Totally Pawstruck

December 1, 2021
The owner of a repurpose store finds herself with a brand-new murder to solve. Winters can be pretty icy in North Harbor, Maine, but it wasn't a fall on the ice that killed Vincent Swift. Someone bashed him on his nasty old noggin with a rock-hard ball of crystal and left him in the street, where Sarah Grayson and her best friend, Jess Callahan, practically trip over him on their way home from dinner at The Black Bear. Unfortunately, standing right behind him, they also find kind, gentle Stella Hall, who fought with Vincent on every issue brought before the local library's board of directors, on which both proudly served. Naturally, the local police focus their investigation on Stella. Luckily, Sarah's grandmother Isabel has joined a team of private eyes along with her best friends, Charlotte, Liz, and Rose, and Rose's gentleman friend, Alfred Peterson, who happens to have an actual investigator's license. As a token of her faith in the prowess of Charlotte's Angels, Sarah rents them office space in the back of her shop, Second Chance. The boundaries between the front and back of the shop are pretty porous, though, and soon Sarah joins the Angels in pursuit of the killer. While her boyfriend, Mac, strips paint off aging armoires and dilapidated desks, Sara stalks suspects. But can she catch the real murderer before the police lock up their frail, elderly prime suspect? A cozy trifecta: shopkeeper sleuth, disagreeable deceased, and sympathetic suspect who must be saved from the police.

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February 1, 2022

Sarah Grayson, owner of Second Chance thrift store in North Harbor, Maine, is walking home from dinner with a friend when they spot a man lying in the street while a woman stands over him. Sarah and Jess run to help. They recognize Stella Hall, a woman in her 70s, who has blood on her coat and hands from the glass ball she carries. Sarah tries to help the man, Vincent Swift, but realizes he might not survive. Questioned by the police, Stella claims that everyone in town who knows Vincent might want to hurt him. When he dies, Stella hires Charlotte's Angels, the PI agency that works out of Second Chance, to find the actual killer. The longer the investigation goes on, the more Sarah understands why no one liked Vincent. People were fired because of a lawsuit; a man blames his daughter's death on Vincent; and even his son changed his name and moved away. In their small community, the amateur sleuth and others will find a way to assist the killer who warrants more sympathy than the victim. VERDICT Fans of cat cozies and Ryan's "Magical Cats" series, written as Sofie Kelly, will enjoy the ninth in the "Second Chance Cat" series (following Undercover Kitty).--Lesa Holstine

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