This entertaining cozy mystery mixes pets with crime in the
Kitty
Couture Mysteries featuring pet supplies store owner
Lacy Marie Crocker. CAT GOT YOUR SECRETS is the third book
but you can jump right in. As the theme suggests, Lacy has
cleverly exploited a gap in the market and creates costumes
and party treats for pets. I never cease to be amazed by how
much money some owners will spend on goods their pets don't
actually need, but it is their money to spend, and it
creates jobs.
The location is the wealthy district of New Orleans, where
our heroine has returned after her studies and a breakup.
Now her mother keeps hinting that she'd like a grandchild
while swinging erratically from pack rat to decluttering.
We've all been there I think. Still feeling emotional
stress from being involved in murder cases earlier that
year, Lacy is distraught when her father appears to be the
last person to see a gentleman found dead in suspicious
circumstances.
With little details like the cat sitting happily on top of
the robot floor cleaner, and costumes required for
everything from a St Bernardoodle to guinea pigs for the
National Pet Pageant, the tale can be read as a lot of fun.
For serious crime fans, the adventure is also good, with
Lacy looking up how long someone locked in a walk-in freezer
can live or what would bring on a heart attack. Everyone who
is anyone here knows everyone, and Lacy's mom is the gossip
queen, not to mention all the staff have their own gossip
line. With her pal Scarlet, who is cuddling her
four-month-old baby to allay suspicion, Lacy does her best
to investigate why anyone might have wanted to harm the
deceased, Mr. Becker. Her dad, the local veterinarian,
couldn't have anything to do with it... but the law isn't
so sure. I like that Lacy's relationship with her parents
changes during the tale.
Another nice friendly character is Imogene, once Lacy's
nanny, now the excellent cook for the family. Her
mouth-watering meals include local recipes like shrimp and
crawfish on rice with tomato, garlic, and onion roue. Not
everyone in the city is so convivial or helpful. At the end
of CAT GOT YOUR SECRETS author Julie Chase provides a few
easy recipes to make pet treats, such as one involving
peanut butter and sweet potatoes in baked dog chews. I had a
good time reading this and I am sure mystery fans will enjoy
it, especially if they are pet lovers.
Lacy Marie Crocker has settled into a comfortable groove
back home in New Orleans, and with Valentine’s Day right
around the corner, she’s busier than ever running a thriving
pet boutique, helping her mother organize the upcoming
National Pet Pageant, and untangling her complicated love
life. But when delivering a king-sized order of
dreidel-shaped doggy biscuits for a Saint Berdoodle’s
bark-mitzvah, Lacy stumbles into yet another murder
scene—and the last person to see the victim alive was her
own father.
It’s up to Lacy to clear her dad’s name from the suspect
list before Detective Jack Oliver has to cage him for good.
But just when she starts pawing at the truth, she receives a
threatening letter from a mysterious blackmailer bent on
silencing her with her own secrets. And Lacy’s not the only
one with bones in her closet.
Time’s running out in this deadly cat-and-mouse game in
Cat Got Your Secrets, the delightfully funny third
novel in Julie Chase’s Kitty Couture mystery series, perfect
for “all those feline fanciers who love to read Rita Mae
Brown” (Suspense Magazine).
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