June 24th, 2026
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Love, Danger, Homecomings & Heart β€” Your June Reading Escape Starts Here


Fresh Fiction Blog
Get to Know Your Favorite Authors

Cate Conte | Author-Reader Match: CLAWS OUT

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Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match,” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Cate Conte!

Writes:
Cate Conte (aka Liz Mugavero) writes the Cat Café Mysteries—purrfect for readers who crave a cozy mystery with heart, humor and just enough danger to keep things interesting. Over the course of nine books, Cate has introduced readers to Maddie James, a passionate cat advocate turned accidental sleuth whose Cat Café (and now mobile café) is the talk of Daybreak Island and beyond. With every book, Cate blends cats, crime and community into a story that’s as fun and comforting as your favorite latte…until the claws come out.

About:
Author. Mystery lover. Forever cat and dog mom. Coffee is my love language. Must love books, caffeine, and the occasional dead body (fictional only, of course). Swipe right for cats, coffee and clues!

Looking for my ideal reader match. Swipe right if you love:
• trading in Daybreak Island coziness for a summer escape to Provincetown, a beloved artist and writer haven full of personality (and secrets)
• a mobile cat café serving lattes, muffins and mystery on wheels
• literary drama—because writers always have the best secrets
• cats with cattitude (and maybe sharper instincts than the humans)
• a splash of mob intrigue to raise the stakes
• small-town gossip, seaside charm, and a heroine who refuses to give up—even when the espresso machine breaks down mid-investigation

Dealbreakers:
If you don’t like caffeine, cats or a little murderous chaos every now and then, this might not work out.

What to expect if we’re compatible:
If we click, you’ll binge-read CLAWS OUT in one sitting, go back and read the entire Cat Cafe Mystery series over a weekend and immediately start plotting your dream life on Daybreak Island. You might even start to eye your own cat suspiciously (what do they know?). You’ll also check out my other series, the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries for more animal-related murder and mayhem, and the Full Moon Mysteries for some witchy, paranormal mystery vibes. And check out my podcast, Get Writing, for chats with some of your other favorite authors!

CLAWS OUT by Cate Conte

Cat Cafe Mystery #9

The ninth installment in a charming cozy mystery series set on an island off the New England coast and featuring the cat cafe owner Maddie and her cat JJ.

After a long, snowy winter on Daybreak Island, Maddie and her cat cafe crew are finally ready to embrace the spring, though life is anything but calm. With Val and Ethan's wedding taking center stage, Maddie finds herself juggling wedding plans alongside a new and unexpected venture—a generous donation has made her the co-owner of a traveling cat cafe truck. To kick off the new chapter, she seizes the chance to take the truck on its inaugural trip to a cat literary festival in Provincetown, accompanied by her family and some of the shelter crew.

The festival is organized by the renowned cat-romance author Jasmine Prescott, who also runs a beloved cat rescue foundation on Cape Cod. But when Jasmine's longtime friend and fellow author Vivi St. Clair arrives with a boatload full of drama—everything from a dangerous ex-husband to an unwanted Netflix crew—tensions run high. At first, it seems like just another dose of celebrity chaos—until Vivi is found murdered. As new evidence ties Maddie and her cat cafe into the investigation, Maddie must dig deeper into the tangled web of secrets, rivalries, and feline-friendly drama to uncover the truth. The question is: what’s the connection between the cat cafe and Vivi’s untimely death?

Mystery Woman Sleuth | Mystery Cozy [St. Martin's Paperbacks, On Sale: August 26, 2025, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250883995 / eISBN: 9781250884008]

Buy CLAWS OUTAmazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Powell's Books | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Walmart.com | Target.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

About Cate Conte

Cate Conte

CATE CONTE serves on the Sisters in Crime New England board; she is also a member of Sisters in Crime, National Mystery Writers of America, and the Cat Writers' Association. She currently lives in Connecticut with her cats and one dog.

Cat Cafe | Full Moon Mystery

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS

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