Nine Lives and Alibis - Cat Cafe Mystery #7

 

Nine Lives and Alibis is the 7th book in Cate Conte's cozy Cat Cafe mystery series. Released 22nd Aug 2023 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links which make navigation easy.

This is a lighthearted small-town cozy full of whimsy, a haunted inn, and eccentric small-town characters set on a fictive island off the coast of Massachusetts, near Salem. A famous psychic is coming to town to do readings in the local inn for Halloween, and main character Maddie (and her cat JJ) are soon drawn into sleuthing yet again when Balfour the psychic is found at the bottom of the treacherous cliffs and his famous black cat has gone missing.

The pacing and narrative are competent and readable, and although this is the 7th book in the series, it works well enough as a standalone. There are some relationships and developments which will slightly spoil earlier books in the series if read out of order, but not egregiously so. The dialogue is glib and slightly unnatural occasionally but nothing which will yank readers out of the story (much). The resolution and denouement are complete and mostly satisfying albeit outlandish.

Four stars. This is a very light and easy cozy and is both entertaining and diverting, and that's pretty much the point of small town cozies. With 7 books extant and an 8th due out in Aug 2024, it would make a great binge or buddy read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.