Reviews

Kathleen moved to a small town in Minnesota to head up the Mayville Library during a major renovation project. She took the job to escape Boston and a boyfriend who betrayed her by marrying a virtual stranger two weeks after he had an argument with Kathleen, but she soon fell in love with the town despite the headaches caused by the contractor and a series of suspicious accidents. Not long after she arrived in town, two feral cats followed her home. Kathleen is beginning to suspect something very strange is going on with Owen and Hercules--not only are they unusually intelligent, but she could swear she saw them vanish and even walk through solid doors.

When a lecherous guest conductor dies under mysterious circumstances and Kathleen becomes a "person of interest" in the eyes of the handsome detective after finding his body, Hercules and Owen put their uncanny abilities to good use and ferret out (or filch!) clues to help Kathleen figure out what happened and why.

I accidentally read #6 in this series first, so I had a bit of an advantage when it came to going back and reading (listening) from the beginning because I knew which characters continued on in later books. Even still, I only partially guessed the truth before the big reveal. I've got book #2 on hold, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

For readers' advisors: The pace of this mystery was pretty slow until the end--it's really much more character-driven than story or plot-driven. Which is fine with me--I read for character primarily anyway, and this was definitely a character doorway book. It's basically a "clean read," aside from a couple of mild swear words/phrases (i.e. "karma's a bitch," and "crap on toast!"). There is no sex or graphic violence. The setting is contemporary Minnesota, but other than a bit of a small-town feel, setting is not a strong doorway.