Sunny is covering the much hyped wedding of political heiress to a business mogul, but she finds herself covering the suspicious death of one of the wedding party instead. Now, asked by the bride-to-be for some damage control in the press releases, Sunny is now on the compound as a guest. And her cat Shadow, is a yet-to-be discovered stowaway. Sunny’s boyfriend, Will, is also working in an official capacity as a police officer. Things are going to get worse before they get better, and much of the credit for both of those things goes to Shadow, the extraordinary cat. It’s quite a tale, intricate and intriguing. Cat lovers will appreciate Shadow’s feelings as he copes with Sunny and her somewhat unfavorable actions towards Shadow. At least he thinks they are, not realizing her true motives. Though part of a series, this story works well as a stand-alone. ( )

There are so many cozy mysteries that feature cats as purr-fect companions to amateur sleuths and some of the felines even help with critical clues in solving the latest crime but since meeting the cat as created by Claire Donally (pseudonym for the author of many other critically acclaimed cozy mysteries) Shadow is my favorite feline. As I shared in my review of the 1st novel in the series,

"I absolutely purred in my human reading pleasure way for the wondrous names that charismatic Shadow has for humans, the things humans do, the things human say, etc."

In this novel in order for a crime to be solved with insider access to the Kingsburys' waterfront compound it is necessary for Sunny Coolidge to take a break from her usual position at MAX (Maine Adventure X-perience) in Kittery Harbor, Maine, and use her previous reporter experience and also her sleuthing that has been most successful to date. The only one that is not happy about Sunny's need to stay onsite at the Kingsburys’ waterfront compound is Shadow who becomes quite distressed when he views Sunny packing her suitcase. Shadow may be left at home with the "Old One" (a.k.a. Sunny's Dad) but in his ingenious style he's key to the case.

Within this novel, Shadow's experiences are detailed more than ever which I found to be paw-some! It's catnip for human readers from cover to cover!! ( )

I loved all four in this series and Shadow is a hoot. ( )

Good entry in the series. Sunny gets to be more of a reporter in this one. ( )

Hiss and Tell is the fourth book in the Sunny & Shadow Mystery series.

Another fun and exciting visit with Sunny, Shadow and her friends in Kittery Harbor, Maine.

Interesting time are in store for Kittery Harbor, Constable Will Price, the young man that Sunny has been dating, has decided that the community needs a sheriff that will fight crime and not one that massages the numbers to make it appear there is little, and is running for sheriff against his boss. In addition to this there are preparation for the wedding of Priscilla Kingsbury from the politically affluent Kingsbury family who live nearby in the family compound at Neal's Neck. Then in the early hours one morning Ken Howell, owner/editor of the local newspaper calls asking to go with him to Neal's Neck as there is trouble at the compound. They approach from the water and are taking pictures of rescue personnel retrieving the body of a young lady. Ted Trehearne, head of security at the compound, heads out to confiscate the cameras being used. But Sunny is one step ahead and starts to take pictures with her phone, which she emails to the newspaper. Then two things happen that really surprises Sunny. First her former boss from the Standard, in New York City sees her and tells her that he has the notes of a former reporter who says there is someone that is blackmailing people and one of those people is the young lady who has just been found dead on the shore. The other is that Priscilla has asked to stay at the compound under the guise of reporting the planning of her wedding and at the same time try and find out who might have killed the young lady.

The sheriff assigns Will to be the county's liaison with the compound so that he will, for the most part, be out of the campaigning arena. But soon the sheriff is found with his throat slashed, in his cruiser near the compound. Will is now assigned to patrol duty. This leaves Sunny pretty much on her own to find the murderer. But when Sunny returns home to get some more formal clothes, Shadow is able to hide in the suitcase. And as in previous books Shadow is able to do his own sleuthing and helps Sunny capture the killer.

Another wonderful story and I quite enjoyed reading Shadow's thought and humor as his side of the story is presented. Will definitely be watching for the next book in the series. ( )