A Twist in the Tail by Leighann Dobbs

Josie Waters has purchased the Oyster Cove Guesthouse from her mother’s friend Millie. The guesthouse is dilapidated and needs repairs. Josie currently has five guests staying there and she’s finding it tough to cater to their needs. Take Charles for example, the man is grumpy and complains that the soft-boiled eggs aren’t warm enough. With a warm egg in a cup, Josie searches for Charles but he’s nowhere to be seen. The two cats that Josie had to adopt (they came with the Guesthouse) are screeching on top of their voices.

Meow!

Meresss!

Meroop!

The cats are in the cordoned off area of the mansion and seem to be disturbed about something. Or, wanting attention perhaps, as most of the cats do! Josie walks in to see the basement door open. And down below is Charles, dead as a rat.

I am a cat lover! I love dogs too but not as much as I love furry felines! Cats are intelligent, bossy, stubborn, smart… in brief, cats are superior beings!  Give me any story with a cat in it and I will read it. If the story is written by a cat, even better! Cats do write stories, right?

A Twist in the Tail is about a divorcee named Josie and two cats named Nero and Marlowe. Nero being in his sixth life is mentoring Marlowe. The felines are not very fond of their new servant – Josie. How dare she treats them as cats, especially when they own the guesthouse! Hah! Nero and Marlowe are intelligent. It’s a shame that human beings don’t understand cats- their words, not mine!

A Twist in the Tail is the first book in The Oyster Cove Guesthouse series. As it is the case in any debut series, the story concentrates more on the introduction of characters (cats included!) Josie is a divorcee; she was married to a chef but doesn’t know to cook. She almost burns the breakfast every day and her muffins are as dry as a sponge! Her high school crush – Mike – is currently involved in repairing the guesthouse and he wants to ‘rekindle’ their romance. Josie isn’t very sure about falling in love right now. With Barbara the health inspector being a pain in the backside and Josie spending most of her savings on renovations, she has no time for love.

Nero and Marlowe seem to dislike their new servant owner. They purr that she doesn’t understand them. When Millie says cats are ‘superior beings’ and need to be treated like one, Josie turns sarcastic. Like cats don’t understand sarcasm! When Charlie is found dead in the basement, the cats help the police in finding the murder weapon. But why was he killed? Josie must clear her name, after all, the local police, Seth, treats her like a suspect.

So off goes Josie poking her nose where it doesn’t belong. The cats trot along, putting their paws where it belongs. They tail their suspects – humans think it is just an innocent looking cat trotting along but in reality, they have their lime-green eyes set on their ‘suspects’. Meress!

There are two POV characters in this story. One is Josie and the other are the cats – so three POVs?? The cats tut-tut, sorry, meow-purr on Josie’s lack of detective skills. Meroop! Overall, the story was enjoyable and entertaining. There wasn’t much of sleuthing going on. Josie is so desperate to clear her name that she makes a lot of mistakes. Giving this a second thought, Josie’s ‘mistakes’ can be considered as red herrings.

Anjana says she guessed the identity of the killer long before Josie could. I was so engrossed in reading about the cats and their antics that I didn’t really concentrate on the identity of the killer – well, that’s Josie’s job right? not mine! But I have to agree with Anjana about the perp. As the story ended, I felt this was more like an inverted mystery (of sorts). Meroop! You can read Anjana’s review here.

There is no doubt that Leighann Dobbs is a cat lover. Why so? So many tidbits about cats and their behavior throughout the story…

It was a constant chore to keep the cats away from the computer. Apparently, they liked electronic devices, because they seemed to be taking turns either walking or laying on the keyboard and sitting behind the computer with their tails swishing on the screen.

This is exactly what kitty does at home. Laptop or PC, she sits on the keyboard or blocks the screen. I try to shoo her off and she shows me her paws, with her claws drawn out!!

“Maybe we should sleep in the bed with her tonight?” Nero tried to keep from quaking as another thunderclap boomed. “I mean for her comfort, of course, not for ours.”

“We can try.”

“Though, of course, you know what we must do,” Nero said.

“Of course. Try to sleep on her head and then only after she has shoved us away twenty-five times can we curl up beside her, but we must take up sizable amount of space on the bed.” Marlowe repeated what Nero had instructed her of early on.

Well, the above conversation between the cats says it all, doesn’t it?

If you are a cat lover then you must read this book! The book ends with what I think is a sneak peek into the next story in this series. Also, the cats are up to something again and they make a vague statement about a shock that Josie’s going to receive soon. Uh huh! Meress! I am looking forward to reading more of Nero and Marlowe’s adventures. 😀

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Thank you, Bookouture, for the ARC.