A fan of both chocolate and cats, I pulled this book from the Mystery section at my library and was pleasantly surprised to read the acknowledgments thanking members of the Saugatuck community. Saugatuck is a small Michigan lake town that sits on the shore of Lake Michigan, about thirty miles from my home. I spend a lot of time in Saugatuck.

Lee McKinney, the star of this series, has also frequented this uniquely charming town, which the author has renamed Warner Pier, and now she’s moved here permanently after leaving both her husband and her home state of Texas. While working in her aunt’s chocolate shop, Lee delivers chocolates to a wealthy attorney/philanthropist’s lakefront home, where a murder happens and a story is born.

The protaganist and her Aunt Nettie are likeable and drawn with humor, as are other members of the community, and the story is engaging and paced well. However, I’m never a fan of accents showing up phonetically in dialogue; it’s distracting and even a bit condescending – toward both the reader and the characters. The author uses this technique, especially when Latino mayor Mike Herrera gets worked up and his accent is more pronounced (“weesh” for wish, etc). I see the technique in many cozies, and I can’t figure out why editors think this is a good choice.

I’ll probably keep reading this overall pleasant series, just to see what else the author has to say about Saugatuck – er, Warner Pier. A standard cozy mystery debut and a fast read, The Chocolate Cat Caper is worth three stars. ( )

Reading books about chocolate is not good for my diet. ( )

In this first Chocoholic Mystery series, Lee McKinney, who has given up her career and position as Trophy wife in Texas to come and once again work at her Aunt Nettie's Ten Huis Chocolade store as its business manager and unravel the books. Her aunt has had a tough time of it since her husband died a year-and-a-half-a-ago. Lee intends to stay and help her aunt out until she gets her CPA and then she plans on leaving for a large firm or something more permanent.

Aunt Nettie really doesn't want Lee to fill the order for Clementine Ripley's party, but the check for $2,000 is too much to turn away for a personal vendetta. They make cat chocolates that look exactly like her Champion Cat, Yonkers, as well as Amoretto truffles. Lee ends up working for the party as a waitstaff for Mike Herrera's catering company thanks to her old friend Lindy who is his daughter-in-law.

So when Clementine Ripley falls down dead at the party, cyanide becomes the culprit and the amaretto chocolate becomes very suspicious which makes both Aunt Nettie and Lee suspects since Clementine kept the man who was drunk driving and killed Uncle Phil on the streets by getting him off a previous charge. But they weren't the only ones to not like her. Her ex-husband, Tom, was there heard arguing with her about money, it seems that her loyal assistant Marion was up to something and her investment man was conspiring behind her back. Also, Mike Herrera, the Mayor, was supposed to get the land her home was on for use as a public center, but instead she builds an ugly house on the property. And of course, there are all the people that she screwed over in court.

There really isn't much to say that is nice about Clementine. She is pure Evil. But even she deserves to have justice and innocent people are threatened just for knowing too much. I really liked this book. Lee has a speech impediment that causes her to say the wrong thing. Such as "I need the password today" for "payment". Her tongue gets her into so much trouble and embarrassment. Also, includes Chocolate Facts such as how the cacao bean and chocolate were first counterfeited. This is a book worth reading. ( )

I liked learning different facts about chocolate from both the narrative and a few extras that the author/publisher included. I also liked the character flaw of the main character who sometimes says the wrong words--usually to comical ends.

I didn't guess who the real culprit was until it was revealed. ( )

I'm interested in reading more in this series. The second book, which I read a year ago, felt different to this one. I want to know which new characters the author introduces in the third and beyond. Even though I like cozy mysteries, I have to say it's the most difficult subgenre ever in my reading experience. E.g it's more difficult than science fiction. Unlike science fiction however, it doesn't promise an awesomesauce lot and fails to deliver. That's why I'm sticking to the cozy mysteries for the next few books I chalked up to read.

As for this book it got more obscure after three quarter through it. They didn't focus on Marion's murder at all. Was it a murder? Someone enlighten me here. Why did she have to die? The plot's a bit absurd. The rushing plan, and the impatience and improvisation from the villains were, on second thoughts, ill thought of. Anyway now that I've come to expect definite parameters to this genre, I'm prepared to give it a real run in my readership. Even if it means reading 3/5 books for the rest of my life. ( )