The Cats Came Back

July 16, 2018
The annual Wild Rose Summer Music Festival provides the backdrop for bestseller Kelly’s entertaining 10th Magical Cats mystery featuring Mayville Heights, Minn., librarian Kathleen Paulson (after 2017’s A Tale of Two Kitties). Kathleen’s cats, Owen (who can vanish at will) and Hercules (who can walk through walls), help her investigate the murder of Miranda Moore, the assistant and near doppelganger of up-and-coming Emme Finley, a cabaret singer from Chicago in town for the festival. To unmask the killer, Kathleen must find the motive, which first means figuring out whether Miranda or Emme was the intended victim. Members of Miranda’s no-account family are suspect, but there’s also Emme’s old boyfriend, Derrick, a bad boy according to Nora, Emme’s sister and manager. Meanwhile, everyone’s preparing for veterinarian Roma’s wedding to Eddie out at the old Henderson estate, the birthplace of Kathleen’s unusual kitties. Kelly succeeds in making the adorable Owen and Hercules surprisingly believable, even to readers who aren’t cat people. Agent: Kim Lionetti, Bookends Literary Agency.