Book 6, 2024
Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues by Blaize Clement
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I took shameless advantage of my snow day yesterday to read Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues cover-to-cover. It's the third installment in author Blaize Clement's "Dixie Hemingway" cozy mystery series, starring former cop and current pet sitter, Dixie Hemingway.
After getting wrapped up in two previous murder investigations, Dixie has had enough. It's for that reason that she doesn't report it when she finds a dead body in a guard shack. Dixie figures someone else can find the guard and call it in. Unfortunately, someone saw her leaving the scene, and the bullet that killed the man came from the same type of gun that Dixie owns. Now she's embroiled in the investigation, whether or not she wants to be. The odd thing is, Dixie never should have been at the scene; she received a call from a man asking her to take care of his pet iguana while he was delayed in NYC. Dixie doesn't normally take on new clients without meeting them first and learning the pet's routine. As if that wasn't bad enough, the home owner is not the one who called Dixie. Nevertheless, he's in poor health and allows her to come in and take care of Ziggy. The more time she spends in Ken Kurtz's house, the more Dixie is dragged down the rabbit hole of espionage and murder. It's enough to give this pet sitter the blues.
I was thoroughly engrossed in this book, which is how I managed to read it in a day. I love Dixie as a character, and other characters are also portrayed well, even the various pets she encounters. The plot grew ever more convoluted, which kept me turning the pages. In some respects, Dixie was acting out of character (which even she acknowledged), but as her less than stellar decisions are what drove the plot, I reckon I can't complain. On top of being dragged into yet another murder investigation, Dixie is also juggling her unwanted attraction to two men. She's still mourning her husband and feels disloyal to him. Dixie is such a complex character; I'd like to meet her in real life.
Favorite lines:
♦ One of the sucky things about life is that your problems always begin with choices you make.
♦ The living room was decorated like you see in Architectural Digest, the sort of room that makes me want to run amok flinging cat hair and peanut shells.
♦ Since I love chocolate second only to crisp fried bacon, the devil could leave a trail of it and I'd probably eat my way straight to hell.
♦ If I had to tell it one more time, I might start making stuff up to make it more interesting.
♦ "He has a man's fear of the truth. Women know it's the only power we have."
♦ "Why are you frowning? Did you lose that gorgeous guy that was with you Wednesday?" // "I didn't lose him. He's a close friend." // "If I had a friend like that, I'd tie him down and molest him."
♦ A kitten waiting for you to come home is a spot of love in your life.
Alas, not even a book this well written escaped the 'holding my breath' line:
♦ I let out a pent-up breath I hadn't known I was holding.
Exciting, enthralling read, start to finish. Five stars!