*I received a free copy of this ebook boxed set via Voracious Readers Only and with thanks to the author. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Blurb: How could they know the first murder would signal the start of a magical war?
Get cozy for the adventure mystery thrill-ride of your life. Because Hattie Jenkins and the Infiniti are sleuthing murders, fighting evil, and weaving magic.
But first, they have to get to the bottom of all the faery trickery.
Will the crew finally find out if the fae’s dark antics are behind these murders?
And will Hattie find her witch-groove at last?
***PREVIOUSLY RELEASED AS: THE INFINITI INVESTIGATES***
Murder, Magic and Moggies (MMM) is actually a four book box set, comprising Murder on the MEOWntain, A Charitable DIEnation, Bohemian RhapsoDIE and Dead. Naturally. I have decided to review the box set as a whole, as my non-spoilery comments relate to each of the stories equally, but rest assured that these are four full-sized novels in one file.
As you can tell by the titles of the contained books, you will find a proliferation of groan-inducing puns, along with some truly ridiculous names and a few OTT depictions of accents that might make you wince.
These light-hearted, humorous fripperies cannot mask the truth that these are neat, clever cosy mysteries with tight plots and engaging characters. Each individual story stands alone, but you do get a lovely build up of characters and back-story by reading them in series order.
Set in Glessie Isle, home to a mixture of werewolves, vampires fae and witches with a scattering of Muggles (sorry, Unawakened), these books follow professional apothecary, reluctant witch and amateur investigator Hattie as she ‘assists’ the police department with various murder cases. In fact, she solves them almost entirely by herself, with the help of her eight magical, immortal cats.
I was worried about the cat aspect at first, as the idea felt gimmicky, but I was 100% wrong. It works really well, with each feline character having their own unique skills and personality, that begin as stereotypes, but develop and grow as the series progresses.
Hattie, our heroine, is witty, relateable and completely endearing too, other than her engineered (because totally requited) romantic conflict with CPI (Chief Paranormal Inspector) Trew, who provides not just a love interest but Hattie’s route into the police cases (and sometimes right back out of them again!).
As an added bonus, the author has seeded the stories with actual herbal and aromatherapy recipes relevant to the plot, some of which I will be experimenting with myself!
Overall these are punny, well-crafted mysteries, PURRfect for paranormal cosy mystery fans (and cat lovers).
What got my attention was the lights. Usually when I came to make a delivery here, the whole mansion was lit up like Nebula was throwing a party for every major Tinseltown celebrity from the Mainland. But this time, the house sat, dark and hunched, like a warty toad. I shivered involuntarily.
If I were an Unawakened, I’d have chalked this absence of light up to something innocent, like the power being out or Nebula having a splitting headache.
But I am a witch from a long line of conjurors; much as I sometimes wish I wasn’t. My point is, we know trouble when we feel it.– Pearl Goodfellow, Murder, Magic and Moggies
You can follow Pearl Goodfellow on Facebook and Goodreads.
Murder, Magic and Moggies is available on Amazon right now!
Bookshine And Readbows 