Paws to Remember

Librarian Kathleen Paulson and her enchanted felines get involved in a cold case that is putting people in very hot water in the newest installment of this When a water leak repair results in a body being found behind the walls of the store run by the artists’ co-op that Kathleen''s friend, Maggie, is part of everyone is completely mystified as to whose body it is and who hid it there. But as the dust settles, her boyfriend, Detective Marcus Gordon, begins to suspect the body could belong to a young woman who disappeared more than thirty years ago. When a friend with a connection to the young woman asks Kathleen to look into the circumstances around the disappearance, she and her cats--who have special feline talent for catching felons--find themselves digging up secrets that at least one person in Mayville Heights would Sofie Kelly

Klappentext

"When a water leak repair results in a body being found behind the walls of the store run by the artists' co-op that Kathleen's friend, Maggie, is part of everyone is completely mystified as to whose body it is and who hid it there. But as the dust settles, her boyfriend, Detective Marcus Gordon, begins to suspect the body could belong to a young woman who disappeared more than thirty years ago. When a friend with a connection to the young woman asks Kathleen to look into the circumstances around the disappearance, she and her cats--who have special feline talent for catching felons--find themselves digging up secrets that at least one person in Mayville Heights would much prefer stay buried."--Provided by publisher.

Zusammenfassung
"The sequel to Whiskers and Lies combines a cold case, magical cats, and a librarian in a charming mystery about family. It s a winner for series fans." - Library Journal**

** What more could you want? A good mystery, a cat, and a dog. Kings River Life

This fast-paced mystery is very well plotted and executed, with plot twists that kept this reader guessing throughout... I highly recommend this cozy mystery! Open Book Society

In this Magical Cats Mystery, Ms. Kelly demonstrates her reputation as an extraordinary cat whisperer. Owen and Hercules provide their usual combination of fascinating action and exchanges with various characters throughout the story. Fresh Fiction

Leseprobe
chapter 1

It wasn't the first dead body I'd ever seen, so I didn't scream. It also helped that I had been expecting at least one-or possibly two. Owen looked up at me, an expression of self-satisfaction on his face that made him look rather smug-which I'm sure he was. He had one foot on the corpse, his way of claiming credit for the fact that it was lying there in the first place. Since the body was that of a fairly large rodent and Owen was a small cat, I had no problem with the way things had worked out.

Harry Taylor looked down at the little gray-and-white tabby. "Nice work," he said. Harry was in his late fifties, his face weathered from working outside in the sun and wind. Very little rattled him.

The cat dipped his head in gracious acknowledgment of his skills.

A couple of days of colder-than-usual weather-even for Minnesota in December-and a middle-of-the-night power failure downtown had caused a water pipe to burst in the old building where the artists' cooperative had their shop. My friend Maggie, who helped run the business, had been the one who'd gotten the call about the power failure, and she'd discovered both the broken pipe and the furry trespasser.

Maggie had called Harry, who was responsible for the maintenance on the building, and me because Maggie had a long-standing phobia of mice and other rodents. I knew it was connected to something that had happened when she was a child, but she had never shared any details and I had never pushed. I'd brought Owen because no rat, mouse, vole or mole was a match for him.

Harry glanced over at me. "Want me to take care of this?" he asked, indicating the dead animal. "Or is there someone you wanted to fling the dearly departed at?"

I'd been about to pick up Owen. I straightened and eyed Harry, my gaze narrowing in surprise. "How did you know about that incident?" I said. He had to be referring to the last time I'd been involved in disposing of a dead rodent, although I took issue with his use of the word "fling."

He laughed. "Well, you did lob a dead rat at Ruby's head," he said. "Not really the kind of thing people tend to keep to themselves."

"First of all, I didn't throw it at her head deliberately," I said. "She just sort of walked into the line of fire." I could feel my face getting red. "And second, it wasn't actually dead."

He was still laughing. "Doesn't help your case at all, Kathleen."

Harry's laughter was contagious. The incident Harry was talking about was the time the building's basement had been half-filled with water and what I thought was one very dead rodent floating near the stairs. Turned out it was only mostly dead. And as any fan of the book and the movie The Princess Bride will tell you, mostly dead is slightly alive.

I had scooped the animal out of the water with a snow shovel and then, because I hadn't thought ahead to what I was going to do next, ended up tossing it outside just as Ruby Blackthorne-one of the co-op artists-walked by. In my defense I didn't hit Ruby, who was startled but not at all angry, and the animal had scurried away the moment it landed on the pavement. Ruby had teased me about the whole thing for weeks.

"I'd be happy for you to take care of . . . this," I said in answer to Harry's original question. I bent down and scooped up Owen with one hand and raised an eyebrow at Harry as I headed for the door. "It's not like Ruby is in town."

Maggie was waiting in the entryway clutching a broom in one hand with her other arm wrapped tightly around her chest. "Is it . . . gone?" she asked. She glanced over my right shoulder and then her green eyes came back to my face.

Owen gave a loud and very definitive meow. I set him on the floor at my feet.

"Yes," I said. Maggie's shoulders immediately slumped in relief.

I gestured to the half-open door behind me. "Harry's just cleaning up."

Maggie leaned fo