Curiosity Thrilled the Cat: A Magical Cats Mystery by Sofie Kelly

               When I saw the Magical Cats Mystery series in the back of another book, I did not know how I could resist at least giving it a try.  Magic and cats, for me what’s not to love?  So I began to read the first book in the series, and was surprised to find that instead of feeling I was discovering something entirely new, I found myself feeling as though I had read this book before.  So many things were familiar.  A lot of the characters, and even the situation the main character was in, I felt I already knew.  Fortunately, the familiarity did not leave me with knowing who the culprit was, so I could still enjoy the book, but it did have me wondering why I did not continue with the series the first time around.  Of course, there could be many reasons for this, including at the time there was only one book to read, but I spent a good deal of time wracking my brain as to why I may have put this series aside in the past.  I still don’t know the answer to this, but I am glad to say I have rediscovered this series now.    

                After her fiancé met and married someone else within a week, Kathleen Paulson decided to leave her Boston life behind and take a job leading a library renovation in the small town of Mayville Heights, Minnesota.  It is not long upon her arrival that Kathleen finds herself with two cats to take care of.  They followed her home and Kathleen decided to keep them, not knowing the little quirks that came with them.

                Those quirks are that both cats have a tendency to appear and reappear when Kathleen least expects it.  One of the cats does that literally, while the other can walk through doors.  These skills lead to some antics by the cats that only get Kathleen into trouble.  One even leads to Kathleen being a suspect in a murder.

                It should probably not come as too much of a surprise that the guest artist of the Wild Rose Summer Music Festival was not too pleased when Kathleen’s cat, Owen, jumped on his head.  Gregor Easton was already a difficult man.  To have a cat jump on his head only made things worse.  Which is why, with this past event between them, Kathleen becomes a suspect in his murder.  The fact that she was the one who found the body, makes Kathleen look even more suspicious to the police.  Determined to settle into her new life, Kathleen will do whatever it takes to clear her name. 

If trying to prove her innocence wasn’t enough of a burden, Kathleen must also deal with renovations that aren’t going as planned.  With delays and strange accidents regularly occurring, Kathleen is forced to wonder if someone is out to get her too.

                Since I so strongly felt that I had read this book before, I found myself frequently concentrating on the little bits that where familiar to me.  This may be why I got through the book so quickly, because I did not have to learn as much about the characters as I do when reading a series I have never read before.  It will be interesting, though, to see how quickly I read the following books, because, to my recollection, I have never read them.  But I didn’t remember reading this one either, so you never know.  Maybe I will find those books are familiar to me as well.