Audiobook Review: The Cat, the Quilt, and the Corpse by Leann Sweeney

Recently widowed Jillian Hart is rebuilding a life for herself and her three beloved cats - Chablis, Syrah, and Merlot - as a quilter in a small South Carolina town. The quilts she makes are for cats as smart, special, and sweet as her own, and business is thriving.

But when she returns from an overnight quilting show, she discovers Chablis sneezing - and since Chablis is allergic to humans, that can only mean one thing: Someone has broken into her house. When she realizes her Abyssinian, Syrah, is missing, Jillian suspects catnapping.

Spurred by Chablis and Merlot’s mournful meowing, she investigates - and discovers more missing cats and a murder. Now she’s got to save more than one cat in trouble - not to mention herself.

Series: Cats in Trouble #1 | Publisher:  Audible Studios | Narrator: Vanessa Johansson  | Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins | Genre: Contemporary Cozy Mystery | Source: Publisher | Ratings: 2 Cups

Challenges Read For: Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge  (animal related)

 

When Jillian returns from an out-of-town quilt show, she soon discovers one of her cat’s sneezing (due to being allergic to human dandruff) and another one missing. As she searches for her missing cat, she soon discovers that there’s a cat thief in their midst. When she finally finds her missing Abyssinian, she also finds that man who catnapped him dead and a house full of stolen cats. Now, not only does Jillian have a murder case to crack, she also has to help reunite the stolen cats with their humans.

 

I’m a bit on the fence about this one. While I liked the characters and the mystery, I found I couldn’t really get into the book and I can’t really pinpoint why. I’m not sure if it was because it was the first in a cozy and they can be a little draggy as they establish the characters and setting or if the narrator just didn’t hold my attention but I found that my mind wandering several times and I had to force myself to pay attention.

 

I also found myself struggling with Jillian. For the most part, I liked her; she’s a widow trying to figure out what to do with her life after her husband died. She’s a cat enthusiast and she makes quilts for charity and cats. Although there’s a part of the book where she makes the choice to use a guy that’s into to gain information about the case and, while the guy didn’t mind, I still found it to be a poor choice on her part.

 

While the major parts of the mystery were addressed, there was one part that was never fully explained and it irked me given that it was something that was brought up quite a bit.

 

Overall, this one was just an okay cozy mystery. While I liked the random bits of cat trivia, I just couldn’t get interested in the book.

   

What makes you not click with a book?