Cozy Mystery Monday (Review and Giveaway): SLEIGHT OF PAW by Sofie Kelly

Signet; Sept 2011

Book Blurb:

Small-town librarian Kathleen Paulson never wanted to be the crazy cat lady. But after Owen and Hercules followed her home, she realized her mind wasn't playing tricks on her-her cats have magical abilities.

When the body of elderly do-gooder Agatha Shepherd is found near Kath's favorite local café, she knows Owen's talent for turning invisible and Hercules's ability to walk through walls will give the felines access to clues Kath couldn't get without arousing suspicion. Someone is hiding some dark secrets-and it will take a bit of furtive investigating to catch the cold-hearted killer. 

Review:

SLEIGHT OF PAW is the second book in Sofie Kelly's A Magical Cats Mystery series starring librarian Kathleen Paulson and her two cats with supernatural abilities.  I haven't read the first book, but I was able to jump right into the story without feeling lost.  In this book, Kathleen starts investigating the murder of Agatha Shepherd, a former school principal, when her friend Ruby is arrested for the crime.  Agatha had always gone out of her way to help troubled kids, including Ruby.  Why would anyone, especially Ruby, want to do her harm?  Kathleen discovers that Agatha was harboring a big secret that may or may not have something to do with her murder.  With a little help from her magically-inclined cats, she sets out to discover the real murderer. 

There was plenty that I enjoyed about SLEIGHT OF PAW.  One of my favorite parts is the friendship between Kathleen and her pals Maggie and Roma.  Together they are a hoot!  They had great chemistry and many funny moments between them.  There's also a hit of romance between Kathleen and Detective Marcus Gordon.  She keeps trying to convince herself she doesn't like him, but there's a spark between them.  It will be fun to see where their relationship goes in the next book.

There were a couple of things that could have been improved on.  I thought the pacing was slow in spots.  There were a couple of chapters that veered off from the mystery investigation that didn't add much to the story as a whole.  Also, I loved the cats - both Owen and Hercules had big personalities, but I was hoping their supernatural abilities would be used more.  Since this is the "magical cats series," their amazing talents needed more focus.

Overall, I thought SLEIGHT OF PAW was a fun cozy mystery with a delightful cast of characters.  I give it 3.75 out of 5 stars!

I received my copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Giveaway Details:

Thanks to the publisher, I have one copy of SLEIGHT OF PAW to give away!

• To enter, leave a comment with a valid e-mail address. You may break it up using (at) and (dot), like example(at)host(dot)com.
• Open to US addresses (publisher's request).
• Contest ends on 10/7/2011 at 11:59 pm CST.
• Winner will be notified by e-mail and has 2 days to respond.
• Book will be shipped directly from the publisher.

Good luck!