Murder by Death

This was, generally, a good read and a better-than-average cozy.  Heaven knows I needed something light-hearted after my last read - a literary sorbet and Tailing a Tabby was certainly that.  Likeable characters, an awesome cat with realistic, cat-like powers of condescension, a quaint setting and a pretty decent plot made the book go quickly, although I can't say I was engrossed or invested.

My complaints are small, really.  Minnie is driving the bookmobile back to the library when a woman runs out into the road and flags her down, begging for help for her husband who has just had a stroke.  She helps them get to the ER and a bond is (understandably) formed between Minnie and the couple.  Less than two weeks later, the man is found hunched over the body of a murder victim, and he's arrested.  He's innocent, of course, and Minnie must clear him.

This couple lives out in the middle of back-country Michigan in a house without a landline and sketchy, spotty cellular coverage.  I live in a house without a landline but I live in a metropolitan city - if I was living in the country and had no coverage you'd bet your sweet bippy I'd have a landline - for just such occasions as these.  Common sense aside, it's seems obvious to me that the author created this situation to justify Minnie coming across the woman and being in a position to help which leaves me with the feeling that the story was forced.

My other, relatively small, complaint is the interrogating the MC does.  She doesn't run around accusing people of murder and she doesn't jump to silly conclusions based on air, but she does go out of her way to question "suspects" and she does hide things from the police.  It was just enough for me to sigh heavily while reading, not enough to even make me roll my eyes (much).

Mostly, the book was "ok" - a little bit better than "ok" maybe.  I don't consider the time I spent reading it wasted at all, and I'll definitely read the third book.