I like cats as much as anyone else. But, I can honestly say I have no idea why so many Goodreads readers raved about Leighann Dobbs’ A Twist in the Tale, the first in the Oyster Cove Guesthouse series. The cats steer the investigation while Josie Waters, the amateur sleuth, doesn’t really seem to know anything.
Josie doesn’t know anything about running a B&B, yet, after her divorce from her chef husband, the forty-six-year-old moves home to Oyster Cove, Maine, and buys the Oyster Cove Guesthouse from her mother’s best friend, Millie. She doesn’t know much more about cooking, but when Charles Prescott, one of the guests, complains about his eggs, she does better the next day. But, she can’t find him for breakfast. Instead, it’s the two cats, Nero and Marlowe, who yowl that they’ve made a discovery. They’re in the locked West Wing of the inn with Prescott’s dead body.
When Josie’s mother and Millie hear the 911 call on their police radio app, they beat the sheriff to the inn. But Nero, who is guiding the younger cat, Marlowe, in her investigation, realizes he must also show the slower-witted humans that Prescott was murdered. Neither of the cats know who did it, so they rendezvous with their investigative team of five other Oyster Cove cats to discuss the case.
While I’m not a big fan of mystery-solving cats, Nero and Marlowe are much smarter than the amateur sleuth, Josie. She went through the entire roster of the guests of the inn, guessing why each one of them was the killer, and confronting people. Even after all that, she had it all wrong, and Nero and Marlowe have to come to the rescue.
As much as I like cats in the real world, I am not the target audience for A Twist in the Tail.
Leighann Dobbs’ website is www.leighanndobbs.com
A Twist in the Tail by Leighann Dobbs. Bookouvre, 2019, 224p.
*****
FTC Full Disclosure – I read a .pdf for a journal review.
Yikes! No. I have always gone along with the comment of our late mystery loving friend Ellen Nehr (author of THE DOUBLEDAY CRIME CLUB COMPENDIUM), who once wrote, "I hate to mention this, but I'm getting pretty darn sick of cutesy cats all over the place. One cat per book is enough, but CATS DON'T TALK, CATS DON'T THINK, and CATS DON'T DETECT!"
I'm not a fan of talking or detecting cats. I can handle cats as pets in books. Dean James' Diesel is a cat. Spencer Quinn's early books (and I did tire of them) are so funny because his dog is such a dog. But, that's it.
Interesting comments. I'm a long time fan of Rita Mae Brown and the Sneaky Pie stories. I'm also a personal friend of Clea Simon who writes a lot of books about cats who are smarter then most of the people I know.
So I guess it's down to what you enjoy and the author's who write them.
I'm with you Lesa. I wouldn't say that cats can't think, mine thinks all the time – about what she wants and how to get it – but no, even she, smart Siamese that she is, would not have much idea about a murder (unless of a spider/fly/mouse…)
This sounds too cutesy for me. I have read one of the books that feature Diesel though, and I did enjoy that. The picture on the cover of A Twist in the Tail is quite attractive though, I must say.
I feel a bit bad that I put you off Rebecca Tope yesterday – maybe the series improves! And a lot of people do like her, it's just me (and a few other reviewers, who also lost patience…)
Have a good day.
Doesn't all that different than the cartoons I watched as a child.
Maybe next, someone will write a series with a talking shark!