I don’t get excited about very many cozy mysteries. But, Sofie Kelly’s Paws to Remember, the fifteenth in her Magical Cats series, features a librarian, her two magical cats, and a cold case. Cozies don’t get much better than this.

It’s just a few weeks before Christmas when Mayville Heights, Minnesota has weather that’s cold even for them. Add in a power outage one night, and a water pipe burst in the old building that houses the artists’ cooperative’s shop. Librarian Kathleen Paulson and her cat, Owen, show up because Kathleen’s friend, Maggie, thought she saw something small and furry. Owen took care of the rat, and Kathleen was helping Harry, the local handyman, tear down drywall so there wouldn’t be mold. Behind the wall, Kathleen finds something wrapped in a blanket and plastic. How long had a woman’s body been in that wall?

Before Kathleen’s fiance, Detective Marcus Gordon, can investigate, an article in the local newspaper speculates the remains belong to Lily Abbott, an eighteen-year-old who disappeared thirty-six years earlier when she was seven months pregnant. Although most people in town thought Lily ran away, her brother, Tim, didn’t give up proclaiming something happened to her. But, Tim died with no additional answers. Although, it’s obvious Lily was murdered, it’s a cold case, and others involved moved away or are dead.

One local resident has a stake in learning more about Lily’s death. Ella King, mother of one of Kathleen’s former library aides, believes Lily might have been her birth mother. She was born right around the time Lily disappeared. Now, she wants Kathleen to look into Lily’s past.

While I like the two cats, Owen, who can disappear at will, and Hercules, who can walk through walls, Kathleen is the one who always intrigues me. She worries about the families of the victims. In this case, she wonders if someone has been dealing with the pain of Lily’s disappearance for years. Now, when Ella asks for help, Kathleen has a hard time saying no. Ella never had a chance to know her birth mother. Kathleen always empathizes with the people left behind.

There’s no reason not to start with the early books in the series, but I didn’t. Fortunately, I stumbled into this series about halfway through, and I’ve never regretted it. Paws to Remember features a mature, intelligent amateur sleuth, and two magical cats. Welcome to their world.

Sofie Kelly’s website is https://sofiekelly.com/

Paws to Remember by Sofie Kelly. Berkley, 2023. ISBN 9780593548707 (hardcover), 304p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley from NetGalley to review for a journal.