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Maddie James and her favorite feline, JJ (short for Junkyard Johnny), prepare for a quiet Christmas Holiday at JJ's House of Purrs, the cat café where rescue cats are also available for adoption. Maddie is determined to spend time with her family without getting involved in the holiday's event planning and volunteering.
Things start going sideways when the town animal control officer and friend, Katrina Denning, disrupts the Cat Café patrons with her threat: "I'll murder them." She flashes a flyer advertising "designer cats for sale." Maddie tries to calm her down, but she discovers the flyers are posted all over town and right in front of JJ's House of Purrs. Now, Maddie is curious about "designer cats" and who sells them.
Maddie's decision to relax after managing the Halloween festivities is also short-lived when it becomes apparent that the Christmas events may be in trouble. The Chamber is putting on an ambitious holiday pageant and sponsoring a decorating competition, offering a large cash prize for the best Christmas lights exhibit. When the event planning team loses control of too many details, Minnie is persuaded to step in and help.
Then Maddie learns that the publisher of the local newspaper is considering selling out to a large corporation, which means her best friend Becky may lose her job as managing editor. Maddie tries to convince Donna Carey to reconsider her thoughts about selling, only to be shocked when Donna is found dead, strangled by a string of holiday lights.
So much for the relaxing holiday with cats, friends, and family. She organizes a plan to keep the pageant on track, deals with the competition issues, and tries to find out how to define a "designer cat." Maddie also begins investigating Donna's murder since Becky is the prime suspect.
This is the eighth Cat Café Mystery, and Cate Conte conceives a well-executed, multifaceted mystery with an appropriate amount of feline humor and interaction.
§ Ruth Castleberry has worked as an investigator for Pinkerton's, a city desk assistant on the Charlotte News, free-lance writer, marketing/business strategy consultant, competitive intelligence practitioner and digital marketing consultant.
Reviewed by Ruth Castleberry, August 2024
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