PRAISE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING MAGICAL CATS MYSTERIES
“Kelly has woven life in a small town, murder and a sense of community into a fine tail.”
—Kings River Life Magazine
“Coziness at its finest. I adore those magical cats!”
—Socrates’ Book Reviews
“Rich characters, a cozy setting, and two extra special felines make this one of the best cat mystery series on the shelves today.”
—Melissa’s Mochas, Mysteries & Meows
“It’s always a pleasure to see another Magical Cats Mystery coming my way.”
—Fresh Fiction
“With great characters and an interesting story, readers will be in for a treat with this classic whodunit.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Cats with magic powers, a library, good friends who look out for each other and small-town coziness come together in perfect unison. If you are a fan of Miranda James’s Cat in the Stacks Mysteries, you will want to read [this series].”
—MyShelf.com
“Small-town charm and a charming cat duo make this every cat fancier’s dream.”
—The Mystery Reader
“[A] great cozy that will quickly have you anxiously waiting for the next release so you can spend more time with the people of Mayville Heights.”
—Mysteries and My Musings
Titles by Sofie Kelly
Curiosity Thrilled the Cat
Sleight of Paw
Copycat Killing
Cat Trick
Final Catcall
A Midwinter’s Tail
Faux Paw
Paws and Effect
BERKLEY PRIME CRIME
Published by Berkley
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
Copyright © 2016 by Penguin Random House LLC
Excerpt from The Whole Cat and Caboodle by Sofie Ryan copyright © 2014 by Penguin Random House LLC
Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.
BERKLEY is a registered trademark and BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the B colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
eBook ISBN: 9780698178328
First Edition: October 2016
Cover art by Tristan Elwell
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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CONTENTS
Praise for the Magical Cats Mysteries
Titles by Sofie Kelly
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Excerpt from The Whole Cat and Caboodle
About the Author
1
The body was lying on the swing on the back deck, the wooden seat swaying slowly back and forth. Definitely dead, I decided. And it had been placed there no more than half an hour ago.
I’d stopped so suddenly Marcus almost bumped into me. He put a hand on my shoulder to steady himself. “What is it?” he asked, leaning sideways so he could see around me. He blew out a breath. “Not another one. Why does she keep doing this?”
Before I could answer, there was a loud meow and Micah, his small ginger tabby, came walking purposefully along the deck railing toward us. I reached over to stroke her fur. “Nice work,” I said. I was certain that Micah was the source of that body—a very large, very dead vole.
Marcus pulled a hand back through his hair, a sure sign he was stressed. “Don’t encourage her, Kathleen.”
“She’s a cat,” I said. “Cats hunt. It’s her nature.”
Marcus walked over to the swing and squinted at the dead rodent. “It’s the third dead thing this week,” he said. “I asked Roma. She said it’s her way of showing her affection for me.” He looked back over his shoulder at me. “I mean Micah’s way of showing affection, not Roma’s.”
I smiled. “I know. When Roma likes you she takes you to Meatloaf Tuesday at Fern’s Diner.” Roma Davidson was Mayville Heights’s only veterinarian and one of my closest friends. I’d originally come to town to supervise the renovations to the public library in advance of its centenary. Part of the reason I’d signed a contract to stay on as head librarian once the hundredth-anniversary celebrations were over was because of the connections I’d made. Mayville Heights had come to feel like home.
I looked down at Micah, who was intently watching Marcus as I continued to stroke her fur. Like my own cats, Owen and Hercules, Micah didn’t give her affection to just anyone. We’d discovered the little cat, abandoned, out at Wisteria Hill, where Roma lived. Although she certainly seemed to like Roma and me now, back then she wouldn’t come to either one of us. It was Marcus who had coaxed her out of hiding. Marcus who had picked her up and held her on his lap all the way to Roma’s clinic. It was his scarf she’d slept on that first night there. I thought this rash of “gifts” might be Micah’s way of showing Marcus she could pull her weight and that she deserved to stay.
Marcus glanced around the deck. I realized he was probably looking for something he could use to pick up the dead vole.
“Go get your other keys and your boots and I’ll take care of that,” I said inclining my head in the direction of the swing. Bugs, bats and furry critters didn’t bother me. I gave Micah one last scratch behind the ear and headed for the storage shed in the backyard.
I was coming across the grass with a long-handled spade just as Marcus came out the back door holding the extra set of keys to his SUV. The two of us had been headed to Wisteria Hill to feed the colony of feral cats that lived out there. When he’d arrived to pick me up, his SUV had died in my driveway. We’d pushed it out onto the street so I could back my truck out and stopped by his house to get his spare set of keys. Those he’d drop off to Thorsten Hall, who, among his many other skills, was an excellent mechanic.
“Hey, Kathleen, do you really think I need my boots?” Marcus called to me.
“Roma said the path is mud all the way around the side of the carriage house.” I stuck out one leg so he could see that I was wearing my old gum-rubber boots. “But don’t worry about it. I can feed Lucy and the others.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “My boots are right here.” He gestured to a green rubber pair sitting next to the back door, under the small overhang.