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Our Bookshop Store is Up!

We finally have our Bookshop store up! It’s a work in progress, and I’m constantly adding new books I find or remember, but it’s finally up and running. If you like print books, please consider buying through our page there. All proceeds go back to the organization since we are a nonprofit. For readers who prefer audiobooks and ebooks, we will be setting up our partnerships with audiobook and ebook companies soon as well.

Also, since we are now a nonprofit, this website will soon be shifting over to MyCatJeoffryBooks.org. This site will soon re-direct there.

We are hoping to open in brick and mortar form in Spring 2021. We will definitely keep you posted!

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THE FRIEND by Sigrid Nunez

I recently listened to the audio book version of this novel, after it won the 2018 National Book Award for fiction. It was billed as a book about a woman mourning the loss of her friend to suicide by caring for his Great Dane, whom she inherits. I often read big book award winners, as I am curious, but this book held more appeal than usual to me because of the dog connection, of course.

But I didn’t find it to be much about the dog at all, or the woman’s relationship with the dog. That’s fine, of course – not every book has to be about a dog – but this was the way it was marketed. Hence, the cover. Instead the book seemed mainly to be a meditation on MFA programs and the kinds of people they employ and produce; at least of a certain generation. The woman is an instructor in one such program in New York, the man who committed suicide, her former professor, whom she remained friends with. The man was a celebrated writer and a huge womanizer who played women against each other and who seemed to believe himself superior to others, especially his female students. I had a hard – actually impossible- time relating to this woman and her love for this immensely unlikable man. I couldn’t bring myself to care about him as a character, and, hence, for her, for even liking him. She never made me understand why I should be sorry that this man had killed himself.

Hard as I tried, I just couldn’t relate to the main character at all. Maybe it was the tone of the audio book’s narrator (Hillary Huber), but the character, and, hence, the author, just came across as so superior, so condescending to her readers, and so judgmental of her characters. And just out of touch with the world, and lacking in reason. At one point, she is in a cafe and she sees a young woman with a therapy dog and she ridicules the woman for having a dog with only three legs. She never explains why a tripod can’t be a therapy dog; she just assumes everyone’s as devoid of sense as she.

I found her behavior throughout inexplicable. For example, she goes to great lengths to keep the dog in her apartment, which has a strict no pet policy. She thus risks losing a rent-stabilized apartment, which as anyone who’s ever lived in New York City well knows, is often the only way anyone with less than a seven-figure salary can live there. I never really understood why she did this because she didn’t seem to much like the dog. I guess she just couldn’t bear the thought of disobeying the wishes of the condescending womanizer.

To me, the best parts of the book were discussions of other writings on grief. I took note of many of the works she talks about and I may even consult a print copy of the book for those alone. For me, this book did not add anything to that literature.

Last weekend I went to the Tucson Festival of Books and Nunez was supposed to be on a couple of the panels, which I planned to attend. I often get more out of a work when I hear a writer speak about it. Unfortunately, her flight was grounded due to NY weather. But I am always willing to listen to different viewpoints, so if anyone really liked this book, please do tell!

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Cruel Candy: A Cozy Corgi Mystery, Book 1

Sofia poses with our copy of the book’s Kindle edition.

We received a recommendation of this book from Amazon, who seemed to know just what we needed right now: a cute cozy mystery featuring an endearing animal co-sleuth 🙂 Cruel Candy is the first of many books in Mildred Abbott’s Cozy Corgi series.

Main character, 38-year-old Fred (short for Winifred), has just inherited a Main Street shop in the small mountain town of Estes Park, Colorado. After a failed business partnership in Pennsylvania, Fred decides to pack up and move cross-country, with her delightfully smart corgi, Watson, to open a mystery bookstore in her new space. Upon inspecting her new digs, Fred meets two eccentric sisters, one of whom owns a candy shop, the other a health food store, on each side of the soon-to-be bookstore. One sister is sweet, the other not so much so, and openly expresses her anger that Fred is taking over the space she had so wanted. Of course later that night, Fred finds the latter dead in an upstairs room of her own store, having been hit over the head with a rolling pin. The mean sister had made enemies with practically everyone, leaving a town full of suspects. But when police begin to suspect Fred’s beloved stepfather, it’s up to Fred to figure out which enemy is the killer.

This is a fun, quickly-paced whodunnit with endearing, relatable sleuths (both dog and human), packed with interesting, quirky townspeople. Abbott creates such a strong setting, I really felt like I was there, and her characters were so well-drawn, I felt like I knew them. I did foresee who the killer would be, but it was still a lot of fun watching Fred and Watson catch the culprit. But most importantly for a cozy mystery series – or any kind of series – I enjoyed spending time in the world Abbott deftly created and will look forward to devouring all of the books in the series.

As an end note: I’m pretty sure this book was self-published since it was featured on Kindle Unlimited and I couldn’t find a traditional publisher’s imprint. Many romance novels these days are self-published, and other genres and subgenres (such as cozy mysteries) are going that way too, since traditional publishers supposedly can’t make enough money on them (this was one big takeaway from the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention earlier this year, and what I’ve heard several agents and editors say). I think in the future indie bookstore owners and librarians are going to be curating self-published books themselves if they want to maintain certain collections. So, imho, I found this book to be very well-written and entertaining and I think the series would make a nice addition to a mystery collection.

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Review of JANE DOE, by Victoria Helen Stone

Neither of our silly cats was in the mood to do book poses tonight, so it was sister Sofia to the rescue, even though this book features a cat character 🙂

We got this book as an Advance Reader’s Copy at the RT Booklovers Convention in Reno, which we just returned from and which was, as always, wonderful! The book will publish on August 1, 2018.

We packed this one in our carry-on and are so glad we did; we couldn’t put it down. It’s the story of a woman named Jane who has recently lost someone very dear to her. She knows who is responsible and is hell-bent on getting revenge, however she can.

Jane keeps calling herself a sociopath, and we have to say, she is the most relatable sociopath we’ve ever encountered! As the book goes on, we found ourselves so engrossed in her story, and really rooting for her. At the same time she is plotting revenge, she meets a guy, and adopts a cat, which, of course, we loved 🙂 And they kind of pull her back into life and help her overcome her pain.

JANE DOE is a really suspenseful page-turner with an engaging main character and strong secondary characters. We give it five bonito flakes!

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Review of SUSPECT, by Robert Crais

With so many dog lovers and so many readers of crime novels, we find it strange that there aren’t more K-9 mysteries out there. Why?

Well, we were thrilled to find this one – SUSPECT by Robert Crais, which we originally found as an Audible daily deal, then loved it so much we bought the hardcover. It’s the story of Scott, a detective, and his K-9 partner, Maggie, a German shepherd who served multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and who has now retired from Marine service. Both Scott and Maggie lost their former partners – Scott’s Stephanie was killed in a shoot-out, in which he nearly died as well – and Maggie’s Pete was shot by an IED sniper. The book begins with that attack, in Afghanistan. It’s an excruciating scene and I felt so much compassion for Maggie as she stood over Pete barking and whelping, doing everything she could to protect him, not to let him be taken away by medical helicopter, even though it was clear he was gone. The snipers start shooting at her as well, so she must be flown away to safety too.

At the beginning of their partnership, both Scott and Maggie are, understandably, suffering from PTSD. These are my favorite novels, where animal and human heal each other. It helps that there’s a great, page-turning suspense at the same time! Which is why we want more K-9 mysteries… Anyway, when Scott returns to his job and begins K-9 training, he spots Maggie from afar. He is supposed to be assigned a Belgian Malinois, but there is something about this German Shepherd that he connects to, he senses they share something, and he begs his Lieutenant, the wonderful, hard-exteriored but softy-at-heart Leland, to give him a chance with Maggie. Leland explains that Maggie is too afraid of loud noises to be a sufficient member of the force, and she is about to be returned; Scott is her last chance. So, Scott has his challenges cut out for him.

And of course he succeeds. What I loved was watching him train her, get her to overcome her fears. And she helps him in return. I also loved that Crais delves so deeply into his characters’ psyches, including Maggie’s. He details her progress from knowing Scott first as a guy who’s nice to her, then a real companion, and finally to her pack leader, just as Pete once was. The shoot-out that got Stephanie killed is the subject of their investigation, as the crime still hasn’t been solved. This is both a page-turning suspense and a detailed character study, and we can’t wait for more. There’s one more book involving Scott and Maggie – The Promise – though it appears to feature mainly Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, the stars of Crais’ two main mystery series. I will definitely read it. But more Scott and Maggie, please, Mr. Crais!

And, if anyone finds any other good K-9 mysteries, please let us know!

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Review of CAT AMONG THE PUMPKINS, by Mandy Morton

We’ve been reading a lot of cat cozies lately, and this is a quite original addition to our collection!

The original “cat mysteries” – written by Lilian Jackson Braun and Rita Mae Brown – involved cats as sleuths themselves, at least to an extent. Braun’s cats help their human solve the crime by giving him clues, while Brown’s cats – and other animals – actually speak to each other (though humans can’t understand them), have strong, memorable personalities, and take a very active part in solving the crimes. We personally like Brown’s Sneaky Pie series the best because we like when the animals are memorable and have main roles. It seems like most cat mysteries published lately feature cats mainly as props; they’re really not even characters. Everyone knows cats are darn smart and make excellent sleuths so we’re not sure what that’s about…

Anyway,  Mandy Morton‘s No. 2 Feline Detective Agency series is a welcome deviation from that. In this series, there are only cats; no humans and no other animals. Since the cats alone are the sleuths, they are obviously anthropomorphized. That may confuse some readers. But we find it fun!

In Cat Among Pumpkins, the second book in the series, Hettie Bagshot, a former musician, runs the agency, along with her trusty sidekick, Tilly Jenkins, an arthritic older tabby whom Hettie took in. Later, an aging outdoor tomcat named Bruiser – our favorite! – shows up tired and weary of the outdoors (though too proud to outright admit it). They let him stay in the shed out back and give him a role as driver of the motorcycle-with-sidecar, in which they do their sleuthing. These cats are all drawn so well. Hettie has a little catnip-smoking habit, while Tilly enjoys her tea 🙂

Oh, we should mention that Morton is British and the books are set in England and full of English flavor, which we loved. There’s a Guy Fawkes day celebration that the town is preparing for, and the riverside towns have Stratford-upon-Avon-type names such as Much-Purring-on-the-Rug, Much-Purring-on-the-Chair, and the like. There’s an Indian family – the Doshes – who run a store chain. The mother, Pakora, desperately wants her son, Balti, to learn to run the business, but Balti wants to play sitar professionally – and he’s quite good at it, according to musician Hettie. We enjoyed the camaraderie between Hettie and Balti.

When Mavis Spitforce, who is researching an old, unsolved mass murder, is found dead with her research papers torn up and stuffed into her mouth, Hettie and Tilly must delve back into the cold case to find the killer. Along the way, they come across a good deal of very colorful suspects. Details bring the town and its inhabitants to life and the mystery is well-paced and plotted. We did not figure it all out until the very end. But, as always for us, it’s all about the main characters. They drive the story. And we definitely want to spend more time with Hettie, Tilly, and Bruiser!

Four delicious bonito flakes!

(Above pic is of our sis, Rhea, with the book.)

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Sneaky Pie Brown Rules!

We are major, major fans of Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown in this household! Sofia poses with the very first in the Sneaky Pie series, Wish You Were Here. The best cozy mystery / cat mystery writer around, in our humble opinion. Brown’s cats – Mrs. Murphy and Pewter – and dog, Tucker, are all so smart and their personalities really shine through. And, most importantly, they help their human solve the crimes. So often, with the current crop of cat mysteries, the cats just sit around looking cute. They have a very minor, if any role. Cats are smart! Use them, mystery writers!

Anyway, our human is working on just such a cat mystery. And, inspired by Sneaky Pie’s Tucker, and our own dear little dog, Sofia, she has decided to add a dog sleuth 🙂

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Review of DOG CRAZY, by Meg Donohue

We found this wonderful gem used at one of our favorite bookstores, Changing Hands. Where would we be without our indie bookstores???

The cover kind of makes the novel look like cute chick lit, but it is so much deeper and more serious and it contains some of the most beautiful, visceral evocations of dog / human love and what it’s like to lose a beloved pet. Donohue has an MFA from Columbia and a BA in comparative literature from Dartmouth and it shows.

Maggie is a young psychologist specializing in pet bereavement. She’s just taken the plunge and relocated from her Philadelphia hometown to San Francisco to open her new practice when her beloved dog, Toby, is stricken with cancer and dies. She’s so traumatized that she ends up an agoraphobe (like her mother), unable to leave her house. One of her new clients is Anya, whose brother has hired Maggie to help his sister overcome the loss of her dog. Anya’s dropped out of school and lost her job over her trauma. Problem is, Anya doesn’t want to overcome her dog’s death because she believes her dog is still alive but has been kidnapped. No one in Anya’s family believes her and Maggie is unsure whether the dog is still alive but is compelled by Anya’s deep convictions to help her search. In order to do that, she, of course, must go out of her home, which she does initially with the help of her friend’s therapy dog, Giselle, then with the help of Anya.

The story is part mystery – is Anya’s dog still alive?, part story of friendship between the two young women, and part psychological journey to mental wellness. You just know Maggie will end up with one of the many dogs she helps along her journey – from the stray, to the rescue with behavioral problems preventing his adoption, to Giselle the therapy dog – and you’re rooting for her to take one into her home and love him like she did Toby.

It’s a wonderful book particularly for anyone suffering the loss of a pet who needs to know they are far from alone.

Sofia, our dog, poses with the book, and she gives it five scrumptious bonito flakes!

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Review of PURR M FOR MURDER, BY T.C. LoTempio

Purr M For Murder is a really sweet cozy mystery and is the first, that I know of anyway, that is set in a cat cafe! We would so love to open our own cat cafe someday, so we were overjoyed when we saw the back-cover blurb on this one!

It’s actually set in a Deer Park, North Carolina cat rescue called Friendly Paws, which is owned by sleuth Sydney’s sister, Kat, but in order to raise funds for the rescue, the sisters organize a cat event in a local cafe (which is how the current craze of cat cafes in the U.S. began :)) Well, everyone in the small town is super excited for the cat cafe event, thinking it’s a fabulous idea for a fundraiser – which of course it is – except for Kat’s landlord, Trowbridge Littleton (what a great name!), who promises to do everything he can to keep the event from happening. He also owns an art gallery down the street, and, when Sydney shows up there to try to convince him to reconsider, she finds Kat already there, along with Trowbridge’s dead body. Sydney now has to prove her sister’s innocence and find the real killer. Of course Trowbridge is not very liked among the townspeople, so there are lots of possibilities for who the real killer is, and LoTempio keeps us guessing until the end.

I found all of the characters delightful, as well as the well-described setting, and Sydney is a savvy, endearing sleuth you really want to root for. What I always love about cat or dog mysteries, though, is watching the animal help solve the crime. Here, an orange tabby named Toby performs that function quite well. Toby is a bit of a wandering tom whose ways leads him to see certain things, making him very helpful to the woman whom it seems will become his chosen human, sleuth Sydney.

This is a fun cat cozy and only the first in what I hope will become a long series. Five delicious bonito flakes!

Above sister Katusha checks out our copy of the book, which we found at the Scottsdale Civic Library’s little Friends of the Library bookstore.