A Case of Cat and Mouse

August 1, 2020
Magical cats assist their mystery-solving owner when the judgmental judge in a new baking show is permanently offed. Hired as a researcher on The Great Northern Baking Showdown, a new TV series that's shooting in her hometown of Mayville Heights, Minnesota, librarian Kathleen Paulson is excited to season the show with fun facts. She enjoys hunting down trivia like the fact that Mayville Heights is the birthplace of the Bundt pan, and it also keeps her close to her friend Rebecca. As a contestant, Rebecca is baking up a storm in hopes of finishing in the top three and bringing media attention to the town. The fly in the ointment, or the batter, is Showdown judge Kassie Tremayne, who always looks disgruntled and makes Rebecca a frequent recipient of her unpleasantness. But no amount of unpleasantness can justify the moment when Kathleen finds Kassie dead with her face in a bowl of whipped cream. Kathleen's vast experience solving mysteries makes her a natural to look into Kassie's death, and it doesn't hurt that her boyfriend is police detective Marcus Gordon. The show's contestants obligingly relay sensitive information to Kathleen about times they might have been evasive under police questioning, apparently relying on Kathleen's personal connection to Marcus to burnish their versions of the truth while implying their innocence stridently enough to make Kathleen roll her eyes. Fortunately, she can rely on magical cats Owen and Hercules, each with his own special powers, to help her sleuthing, and it's only a matter of time before the real killer's goose is cooked. Cats helping solve mysteries: Reads like literary comfort food.

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