FUR LOVE OR MONEY

The owner of a secondhand furniture shop in Maine probes the murder of a grifter.

The author of the Second Chance Cat Mysteries doesn’t seem to know much about felines. Her story begins with the owner of Second Chance, Sarah Grayson, listening to her friend Rose Jackson crowing about how “it’s impossible to take a bad picture of Elvis,” Sarah’s sleek black rescue cat. Black cats are so notoriously hard to get good pictures of that most photographers won’t even try. Later on, Sarah’s friends reward Elvis with treats like sardine crackers, though much human food is terrible and sometimes dangerous for cats. But Ryan’s main problem isn’t cats but people. She jams her story with characters but doesn’t always explain how they’re connected. Mac seems to be Sarah’s boyfriend, but who knows? Rose and her friend Alfred Peterson are private investigators, but it’s not clear how Sarah knows them. Nor is it clear how she knows Liz French, whom Sarah describes as one of her favorite people in the world. It’s out of love for Liz that Sarah agrees to investigate the murder of Ian Stone, who faked his death several years back after his Ponzi scheme was uncovered. When Ashley Clark’s dog, Casey, finds Ian’s body in the storm cellar of a cottage belonging to Channing Caulfield, Liz asks Sarah to investigate, lest Channing be blamed. Sarah’s childhood friend Michelle Andrews, a police detective, warns Sarah that civilian sleuthing can be dangerous. Sarah ignores her counsel, with predictable results.

Though sometimes confusing, Ryan’s tale is mostly anodyne, unless readers follow her advice about what to feed cats.