The Cat Who Caught a Killer: 1 (Conrad the Cat Detective, 1)

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very repetitive (Lulu goes out to meet someone new, they say the same thing about conrad over and over) Neither has Lulu Lewis, until he walks into her life one summer’s day. Mourning the recent death of her husband, the former police detective had expected a gentle retirement, quietly enjoying life on her new canal boat, The Lark, and visiting her mother-in-law in a nearby care home. Recipes for Murder: 66 Dishes that Celebrate the Mysteries of Agatha Christie (2023) by Karen Pierce

Oh, and dear author, if you don't like there being no police stations open anymore maybe stop voting Tory. Just a thought. The plot is awful and horribly predictable. Of course it’s the gold-digging Europeans to blame, rather than the sadly gullible but otherwise very proper Englishman. The Indian doctor is a fraud, because of course he is. I’m surprised that the Hungarian girl, Ildi (whom Lulu somehow just “knows” is Hungarian), didn’t turn out to be terrible - although I suppose she was basically just helping herself to a dementia-ridden pensioner’s expensive chocolates. I’m sure an English nurse would never have done that! #eyerole Neither has Lulu Lewis, until he walks into her life one summer’s day. Mourning the recent death of her husband, the former police detective had expected a gentle retirement, quietly enjoying life on her new canal boat and visiting her mother-in-law in a nearby care home.I'm also not really sure what the point of the talking cat was - perhaps this was revealed in the last 25% that I couldn't face. I'm a big cat lover, which is why I was drawn to this book, but even I couldn't warm to Conrad.

With Conrad the cat helping her though, Lulu is soon on the trail of the killer and together they work on finding the killer. Although Emily Lewis is suffering from dementia, her general health is good and so when Emily dies overnight, Lulu has a sense that there’s something suspicious about her death. Assisted by Conrad she undertakes a discreet investigation. Conrad is a talking calico (and we get told he's calico quite a lot). After the loss of Lulu's husband, he adopts her. So starts a friendship. Not long after, Lulu's mother in law dies suddenly in her nursing home. Ex police officer Lulu isn't happy with the explanation which initially leads into her and Conrad finding out what really happened. This was such a charming tale and a genuine mystery that had me glued to my e-reader from start to finish' The evidence is utterly flimsy, and how Lulu gets to said evidence is even flimsier. The side characters are 2D caricatures - at one point Lulu visits a couple who read appallingly stereotypical books - the man reads thrillers and military history while the woman prefers romance novels. All dog people are terrible, with the worst offenders having piercings in their eyebrows, nose, lips, ears “and goodness knows where else.”Being a cat lover, I was very taken by Conrad and the idea of a talking cat. I always think I can understand my 2 cats but they don't quite go as far as asking for Evian water or trout for dinner (unless I just misunderstand of course.) Charming and original. This book is the cat's whiskers' - Anthony Horowitz, author of The Magpie Murders Firstly, I felt like the writing was a bit fractured and sometimes took me out of the story. It felt like I was constantly reading the same conversation, but with different characters. I felt like the story itself was dragged out, and I became bored in the middle, as it became repetitive. A mediocre and highly predictable crime story about a retired female detective who misses Margeret Thatcher and being cat-called and her ex-partner who misses the times when you could be a bit racist (not very racist you see, because he's A Good Guy, but he thinks some slight racism should be OK).