Review & Giveaway: DIAL M FOR MEOW by Ruth J. Hartman

As a bookwom and a confessed fan of almost all things furry, I was happy for the chance to read Dial M for Meow, a recent release by Ruth J. Hartman, and the first book in the new Bookshop Kitties Mysteries.

About the Book

When children’s book author, Christy Bailey, receives a call from her aunt Betty to help out at her bookshop, she drops everything to go. Christy packs up her two cats—Milton and Pearl, the stars of her children’s mystery books—and leaves busy Philadelphia for tiny Green Meadow, Indiana. The timing of the call is perfect, as Christy’s letch of an ex-boyfriend has just cleaned out her savings, leaving Christy with a pile of unpaid bills and a desire to start over. And what better place to do that than a charming small town in Middle America?

But when Christy reaches her aunt’s bookshop, instead of small town hospitality she finds a dead body! Even worse, her aunt is passed out in the corner, hands covered in blood. The dead woman is an old frenemy of her Aunt Betty, and while Christy knows her aunt is innocent, the local detective isn’t so sure. With Milton and Pearl prowling for clues, Christy is determined to find the real killer and clear her aunt’s name… before her story ends in tragedy!

My Review

Christy has only just arrived when a body is found in her aunt’s apartment. Predictably, she is determined to provide her Aunt’s innocence. In the course of her investigative efforts, she becomes acquainted (in some cases reacquainted) with the key players in the small town. Christy is strong willed and decidedly enamored of her real-life cats, who happen to star in her children’s books as well. With the help of friends, she discovers several persons who were quite happy to see Nan dead and buried, suspense builds, and the identify of the killer remains a mystery until almost the very end.

Overall, the story is well written. I loved the cats and their antics, but I think some of the cat-centered narrative could have been trimmed down to focus more on the mystery and its human characters and improve the overall place and flow of the book.

Cat lovers will particularly enjoy the personalities of Milton and Pearl, playful kittens who do their part in bringing the culprit to justice in what I found to be an enjoyable mystery.

FTC disclosure: I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher. This has not affected the content of my review.

Giveaway

Enter a rafflecopter for your chance to win one of four copies of Dial M for Meow from the author.

About the Author

Ruth J. Hartman spends her days herding cats and her nights spinning mysterious tales. She, her husband, and their cats love to spend time curled up in their recliners watching old Cary Grant movies. Well, the cats sit in the people’s recliners. Not that the cats couldn’t get their own furniture. They just choose to shed on someone else’s.

Ruth, a left-handed, cat-herding, farmhouse-dwelling writer uses her sense of humor as she writes tales of lovable, klutzy women who seem to find trouble without even trying.

Ruth’s husband and best friend, Garry, reads her manuscripts, rolls his eyes at her weird story ideas, and loves her despite her insistence all of her books have at least one cat in them. See updates about her cozy mysteries at Ruthjhartman.com.

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