubbed at Thanksgiving and doesn't want to talk to Lucas even though he's returned and apparently wants to explain what happened. Instead she's keeping busy with a feral cat community in a wealthy neighborhood and the investigation of the murder of one of the street's residents.

This volume, unlike previous ones is told out of order. It starts with the discovery of Virgil's body and then (for the most part) moves backwards in time to the events leading up to Maddie finding him. Each chapter starts with a date and time. I personally hate this method of story telling, especially with mysteries. So I found this narrative choice an unwanted distraction.

I have mixed feelings too about the time spent on Lucas. I wish Maddie had just spoken to him at the start of the book to save all this ridiculous melodrama. Even though Luca's reasons for missing Thanksgiving were completely understandable, I wish Maddie's family and friends had accepted her autonomy and let her work things out with him (or not) on her own time table.

Finally, the mystery itself is good. It just gets a little lost in the out of order narrative and the romantic melodrama. It ends up having a similar basic structure as Deadly Daggers by Joyce and Jim Lavene (2010).

The fifth book is Claws for Alarm (2021).

Four stars

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