Book 42, 2024
Five Furry Familiars by Lynn Cahoon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Stayed up a shade later than I should have last night, but it enabled me to finish reading Five Furry Familiars by Lynn Cahoon. It's the fifth book in her "Kitchen Witch" series of paranormal cozies, starring caterer Mia Malone.
Mia has turned over the day-to-day running of her business, Mia's Morsels, to Abigail--her boyfriend's mother. In the meantime, Mia is working as an in-house caterer for the local ski lodge. She's not fond of either the job or her odious boss, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Things are running fairly smoothly until a blast from the past shows up in the form of an ex-boyfriend of Mia's assistant, Christina. Todd proposes to Christina out of the blue, and while she turns him down, she does agree to have dinner with him to appease their families. Christina calls Mia in a panic, because Todd has been killed in his rental house and now she's a suspect. Mia is dismayed to learn the police are focusing on both Christina and her current boyfriend, Levi, as persons of interest. She takes it upon herself to dig into Todd's life in an effort to point the police to a different suspect or two. Compounding the chaos, someone has dropped off a box of kittens at Mia's doorstep, and her boyfriend, Trent, has been gifted his own, highly magical familiar. Life at Mia's Morsels is never boring.
To begin with, why does the "blurb" that summarizes this book on Goodreads indicate it's a woman who's found murdered in Todd's rental? Hmm. Lots going on, which seems to be par for the course with this series. It's a wonder poor Mia didn't meet herself coming and going. Fortunately, she has a strong support system around her, including Trent, Abigail, and Mia's grandmother. The story line was engrossing and kept my interest, and characterizations were top-notch. I was able to figure out the perpetrator, which is always a delight. I like it when authors toss out some subtle clues that get me thinking. Biggest irritant was how overbearing Christina's mother was. We know she's like that, as Mia was once engaged to Christina's brother, but she got out while the gettin' was good.
Favorite lines:
♦ "You have to realize we got our information from a cat."
♦ "Either it's going well, or they're at a bar somewhere drinking."
♦ "I love the beginning of winter, but sometimes, it just goes on too long."
♦ She didn't see the point of having these silly games at a shower.
♦ "Communication, it's not just for breakfast."
Very good, five stars.