Book 77, 2023
Totally Pawstruck by Sofie Ryan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This evening I finished reading Totally Pawstruck by Sofie Ryan. This is the 9th book in the "Second Chance Cat" series of cozy mysteries. The main characters are Sarah Grayson and her cat, Elvis.
After spending an evening catching up, Sarah and her BFF Jess leave the pub and stumble upon a man lying in the street with Stella Hall standing over him. The victim was Vincent Swift, a man who rubbed everyone the wrong way and had plenty of enemies. Unfortunately, one of them was Stella. She hires the Angels, a group of senior citizen private investigators, to look into the case in order to clear her name. Since the Angels rent office space from Sarah, she is soon drawn into the investigation. Sarah is also anxious to clear Stella's name; she knows Stella would never harm anyone. There is no shortage of suspects. The trick is to sift through the evidence and find out who killed Vincent Swift.
I certainly enjoy this series. The plot progressed in a sensible fashion, but it wasn't consumed with the investigation. I appreciate reading about Sarah's downtime and work day just as much as the investigative aspects of the story. Elvis is a fun foil, Sarah's love interest in NOT in law enforcement, and for once Rose wasn't acting like a snot.
Favorite lines:
♦ She was carrying one of her tote bags that had approximately the same capacity as a clown car in the circus.
♦ "I'm very strong. Wanna feel my muscles?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows. // Charlotte looked at me. "Did that line work on you?" // I hung my head in mock shame. "Yes, it did."
♦ Other detective agencies depended on technology or connections in law enforcement. This one depended on tea.
♦ "Well, nobody yelled 'fopdoodle' at anyone else."
♦ "You need me. We're Cagney and Lacey, Nancy Drew and George, Trixie Belden and Honey Wheeler, Rocky and Bullwinkle."
Well-written and fun. Five stars!