Not a Creature Was Purring

So many suspects, so many logical motives amidst so many holiday doings (with yummy holiday recipes included) make for a can’t put down til the surprise ending.

Christmastime in Wagtail is a wonderful time and place for a celebration. The town of Wagtail, Virgina is a pet-friendly destination where people are encouraged to bring their pets with them on vacation. This year the town is celebrating the holidays with a Christkindl Market. There are kiosks set up all around the town green. Visitors can purchase decorations, food, and pet items such as clothes. The tSugar Maple Inn joins in and sponsor’s one of the kiosks in which not only are they selling items from the Sugar Maple Inn but they have a line of Holiday Pet Clothes from The Thackleberry Clothing Line. The Thackleberrys family has decided to spend their Christmas at the Sugar Maple Inn. Once the family arrives Holly finds out they are there to celebrate not only Christmas but the engagement of Norma Jeane to Holmes Richardson. Holmes is Holly’s childhood best friend which she secretly loves (well secret to Holmes). The Thackleberry’s family is a little on the crazy side. There are a few good souls but the majority are loud snobby and vain individuals that are very self-absorbed. One of the good souls is the family patriarch Dale, who seems to be at the end of his rope with the family’s antics. Not long after they arrive Dale goes missing; only to be found later by Holly and Trixie (Holly’s Jack Russell Terrier) stabbed to death. Holly is trying to hold everything together at the inn, be supportive to Holmes and his engagement, as well as help, find out who the murder is but she is having a really had time with her own feeling about this family.

This is book number 5 in the Paws and Claws Mystery series. I really love this series and could not wait to read this book. I was not disappointed. I really love the setting, I wish Wagtail was a real place that I could on vacation and take my own fur babies. Sugar Maple Inn sound like a wonderful place to stay and Wagtail sounds gorgeous and picturesque. The characters are very well developed, I feel like I’m reading about old friends. The pets Twinkletoes, Gingersnap, and Trixie remind me of my own pets. The relationships between the human characters keep evolving and become more complex as the series evolves. Mrs. Davis does a fabulous job weaving together the murder mystery and the mystery of the love triangle. She provides plenty of suspects with enough twists and turns for the reader to enjoy trying to solve the murder. She also does an excellent job not dragging out the love triangle; this secondary plot in the story is very well paced to go along with the murder mystery. As bonus recipes for both pet and humans are included.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Christmas cozy mysteries and animal cozy lovers alike. I was provided with a copy of this book with the hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.