Helpful Score: 4
Meet Sunny Coolidge, a New York journalist who has returned home to Kittery Harbor, Maine, to take care of her father after his heart attack. She finds work at the local travel agency for Ollie Barnstable a.k.a "Ollie the Barnacle"" but she hopes it is temporary and that she will be able to land a job at a local newspaper.
She is surprised one day when Ada Spuance, the eldery woman everyone calls "the cat lady" comes into the office and asks Sunny to help her find a winning lottery ticket. Sunny is not sure the winning ticket even exists but agrees to help Ada search her cat filled home. She thinks there may be a story she can write for the paper to impress the editor enough to hire her.
Sunny arrives to begin her search and she has a "Shadow", a stray tomcat has followed her right up to the house. When there is no answer at the front door they stroll around to the back of the house and find an open entrance to the basement. Her investigative nature pushes her forward and she discovers poor Ada Spuance dead at the bottom of the stairs.
Did her fall have something to do with the lottery ticket? Was it an accident or MURDER? With her tomcat sidekick Sunny is going to find out. "Following the trail of the purrloined ticket" Sunny and her feline friend better be careful or the made find their very own tickets punched.
Dollycas's Thoughts
Sunny made some interesting decisions which made this a very interesting mystery. I may not have agreed with her actions but they set in action quite a chain of events. Shadow's inquisitive nature also drove this story. They are purr-fect partners.
It had several humorous moments, but the ladies of the neighborhood, especially one special lady, sneaking rich, sweet and "unhealthy" food to Sunny's dad really made me giggle.
This is a light hearted romp with plenty of suspects in a quirky little town. It is a great start to a series that shows much promise.
She is surprised one day when Ada Spuance, the eldery woman everyone calls "the cat lady" comes into the office and asks Sunny to help her find a winning lottery ticket. Sunny is not sure the winning ticket even exists but agrees to help Ada search her cat filled home. She thinks there may be a story she can write for the paper to impress the editor enough to hire her.
Sunny arrives to begin her search and she has a "Shadow", a stray tomcat has followed her right up to the house. When there is no answer at the front door they stroll around to the back of the house and find an open entrance to the basement. Her investigative nature pushes her forward and she discovers poor Ada Spuance dead at the bottom of the stairs.
Did her fall have something to do with the lottery ticket? Was it an accident or MURDER? With her tomcat sidekick Sunny is going to find out. "Following the trail of the purrloined ticket" Sunny and her feline friend better be careful or the made find their very own tickets punched.
Dollycas's Thoughts
Sunny made some interesting decisions which made this a very interesting mystery. I may not have agreed with her actions but they set in action quite a chain of events. Shadow's inquisitive nature also drove this story. They are purr-fect partners.
It had several humorous moments, but the ladies of the neighborhood, especially one special lady, sneaking rich, sweet and "unhealthy" food to Sunny's dad really made me giggle.
This is a light hearted romp with plenty of suspects in a quirky little town. It is a great start to a series that shows much promise.
Helpful Score: 4
Very good first novel If you like cats in cozy this is a very good one. We get to hear what the cat is thinking. Characters are well written and mystery is good. I will read book two when it comes out.
Helpful Score: 3
I agree with all the first reviewer said, but the book still didn't hold my interest. Nice cover, though.
However, I would recommend it if you like lightweight American cozies - not particularly memorable, but not the dark sort that lead to nightmares either.
However, I would recommend it if you like lightweight American cozies - not particularly memorable, but not the dark sort that lead to nightmares either.
Helpful Score: 1
Book 1 in a series. I really, really wanted to like this book. I love cats and I love cozy mysteries. But this was just not quite for me. The cat character was written so we "know" his thoughts. I didn't really care for the way that was written as I would have preferred name for his people instead of "Old One", old "Old One", etc.
The main character wasn't too bad, but it was somewhat hard to connect with her for some reason.
Toward the end, there was a bit of lightness which I wish had been through out all the books as that is one of things I really like about cozy mysteries.
I probably won't read the rest of the series as there are others I like much more even though this wasn't too bad.
The main character wasn't too bad, but it was somewhat hard to connect with her for some reason.
Toward the end, there was a bit of lightness which I wish had been through out all the books as that is one of things I really like about cozy mysteries.
I probably won't read the rest of the series as there are others I like much more even though this wasn't too bad.