🐈 "I need your help. I've been catnapped." Imagine what you'd think if a cat has greeted you with those words after you’ve rescued her! Addie Dawson, the founder of Helping Paws Animal Shelter, was quite astonished when a cat inside the box she found outside the shelter's door, greeted her so.
🐈 The cat introduced herself as Persephone. She's a beautiful, well-fed cat who lives with an elderly woman named Margaret, the owner of an art gallery. Persephone tells Addie, who's apparently the only person who can talk with her, that she has witnessed an art heist, and been catnapped.
🐈 There's a huge reward for whoever can return the stolen painting, and Addie can well use it for helping more animals (Helping Paws is a no-kill shelter) until they find their forever homes. With Persephone's help, surely, she would be able to catch the thief and return the painting.
🐈 So off Addie goes to the gallery, bringing Persephone to reunite with Margaret, while Addie tries her best to dig information surrounding the art heist. Unfortunately, Addie doesn't have enough lucidity to become a proper sleuth. But for Persephone's clues (how the thief smells, for instance), she won't be able to solve the mystery.
🐈 As a cozy mystery, I think there's not much of mystery in this novella. It lacks of suspects, and I guessed instantly the criminal even from their first appearance. For cat lovers, however, or cat-cozy-mystery lovers, this is a cute story. I loved how Persephone gives Addie titbits info she hears from the other cats, which will help Addie and the shelter crew to provide more fitting treatments for them. And a talking cat gives more personality to the feline creature, and giving her more highlights than that, otherwise, of an ordinary cat.
🐈 All in all, it is a cute little cat-cozy-mystery, a proper introduction to the series, of which I think I'd love to read more.
Rating: 3,5 / 5
**My third read for Literary Potpourri's #ReadingTheMeow2023**
Getting to know the Meow:
My name is Persephone, and I am the purr-tector of an art gallery.
One day I was catnapped after witnessing an art heist!
My contribution to the story: I help Addie (a nice lady who found me) to find the thief. She can speak my language. It's nice to have a human who can understand me, and gives me food that I want to eat! In exchange, I tell her what other animals in the shelter need/want.
Am glad the cat element was well done in this book even if the mystery was weak. I do like the sound of both Addie and Persephone and would love to explore this series sometime. Thank you for adding this review to Reading the Meow :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I liked the duo's dynamic. Fingers crossing that the rest of the series will get much better!
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