Betts Winston has inherited more than her cooking skills from her grandmother—she can also see and talk to ghosts of people that once roamed the streets of Broken Rope, Missouri, in the days of the Old West…
With Gram’s Country Cooking School on spring break, Betts and Gram are taking part in this year’s cowboy poetry convention, offering lessons on frying catfish over an open campfire. But when a staged gunfight ends in real death and her brother Teddy becomes a prime suspect, Betts may be the one to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
After her ghostly guardian Jerome appears to watch her back and a spectral Pony Express rider gallops into town with some unfinished business, Broken Rope starts to seem more like a cowboy ghost convention. With trouble on both sides of this mortal coil, it’s up to Betts to clear her brother, put the spirits to rest, and make sure the true killer doesn’t become the one who got away.
Includes Recipes!
For fans of: Alice Kimberly
It’s April – hardly the height of tourist season in Missouri, so in an effort to increase foot traffic, the town of Broken Rope is hosting a cowboy poetry convention. Campsites have been set up, dozens of activities have been planned, and since Gran’s Country Cooking School is on break, Gran and Betts have agreed to teach a couple of outdoor cooking classes.
At first, the convention looks to be a success: attendance is great, business in Broken Rope is booming, and everyone’s having a grand old time. But when an actor’s shot and killed during a skit and Betts’ brother Teddy is beaten and left for dead, the citizens of Broken Rope are forced to wonder if one of their visitors is taking the town’s Wild West theme a bit too seriously…
If Catfish Had Nine Lives is the fourth of Paige Shelton’s Country Cooking School Mysteries. If you’re a fan of this series, you know that each installment features two mysteries – one involving a ghost from Broken Rope’s past, and one involving a present-day murder. The ghost Shelton chose to highlight in this particular tale is that of a Pony Express rider named Joe. It seems Joe met a tragic end before he was able to complete his route, and he can’t pass on until he delivers the letters that remain in his pouch. A cute idea, right? And one of which Shelton takes nice advantage, using the letters to round out the back stories of some of her supporting characters and the ghost to educate her readers regarding the history of the Pony Express. Unfortunately, though, the big ghost-related twist Shelton reveals during the book’s denouement is both preposterous and unearned, leaving the reader feeling cheated and confused. Add to that the fact that the solution to Shelton’s modern whodunit is also a tad convoluted, and you have a book that’s twenty-six chapters of fast-paced fun, and two chapters of “I want to throw this book across the room.”
If Catfish Had Nine Lives is an enjoyable read overall; the concept is unique, the plot is intriguing, and the characters are entertaining and relatively full-fleshed. If you’re hankering for a fair-play mystery, though, you may want to steer clear.
Reviewed by Kat
This sounds good thank you,