Review

Now that Helen Hawthorne is married and has gone into the private investigation business with her husband Phil Sagemont, she had thought she had left her days of dead-end jobs behind. However, when a show cat goes missing for an important client, Phil stands by ready to field a call from the “catnapper” while Helen gets the assignment of going undercover and her duties include emptying litter boxes and grooming show cats. Her boss is very demanding and hard to please and Helen comes home at the end of each day tired and covered in cat hair. However, there is also a murder involved and their client’s freedom is at stake, so Helen will do whatever it takes to solve the case.

Catnapped! is a quick, fun read with humor and heart. Both the storyline and the investigation of the book kept my interest, which was more entertaining than the last couple of books in the series. Although the Dead End Job series seems to be getting back on track, Helen seems to be off her game. She rambles on to the police, sharing unnecessary details when she and Phil discover a body and as the investigation progresses, she blurts out her theory on who the murderer is when she is supposed to be undercover. Although Helen is instrumental in getting information crucial to solving the murder, this isn’t Helen’s first case. However, she acts like a rookie throughout much of the book, which is disappointing.

When Helen isn’t making silly blunders, she and Phil make a good team. I enjoy the way the work together now that they are married. Having Helen go undercover working various jobs is a clever way of keeping up with the theme of the series even though Helen no longer relies on low-paying, no opportunity jobs to support herself. I like the setting of this book as well. I’ve read several books with dog shows as the setting, but this is the first I’ve read about the cat show circuit, and I enjoyed the insider’s view. I laughed when Helen commented that seeing the work that goes in to making the show cats look their best made her appreciate her own “ordinary” house cat Thumbs even more. The book has an interesting side-plot with Helen and Phil also taking on an investigation to help their beloved landlady Margery. It would have been even better if some of this case had been introduced earlier in the book, because it helped keep the book moving and interesting since it took a while for the main case to be wrapped up.

I enjoyed the ending of the book, especially the humorous recap at the end describing what all of the side characters are doing. Helen and Phil live in Southern Florida and at the end take a trip to the Keys and talk about the Key Deer. It is a somewhat touching scene, but doesn’t seem to tie into anything in the rest of the book. Although Catnapped! isn’t the best in the series, the lighthearted, humorous tone are more in line with the first books in this series, so I think fans of Elaine Viets will be pleased.

Reviewed by Christine