*I received a free copy of this book, with thanks to the author. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Blurb: They’ve defeated a crazed warlock…
…turned an irate dragon to stone.
Now they face the Victorians. Can the cats get out of this alive?
The Infiniti find themselves in hot water when they board a spacecraft for a nose about.
When the door to their capsule opens to a dead woman, however, the cats soon realize they aren’t in Gless Inlet anymore.
And their arrival in this alternate Victorian world is about to be called into question … murder inquiry style.
***
Clara Bennett’s seance guest received a message from the dead before she was murdered. But there was nothing in the afterlife memo about eight magical cat-detectives.
Why are they here? Where are they from? Why will they not stop talking?
***
Scotland Yard’s, Will Davenport, has never seen a case like it.
Eight wealthy women communing with the dead.
A corpse sitting upright in the grounds of a Belgravia residence.
And eight chatty moggies who claim to be sleuths from another realm.
Will must knit the strange events together before the cats can leave.
Magic and fate always find their way between the facts, however. Because the crew glimpse a deeper mystery behind that of the murdered Belinda Little. A mystery that somehow binds them all together…
A clean historical paranormal cozy mystery with magic and cats.
This feels like two completely separate books blended into one, with the eight magical, immortal, talking cat siblings – the Infiniti – as the common thread that binds them.
On the one hand, we have a plot about said magical cats crossing time and dimensions in order to attempt to thwart the final masterplan of an evil warlock, and return safely home to Gless Isle and Hattie in time for a momentous family event.
On the other hand, we have an old-fashioned cosy murder mystery, set in Victorian England, with a well-bred teenage girl playing amateur sleuth alongside a likeable pair of Scotland Yard detectives, to uncover the murder of a particularly disagreeable guest from the evening’s séance entertainment.
Both plots are gripping individually, but seem a little bit mismatched together, as the presence of the Infiniti in Victorian England feels like it ought to draw far more consternation and attention than it does, and the introduction of magical methods to the murder investigation seems a little bit unnecessary, as Clara and Inspector Davenport seem to be managing quite well without their chatty feline assistants.
The Infiniti themselves are as quirkily adorable as ever, each with their own distinct style and skills, but they seem very lost and displaced without their beloved Hattie and the shop. I am amazed Fraidy even survived the initial trip, let alone the adventures that followed! Poor Hattie must be frantic with worry about them all… as if she didn’t have enough to deal with already!
This is another well-plotted mystery from Pearl Goodfellow, and threads are left trailing at the end, leading us on to the next instalment in the cats’ unwilling holiday adventures, so I am interested to see how the author continues to bring these two different worlds together and sincerely hope she manages to get the kooky clowder home safely before Hattie pops… literally!
“She is over here!” The gravelly voice came from the left of the cats. A man leapt from the shadows, his eyes stabbing the eight moggies with a reproachful glare, before quickly turning his attention to something that lay on the ground near where the capsule had landed. “I have found her!” He called again, straining to keep his eyes on the body, and the cats at the same time. “She lays here! Come quick!” The Infiniti’s heads followed the man’s pointing finger. At the base of a topiary chicken, just a few feet from the ovoid sat a very pretty – and lifeless – woman.
– Pearl Goodfellow, A Right Proper Murder
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Bookshine And Readbows 