Sabrina Tate is writing a mystery, or at least she’s trying to write her first novel. When not writing, she’s helping out her aunt, Rowena Flowers, who owns the Around-the-World Cottages vacation rentals.

Aunt Rowe is a ball of energy, even with a broken leg, and entirely dismissive of concerns that she’s the prime suspect in her cousin’s murder. Hitchcock, the black cat or the “Bad Luck Cat,” as the townspeople call him, is always on the outside of Sabrina’s cabin even when she thinks she’s locked him safely inside.

This is the purr-fect cozy to read during the month when keeping black cats safe is on everyone’s mind. You’ll laugh and have a great time in Lavender, Texas.

If you can’t sleep at night and wish to bake like Sabrina on her sleepless nights, you’ll be excited to discover some of her mouthwatering recipes at the end of the story. Or, there’s always tomorrow if you’re not writing a novel or reading the next book in the series. I’ll be reading, so the kitchen is all yours. ( )

"We have to help the police" is the first reason I didn't rate this book higher. The second reason: if you find a secret hidey-hole in your house with something in it, would you forget all about it just a few hours later? I wouldn't and I didn't when Sabrina found hers.

But Black Cat Crossing was a pretty good start to a new series and Hitchcock has the capacity for awesomeness. Sabrina feels flighty to me for some reason, but that could just be first book-itis.

Sabrina is helping out her aunt while she recovers from a broken leg and is using the time to try to write her first novel. The black sheep of the family tree arrives unannounced and makes a rather startling claim only to wind up dead the next day, making Sabrina's aunt look super suspicious.

The mystery's solution felt like it came out of nowhere; I'm not sure the reader was given the clues needed to solve anything, but as this is normally not a factor for me, it didn't lessen my enjoyment at all.

I'll definitely read a second book. ( )

I am a cat lover, especially black cats. Who can resist a miniature black panther? Not me! So the minute I saw the cover art for this book and read the plot synopsis, I knew I would enjoy reading this book!

The basics: Sabrina Tate dreams of writing The Great America Novel, so she moves to Lavender, Texas to help her aunt manage her vacation rental business. Locals are blaming a string of bad luck -- including Sabrina's aunt breaking her leg -- on a black cat, El Gato Diablo. Not believing in superstition, Sabrina seeks to befriend the cat. When the mysterious feline leads her to dead body, Sabrina knows her aunt will be a suspect in the death of her dead-beat cousin, Bobby Joe Flowers. Sabrina finds herself struggling to find time to write amid a murder investigation and protecting her new black furry friend.

This cozy mystery is nicely paced and an enjoyable read. The mystery portion of the plot is interesting, with just a bit of the supernatural thrown in for ambiance. Sabrina Tate is a likable and believable main character. As in most cozy mysteries, the supporting characters aren't overly developed, but have enough detail to keep the story moving. I had a bit of hard time liking the Aunt, as she really didn't care that her cousin was dead. He was a jerk and a cad, but still....at times she seemed actually glad he was dead. The mystery has multiple suspects, several twists and turns, and comes to a thrilling end.

The cover art is absolutely awesome! Spooky, mysterious and beautiful!

Black Cat Crossing is the first book in the Bad Luck Cat Mystery series. Book two in the series, The Black Cat Knocks on Wood, was published in June 2016. Kay Finch also writes the Corie McKenna Mystery series. Learn more about her books on her website: www.kayfinch.com ( )

A serviceable cozy mystery, I just found myself bored while reading. The main character, Sabrina, is living in Lavender, Texas in order to write her first novel, while helping out at her Aunt Rowe's vacation cottages. A cousin that Sabrina doesn't really recall meeting comes back to threaten her Aunt Rowe and is found hours later, dead in a river nearby. Sabrina investigates when it starts to look like her Aunt Rowe may be arrested for murder.

Reading about someone try to write a story is really boring. So we have that going on while Sabrina 'investigates'. And I put investigates in quotes because she doesn't really. She goes around in the most ham fisted way possible and asks people questions. Based on what people tell her, she adds, and crosses people off her suspect list. I kind of rolled my eyes a few times, because most of the things that Sabrina does is act indignant if people don't want to talk to her (she's not a cop) and she in my mind, is not that smart. Considering that Sabrina is trying to write a murder mystery, you think she be better at investigating them.

The overall plot of who killed Sabrina's cousin tends to get overshadowed a lot by Sabrina becoming obsessed with a black cat that her aunt's general handyman wants to capture because he thinks the cat is bad luck. Of course after a while as a reader, you start to think that maybe the cat is magic since he keeps turning up every time Sabrina investigates and leads her to more clues. So the cat is definitely the smartest person in this whole story.

Sabrina's Aunt Rowe I had a problem with, she's not a sympathetic character, and seems really hardened to someone that Sabrina says was there for her in ways that her own mother was not. Sabrina has a not great relationship with her mother, and there is mention of a brother that we don't see her interacting with at all. Most of the characters in the book felt a little flat to me. For example, the character of Thomas we are introduced to Sabrina says that he is her aunt's best friend. But then we find out his age (30s, his aunt is in her 70s) and then it comes out that her aunt helped raise him. I found that whole thing interesting, but the book skips over it.

I think the big problem though is that the author tried to introduce too many things. We have a friend of Sabrina's that is forcing her to get her act together so she can meet an agent and get signed on to complete a book. Her Aunt Rowe seems focused on ignoring that her nephew is dead. Sabrina is being told spooky things by a town resident who believes she is a witch. And Sabrina is interested in the local game warden, who happens to have the sheriff's deputy interest as well. I am sure the next book will sort all that out. I just think I will pass on reading any more of this series. I used to love cozy's but most of them start to read very formulaic after a while.

The writing was okay, but the flow was all over the place. The story jumped around too much. The author also included recipes in the end, and I really didn't get why she did. Just because Sabrina bakes, it didn't make me want to bake anything she was mentioning because there were no details besides, I decided to bake some blah blah tarts.

The setting of Lavender didn't read that special to me and just read as a typical small town where all of the businesses had quirky names.

In the end Sabrina finds out who killed her cousin and why and gets answers to another death that happened decades earlier that didn't make a lot of sense to me.
( )

Very amusing book. I liked the aspiring author drama more than some of the murder mystery drama, but I think that's because I understand that aspect better.

I will admit that the whodunnit reveal felt a bit out of left field. I'm glad that it wasn't blatant, but it also felt too distanced from the hints left in the story for its genre. Cozy mysteries usually at least give you a chance at guessing the killer. For this one, I don't think there was any chance.

Still, it was a fun read and the cat sounds like a perfect black cat. I'm glad my cat (not black) doesn't get into as much mischief as Hitchcock does, though. ( )