Claw & Disorder (A Cat Groomer Mystery, Book 5)
Claw & Disorder
(A Cat Groomer Mystery)
by Eileen Watkins
Buy from Amazon
ISBN: B087Z2XMW2
(Kindle)
ISBN-10: 1496722981
ISBN-13: 978-1496722980
Summary
Expert groomer Cassie McGlone knows how to handle even the feistiest felines, but dealing with their owners can be a different story!
Around the small town of Chadwick, New Jersey, two very different families request her help. Wealthy perfectionist Gillian Foster is overseeing the restoration of her family's early-American home, meanwhile boarding her purebred Himalayan at Cassie's Comfy Cats. Meanwhile, the elderly Tillmans have become overwhelmed, in their run-down ranch house, by hoarding both cats and memorabilia from past decades. Mutual friends hope Cassie can persuade the couple to surrender at least some of their pets to a no-kill shelter.
When Mrs. Tillman is mysteriously asphyxiated in the night, suspicion falls on her absent-minded husband...and/or their cats. Meanwhile, the Fosters host a luncheon for the county historical society, to showcase their renovations; when one guest falls gravely ill, high-strung Gillian believes someone is out to get her. Cassie also suspects foul play, though, in both situations. Can she help these two troubled households get themselves in order, before disaster pounces again?
What Reviewers Are Saying
"Unlike in similar cozies, the cats don't solve the crimes, and Watkins gives plenty of attention to her appealing cast of diverse human characters. Cat and mystery lovers alike will be charmed."
—Publishers Weekly
"If you are a fan of this series already, you know Watkins has a knack of drawing the reader into the story, and you feel like you are right there in the middle of it all... Cassie and her life are made so interesting that readers again fall instantly in love with her. They will be rooting for her to solve the crime and bring justice to the wronged party!"
—Cozy Mystery Book Reviews
Novel Excerpt
The historical society board members and the Fosters all had drifted into the front hall to ask what was going on. Jack Dugan helped Adele, her linen clothes showing wrinkles now, out of the restroom. She looked ready to pass out at any minute.
Grim-faced, Donald Foster pulled out his phone. “I’ll call nine-one-one.”
Dugan didn’t argue, and only asked, “Can someone get her a glass of water?”
Whitney Foster, who had made herself scarce for most of the afternoon, heard this request and ran to fill it. Adele drank the tumbler of water slowly, with some effort.
A few minutes later, Officers Mel Jacoby and Steve Baylock of the Chadwick PD arrived. They checked on Adele and questioned us about her attack.
“She has pretty serious celiac disease,” Jack told them. “This happens sometimes, when she accidentally eats the wrong thing.”
“Any idea what could have made her sick?” Baylock asked.
“She was being careful, she ate hardly anything,” Gillian said.
Eyelids drooping, Adele told them, “Just . . . the dish with the peas.”
Jacoby said they’d need to take samples of some of the food. Gillian sent her maid into the kitchen to fetch a few small containers they could use.
Meanwhile, an ambulance rolled up outside. Two EMTs tramped in, gave Adele a quick look-over and put her on a gurney. Her husband went with her. She was whisked away with sirens in full cry. The two cops finished taking short statements and contact information from the rest of us; then they also left.
“You had some of that pudding, too, didn’t you?” Donald Foster asked his wife.
“Yes, but only a little.” Gillian’s shell-shocked face made me actually feel sorry for her. Despite her efforts to control all of the variables at her reception, something had gone very wrong. A key member of the Chadwick Historical Society had eaten something that, in effect, had poisoned her. Gillian had been so meticulous, though, that I couldn’t imagine how such an accident could have happened.
Unless it hadn’t been an accident . . .
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