The Great Catsby

I did not finish this book. The book had two narrators, Jade, and her cat, Chonks.<br />The book is dull and inconsistent.<br />The inconsistencies start on page one in the section labeled ‘Description’ which appears to be narrated by Jade. “My life has been turned upside down by my inheritance, but my only complaint is the cat that came along with the new home,’<br />The section labeled ‘Description” is immediately followed by the Prologue. The Prologue is narrated by the cat who describes living in Baltimore with Jade BEFORE she inherited the house and moved to Louisiana “Jade and I were getting settled into our new home in the exotic-sounding suburb of New Orleans in Beulah, Louisiana…….I was used to Baltimore’s climate,’. The rest of the Prologue has other references to their life in Balimore.<br />C’mon…, do some editing and at least decide when the cat and Jade got together.

I love cozy mysteries and cats. This was a tale where the main character did such stupid things, I wanted to scream. I was tempted to not finish but it had so many 5 star reviews, I kept reading. There are so many quality cozy mysteries, do not waste your time on this one.

An entertaining mystery. There are plenty of suspects, quirky characters and an adorable cat. What's not to like?

Cozy Mistery feminino com a premissa habitual deste género. Uma mulher muda-se para uma cidade nova, é bibliotecária, tem um gato, gosta de bolos.<br />Está um bocadinho acima da média deste género., nem que seja porque o melhor detective é o gato.

Oh I soooo wanted to like this book. A mystery with a cat named Sir Chonksworth the Bold and a library? I mean, it seemed like a shoo in. But I ended up not being able to read it because it drove me nuts that the author took a well known large city and kept saying it was a small one stoplight town. Now look, I know this is fiction but that is stretching the bounds of reality too much. This isn’t a fantasy realm book If you want to make up a town, that’s great. But make up a name. Don’t pick a well known city, especially one I’ve been to. When it’s a made up town, I can picture what it’s like from the authors description. But not when you do it this way. Seriously I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what I was missing to make this make sense. In the end, it just made it unreadable.

"At least with a good book, you could reread and be transported into a world of wonder." -page. 53<br /><br />Before starting the review, I want to celebrate this small achievement because this is the 200th book I've read so far! What agreat achievement, hahaha. Proud of myself.<br /><br />I buddy read this book with one of the booktube member friends, kak Ariesy. The title is pretty catchy and the cover also has a cat, so we agreed to read this title. And we read this on Google Play Books, not far from the app, hahaha.<br /><br />Briefly, this book is about Jade, a new assistant librarian in a town called Beulah. Jade then took the initiative to form a small book club that would start the club with classics. But not long after the club started, one member was found dead and made an innocent person a suspect. So from there, the adventure begins.<br /><br />I've read other titles for cozy mystery genre and somehow found the premise in common, and I also realized that the main character here is always underestimated to participate in finding out the truth. But I also know why the main character is always underestimated, because at the beginning of the case, the main character is always "knowing" and feels involved in something that might be "not their business".<br /><br />But the positive side of the main character always has a good optimism. And reveal characters that we would never think of as perpetrator, as in this book as well.<br /><br />As for the twist, I really didn't think that the culprit was that person and how everything seems to be "connected" in here.<br /><br />However, in the middle of the book I was a little bored because it only exposed the suspicions of this main character to almost all the other characters as suspects, which I found a bit annoying. And yes, the main character's desire to be involved in this case, in my opinion, is also a bit forced, isn't it. Especially for the new people in the city.<br /><br />However it's just a fiction story, so I think I don't have to be too emotional, haha. For the cat character, I quite like it, because he's really tight hahaha.<br /><br />If you ask whether it's good or not, it's actually relative, you have to read it yourself to know whether this book is good or not. But I also like the author's choice of words that are easy to follow.<br /><br />So I think I want to give 3,8 stars for this book.

Eager to create some ties to her new neighbourhood, Jade Hastings starts a book club that is ill-fated right from its inaugural meeting. As a librarian, Jade's hoping for a good book talk; her fellow attendees would prefer to air dirty laundry. When two members leave together and one winds up dead, the rumours start flying. But Jade knows in her heart that the accused is innocent, it's up to her cat and herself to solve the crime.<br /><br />I'm never sure with punny titles if I'll like a book. All too often, so much creativity has gone into the title that no artistry remains for the rest of the pages. Happily, this was not the case here. I had fun following our heroine around and particularly enjoyed the antics of her cat, Chonks - Sir Chonksworth the Bold, thank-you-very-much. For the most part, the author kept the cast small enough that it wasn't difficult to recall who everyone was. To further liven up the narration, bit players were introduced, adding more colour to the small-town feel.<br /><br />Jade and Chonks take turns telling the story. Chonks sets the stage and then bows out for the most part until his summary at the end. He drops in part of the way through the story to proclaim that he's solved the murder - a challenge, perhaps similar to that of Ellery Queen's narrator (though Chonks does have information that the reader does not). For people who don't like animals narrating as though they are human, Chonks' storytelling duties are minor compared to the rest of the novel.<br /><br />The plot ran smoothly, though I questioned Jade's commitment to solving the crime and her methods of detection. Additionally, the denouement came on fast and furious at the end. As a first-in-series, the hiccups from this story will hopefully resolve themselves in future books.<br /><br />I enjoyed <u>The Great Catsby</u> and looked forward to reading more in the series.

I have been reading fewer cozy mysteries lately and this book is part of the reason. It is a mediocre story with a few somewhat interesting characters. The fact that Jade is the new assistant librarian in town has almost nothing to do with solving the mystery. Neither does her cat, Chonks, who does a little narration at beginning and end. The final solution seems a little far-fetched as to the why, if not to the how. I was a little let down, having read the book because I love libraries and cats. I will pass on the rest of the series.

Turns out I hate the word “chuckled.” I also seem to have developed an aversion the the word “heinous” after finishing this book.<br /><br /><br /><br />In all seriousness, I think I just need to quit reading anything in this genre because I haven’t been able to get on board with a single cozy murder mystery type book I’ve read. I can just never get over the apparent incompetence of local law enforcement to the point where some new-to-town person whose job is not even slightly related to the justice system at all has to take it upon themselves to solve a murder.

Actual Rating: 2.5 Stars