Copycat Killing: A Magical Cats Mystery by Sofie Kelly

               This series just keeps getting better.  Thanks to a very warm day, I was able to read this book in probably under twenty-four hours.  All I wanted to do that day was read.  Then, the more I read, the more all I wanted to do was read.  It’s nice to know that far too warm days are good for something.

                Kathleen Paulson has a really great talent for finding bodies.  This time she finds two (three, if you count the not-so dead rat).  First is a body from long ago.  She finds it when the ground breaks away beneath her because of the excessive rain her town has been having.  Despite the amount of time the body has been buried, it is quickly identified by the ring it is wearing.  The ring belonged to the father of one of Kathleen’s friends, Roma.  He is a man everyone thought had walked out on Roma and her mother years ago, and intentionally never seen again.

                Second, is the artist Jaeger Merrill.  A man who wants to change how the artist co-op runs, Jaeger is found floating and drowned in the co-op’s flooded basement.  With her friend Maggie, who was with Kathleen when she found the body, constantly being questioned, and Roma in destress, Kathleen knows she’s not going to be able to keep herself out of either investigation.  It does not matter how much the man she’s interested in wants her to.

                Not that Detective Marcus Gordon truly believes he’s going stop Kathleen from doing what she wants to do.  By now he has figured out that no matter what he says, Kathleen is going to investigate anyways.  This doesn’t prevent him from telling her not to, however.  Despite Kathleen’s determination to solve the case, her becoming closer with Marcus has led Kathleen to change the way she investigates.  When she finds an interesting clue, Kathleen no longer keeps it to herself, most of the time.  Instead, she calls Marcus and lets him know what she has found. 

This does not mean everything between Kathleen and Marcus is perfect, though.  His questioning of her friends and style of interrogation still rubs Kathleen the wrong way.  Her friends always tell her Marcus is only doing is job, but that does not make her feel any better.  They also regularly tell her she should go out with Marcus, forcing Kathleen to deal with feelings she would rather fight.  At least that is what she tells herself.

I really like how the relationship between Kathleen and Marcus is developing.  It is going slowly with both of them figuring out who the other is without losing themselves.  Nothing is rushed, which I think will make for a stronger relationship in the long run.  I am curious, however, to see what would happen to the relationship if Kathleen ever told Marcus about her cats.  So far, she has not told anyone about their magical abilities.  She especially has not told anyone how they use their abilities to help her solve cases.  I don’t know if Kathleen will ever tell Marcus or anyone else about her cats.  If she were to, though, it would be very interesting to see what their reactions would be.