Cate Conte

bookscoffeebrews Book Reveiw: Nine Lives and
Alibi---A Cat Cafe Mystery
Stars: 3.5 x 5
Author: Cate Conte @lizmugavero
Publisher: Minotaur Book @minotaur_books from
@mcmillanusai
Thank you @negalley for this ARC

This is a lovely Cat Cafe cozy mystery. The island of
Daybreak is getting ready for Halloween. So many
tricks and treats are occurIng. Maddie's young sister
Sam books a famous medium for Halloween, Balfour
Dempsey. They are hoping that Balfour Dempsey will
help the solve a murder and missing maid.
Apparently, once the medium arrives to do this
someone does not want him involved. It looks like he
has also brought a stalker with him. Another issue is
the hotel he is staying at is suppose to be haunted. It
seems that Balfour Dempsey is pushed off the cliffs
and falls to his death. This is where past and present
collide.
Maddie runs a cafe and who takes in stray cats.
Maddie has a cat named JJ and
"together" they try to find the murderer. There are quite
a few surprising twist and
turns in this story. Since this was the 7th book in the
series it took me a bit to learn
the characters but once that was done it was a cozy
read. By the end of the book both new and old
mysteries are solved.
I love anything Halloween since that is my birthday and
any mystery with a cat is even better.

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#booknerd… (altro)

3.5 Stars--rating shown may vary depending on review site.

This was on a sale rack at one of the local libraries. Like other reviewers, the cat on the cover caught my eye.

I'm not really sure how to categorize the plot. In some ways it reminds me of a Hallmark movie--main character comes home to attend her grandmother's funeral, intending to return to her business and life in California, but stays on because of her grandfather. There is a love interest angle (with 2 possibilities) but unlike the Hallmark movies, the book doesn't end with romance.

It's a murder mystery--I classified it on my shelves as a cozy mystery because of Maddie, but I'm not sure it 100% fits that category since one of Maddie's love interests is a police officer who is involved in the formal investigation, and Maddie's grandfather is a former chief-of-police. There's another mystery too--a mysterious benefactor.

JJ (the cat) is definitely the star of the book for me. I can just imagine him strutting around town in his harness and squeaking (rather than meowing). I like the idea of cat cafes--being able to visit, borrow, or interact with cats without all the responsibilities of ownership.

I'm still not clear if the benefactor expected the grandfather to run the cafe (he did try to support the local pet rescue places when he was in office) or was expecting Maddie to stay and run it. I thought Maddie would be talking to her business partner about buying her out rather than closing their business in California and moving to the NorthEast--unless Maddie only meant for him to visit her to help get the cat cafe up and running?? I guess future books in the series will tell.… (altro)