Darla Pettistone may have inherited her great aunt Dee’s Brooklyn bookstore, but it’s the store’s mascot—an oversized black cat named Hamlet—who acts like he owns the place. And when someone turns up dead, Hamlet smells something rotten in Brooklyn…

As the owner of Pettistone’s Fine Books, Darla is settling nicely into her new life, even reaching an uneasy truce with Hamlet. Unfortunately, when she needs to hire a new clerk, the finicky feline decides to lend a paw to the hiring process. He chases away applicants who don’t meet his approval, finally settling on an unlikely candidate: Robert, a book-loving Goth kid who has a secret only Hamlet knows.

And Hamlet can’t seem to stay out of trouble. One of the bookstore’s regular customers, a man who is renovating a local brownstone, claims he’s seen Hamlet prowling the neighborhood. When the man’s business partner is found dead, Darla discovers that Hamlet may have been the only witness to what could be murder. With the crafty cat’s help, she wonders if they just might be able to pounce on a killer...

Series: A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery

Review

When Darla Pettistone’s great-aunt Dee passed away, she inherited Dee’s Brooklyn bookstore, a tenant, Jacqueline “Jake” Martelli, and a temperamental black cat named Hamlet. Hamlet thinks that he, not Darla, runs the store, and is making his opinion known while Darla is interviewing applicants for a part-time salesclerk position. Darla and Hamlet finally agree on a suitable candidate who seems ideal for the job. Soon afterwards, Darla has an upsetting experience. She and a friend find Curt Benedetto, a friendly but obnoxious customer, murdered at his own construction site. Since both Hamlet and her new employee commonly disappear at night, Darla is afraid both may have been involved in Curt’s murder. She doesn’t want either one unjustly accused and decides to find out who was really responsible for Curt’s death, even if the truth hurts.

A cat and a bookstore is almost a cliché for a cozy mystery and there are several series that have adopted this theme with mixed results. I’m a new to the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery series, even though this book is the second in the series, but I found it to me genuinely clever and entertaining. The author provides a smooth introduction to the characters in the first few chapters which is helpful for readers new to the series to get to know all the important players. Hamlet doesn’t talk or work magic, but he does knock books off the shelves which contain valuable clues to the investigation. Darla is a strong main character who is smart, kind, and values her friends. In fact, her friendship with Jake, a retired-cop turned PI, comes across as real and sincere and is one of the highlights of the book.

There is one scene in the book that I really dislike because it seems to go against Darla’s otherwise honorable character. I applaud the fact that Darla reports information she learns during her own investigation to Jake and Jake’s friend, police officer Reese Fiorello. However, Darla takes this a step too far, when she encourages her friend Barry, who she is interested in dating, to share confidences while Reese hides in the bathroom so he can hear everything the other man says. Even though she apologizes later, this incident made me think less of Darla. Darla’s other flaw is that she is a bit quick to judgment, automatically assuming the worst about her new employee and even her cat before she has all the facts. However, once someone has earned Darla’s trust, such as Jake or Darla’s other employee Professor James, she remains loyal to them no matter what.

Darla and Jake, along with Hamlet’s “book snagging”, help Reese solve the case. Darla was shocked at the outcome, but it’s bit predictable to the reader. However, looking at the book as a whole, A Novel Way to Die is a pleasant way to spend a few enjoyable hours. Although few cat-themed cozies can compare to Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who… series, Hamlet is one of the few cats whose temperament and sleuthing skills are on the same par with Qwill’s beloved Koko.

Reviewed by Christine

READERS COMMENTS