The Time for Murder is Meow
Crishell “Shell” McMillan sees the cancellation of her TV series as a blessing in disguise. The former actress can now take over her late aunt’s pet shop, the Purr N’ Bark, and do something she loves.
While getting the shop ready for re-opening, Shell is asked to loan her aunt’s Cary Grant posters to the local museum for an exhibit. She finds the prospect exciting, until a museum board member, who had a long-standing feud with Shell’s aunt, votes against it. When she discovers the board member dead in the museum, Shell becomes suspect number one. Can she, her Siamese cat Kahlua, and her new sidekick, her aunt’s Persian, Purrday, find the real culprit, or will her latest career go up in kitty litter?
Series: A Purr N Bark Pet Shop Mystery – Book #1
Author: T. C. LoTempio
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Pet Shop
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Page Count: 312
Rating: 
A new cozy series “A Purr N Bark Pet Shop Mystery” written by T. C. LoTempio, The Time for Murder is Meow will have readers clamoring for more. It is a dynamic fluid read that will keep readers guessing and happy.
Shell has had enough of Hollywood; it’s time for something different. Although she mourns the death of her aunt, her inheritance is a boon. She loves animals, and running a pet shop is right up her alley. Shell is enthusiastic and can’t wait to get started. Unfortunately, a woman she was seen and heard arguing with is killed, and she becomes the number one suspect. Shell is at an age when a person begins to think of the future more often. She is beautiful but not arrogant, intelligent, but not full of herself. Readers will enjoy learning and growing with her as she begins a new life and sets out to catch a killer.
She makes new friends and brings along an old one on her adventure into a new life. She also gets a few people very angry and upset. Readers will like Shell, Gary, and the gang, mostly the animals, immediately. They will cheer them as they dig into the murder of a person no one liked, and everyone had a reason to want dead.
The cast of characters are fun; they each add something to the story and keep readers entertained. The two cats take center stage several times, endearing themselves to the audience for what will hopefully be years to come. Characters, with fur and without, evolve over several books in any new cozy series, but most of the cast of The Time for Murder is Meow is already well-developed and have fascinating personalities, including the animals. The writing is good, easy to follow, and the plot stays true. Some of the less exciting details slow it down slightly. I am happy to recommend this new cozy mystery series.
Other animal cozy series readers will enjoy are “A Kitty Couture Mystery” by author Julie Chase or Krista Davis’ endearing “A Paws & Claws Mystery” series.
About the Author:
While Toni LoTempio does not commit, or solve, murders in real life, she has no trouble doing it on paper. Her lifelong love of mysteries began early in life when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew mystery at age 10, “The Secret in the Old Attic.” She (and Rocco, albeit he’s uncredited) pen the Nick and Nora mystery series, and the Cat Rescue mysteries. She, Rocco, and Maxx make their home in Clifton, New Jersey, just twenty minutes from the Big Apple.
Represented by: Josh Getzler at the HSG Agency
Contact Toni: https://www.tclotempio.net/contact
Find Toni on Social Media:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/toni.lotempio.5
Twitter – https://twitter.com/RoccoBlogger
Contact The Cozy Review
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