Whiskers and Warrants

Welcome to the Cat Café where Annie, the<br />silver-gray Norwegian Forest Cat awaits to<br />seat the customers.<br />The Crenshaw cousins, Lauren and Zoe <br />came to Gold Leaf Valley to run the café. <br />Lauren inherited the café and her <br />grandmother’s house.<br />An advanced latte class for two students <br />but five showed up, a teenage girl, her mother,<br />a wannabe barista plus Lauren and Zoe, one<br />coarse insulting instructor, learning to create <br />swan and peacock lattes, an extra week <br />added to course, delicious decorative cake,<br />a dead body stabbed, warrants, the cat <br />discovers a clue, a change in the grumpy <br />customer, an online scam, knitting, crocheting, <br />string art and a unexpected date make this a <br />fun read!!<br />Colorful, well defined, interesting characters <br />involved in creative activities with danger plus<br />suspense. A fast paced well plotted read with<br />a touch of humor and romance.<br />This is book # 3 in the A Norwegian Forest Cat<br />Café Mystery series. It can be read as a stand<br />alone as the author mixes the past and present <br />smoothly with her skilled writing.<br />A Highly Recommended Read!!<br />I volunteered to read the ARC of Whiskers and<br />Warrants. Thanks to the author for the<br />opportunity. My opinion is voluntary and my <br />own.

I'm finding this to be a very charming series, and absolutely love the Norwegian Forest Cat, Annie. This installment finds Lauren and Zoe taking an advanced latte art class where they learn to make intricate designs. When their instructor is murdered, Lauren and Zoe decide to investigate, with Annie's help.<br /><br />It was great to have Lauren, Zoe, and Annie back once again, along with all of their friends. This book kept me completely entertained.

Coffee, cake and murder <br /><br />And we have another winner. A delightful light cozy with intrigue and murder plus a solution that I never saw coming. A pleasure to return to our favourite characters and nice to see Annie on such fine form. Maybe next time Mrs Finch cold be involved or all the seniors that are regulars.<br />A class in latte art sounds just the thing except that instead of the small number of participants promised it actually was much bigger. Could they l hey have the same attention promised? A mixed group of a pushy retired middle aged man who had visions not only of winning competitions but also running a coffee blog and a mother with her teenaged daughter in an attempt to have "together time". A shame the man running the event takes a dislike to Zoe but things get better as their skills improve. A celebration at the end of the course ends in coffee, cake and murder. Both girls endeavour to keep out of it but events keep pulling them in and the more they find out the more sucked into the investigation they get. Even though Mike had asked her not to get involved during their date (the two have finally gone on a date!). Plus a regular sourpuss is now not only being pleasant but glued to her tablet. Can both mysteries be solved? Will Zoe ever find her own sweetheart and a craft that really speaks to her?<br />I received a free copy for a honest review.

Whiskers and Warrants is the third book in this cute and cozy series. As the story opens, Lauren and Zoe have enrolled in an advanced class for latte art, excited to learn more about making the intricate designs. Due to the master barista's reputation, too many people show up for the class. Lauren and Zoe are asked to return for the later class and that's when they find the instructor dead. Lauren and Zoe attempt to try to solve the mystery though it may even have put them in danger. Mitch warns them away, but they keep getting pulled back. This is, after all, a cozy mystery. <br /><br />There's a lot of whimsical charm to this series. I enjoy reading about the small town setting and its inhabitants. It has a decent plot with enough twists to keep you guessing, and some very enjoyable characters, both familiar and new. Annie continues to be a great helper and her habit of seating patrons never gets old to me.

Not to be <i>that</i> person, but does owning <i>one</i> shop cat even qualify your restaurant as a Cat Café?<br /> <br />I wasn’t going to continue this series, but I did. The simplicity of the storylines make them ideal for listening to while working from home. The heroines are also starting to develop more characteristics that set them apart, so they’ve become enjoyable to follow.<br /> <br />I noticed that this book is almost twice the length of the first two installments and, to be honest, I don’t think the plot warranted the extra length. The murder didn’t take place until almost halfway through the novel, and nothing much really happened before that. Given how simple the plots of these novels are, I honestly think they work better as quick 2.5 hour reads.  <br /> <br />As for this series, I’m currently 3 for 3 in guessing the culprit, but I definitely wasn’t expecting the motive in this one. If I’m not mistaken, I don’t think there was <i>any</i> foreshadowing for the motive. Which isn’t ideal, but of course it did give me a start. That’s always fun, even if it might not me a sign of a well-structured mystery.<br /><br />I'm interested in reading the next one when I have the chance.

I'd call this a light, cheery read. Not gripping and suspenseful, rather something to read for a pleasant escape. Most of the characters and few cafe customers mentioned are quite amiable. Lauren is prudent; Zoe is her usual impulsive, zany self; Annie is clever. To me this series seems more like chick-lit than deep dark mystery, with a lot of back-and-forth friendly chatter between the two main characters and their customers. The cafe customer cast is small; introducing another character or two wouldn't hurt.<br /><br />I found the story line interesting, learned a few things about espresso, and the ending came as a surprise. Note to mystery buffs: this is one of those stories where facts are revealed at the end that readers don't know, so you can't put together clues to solve the mystery. Still, the reveal work and it all hangs together.

This series still follows a fairly even-paced pattern with a very quick confrontation at the end, but it seems like it might be improving on that front. The mystery was a little deeper this time, and I like the character development. I do like the books, and I'll likely read the rest, but even if they are not suspenseful, which they aren't, I do wish it wouldn't speed up so quickly at the end and then be over so quickly. It's almost like the author spends so much time developing the story, and it is a good story, but doesn't know how to make it climax, so just speeds through the reveal and then ends the book. I do hope the future books will improve on that, but even still, with Annie and the main characters at the cafe, it's still a good series.

I really have tried to love this series. I like that it’s an easy, cozy mystery. Where I’m struggling is that there is no character development. The plots are literally always unfolding in the exact same way. Lauren and Mitch finally start dating. They get serious. Nothing further. No drama. No conflict. Zoe bullies Lauren around into sleuthing. Lauren never has a backbone to stand up for herself if she truly doesn’t like getting into dangerous situations. Zoe runs her mouth. It takes two seconds for Zoe to convince Lauren to do something stupid and you know that whenever Annie is with them is when they will figure out who the killer is because Annie always saves the day. I love the characters and the town I just can’t keep reading the same thing over and over and over and over. <br />

<strong>I Simply Adore Annie!</strong><br /><br />by Barbara Kelley<br /><br />This is Book #3 of the Norwegian Forest Cat Cafe series by Jinty James. I absolutely love the way the author brings her characters, both good and bad, to life, especially Annie, the Norwegian Forest cat. This episode is about Lauren and Zoe taking a latte art class, Lauren finally having a first date with Mitch, and the usually obstinate Ms. Tobin participating in online dating. This book is also about a world famous coffee barista and the secrets surrounding that baristas death. I did not guess who the killer was, or why the killer did what they did, until they nearly killed Lauren and Zoe. This was a very good episode and I look forward to reading Book #4. I gave this book 5 stars.

This has a good premise, but it could use some work. I wouldn't know Annie the Norwegian Forest Cat if I met her in the vet's waiting room. The relationship between the two cousins seems a bit strained. They are both adults, and yet they are pretty much treated as a unit by the author. Lauren does begin a romantic relationship with the police officer, but Zoe's contribution to the plot is to peek through the curtains to see if they are kissing. ( Most adults respect others' privacy in these situations.) <br />Unless writing style has changed drastically, sentence fragments should be incorporated into the paragraph..