Sunny Coolidge has problems. She lost her big city newspaper
job while caring for her grumpy bad-patient dad, her car
door barely opens, and she's just given up her Saturday to
help the town Cat Lady hunt for a lost lottery ticket. When
Sunny finds the woman dead, she soon finds herself at odds
with the county sheriff, who wants to rule it an accident;
her travel agency boss, who fears that the murder will hurt
tourism; and the killer, who wants to end Sunny's
journalistic inquiries permanently. With the help of
handsome town constable Will Price, and Shadow, one of the
Cat Lady's feline friends, Sunny begins to uncover more
clues, the bodies begin to pile up, and Sunny soon finds
that she may be the killer's next target.
THE BIG KITTY falls squarely between dark, intense thrillers
and comic detective romps. The murders are handled fairly
seriously, and the dangers feel very real. The overall tone,
though, is somewhat light-hearted. The mastermind's henchmen
are bumbling, at best, and the small-town politics and
neighborhood squabbles keep things from getting too dark.
Author Claire Donally tells part of the story from Sunny's
point of view and part of it from Shadow's perspective.
Shadow has his own way of looking at the world, and his
observations help us, the readers, make connections that the
humans in the story can't quite see. His actions -- though
not always deliberate -- also help protect his new family.
THE BIG KITTY was a fast and enjoyable read, and I'm looking
forward to reading future tales of Sunny and Shadow, solving
mysteries in Maine.
Did curiosity kill the cat lady?
Sunny Coolidge left her New York City newspaper job to go
back to Maine and take care of her ailing father. But
there’s not much excitement—or interesting work—in Kittery
Harbor. So when Ada Spruance, the town’s elderly cat lady,
asks for help finding her supposedly-winning lottery
ticket, Sunny agrees. But when she arrives at Ada’s, with
a stray tomcat named Shadow tagging along, they discover
the poor woman dead at the bottom of her stairs. Was it an
accident—or did Ada’s death have to do with that missing
lottery ticket, which turns out to be worth six million
dollars?
Town Constable Will Price suspects the worst. And Sunny’s
reporter instincts soon drive her to do some investigating
of her own. Even Shadow seems to have a nose for detective
work. Following the trail of the purrloined ticket, Sunny
and Shadow try to shed some light on a killer’s dark
motives—before their own numbers are up…
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