by Sandra Murphy

Here is another mystery perfect for your Halloween reading! Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Paws and Effect, and a link to order it from Amazon, as well as a link to purchase it from an indie bookstore where a portion goes to help support KRL.

Kathleen is surprised to meet three of Marcus’ old college friends at Eric’s diner. John is a biologist, Danielle is a geologist, and Travis, an environmental engineer. They’re in town to research a new planned development on the lake. Many of the townspeople think it will cause more problems than it solves. Others are willing to sacrifice lakefront property in exchange for tourist dollars.

The friends tell tales on each other that have Kathleen laughing, until Travis gets snarky. It seems he and Danielle were engaged, but she broke it off and was seeing Marcus. Travis swore he’d never forgive Marcus.

Kathleen’s the head librarian and sets John up to view the herbarium to see if there are any endangered plants that could nullify the plans to build. Since they’re going to be in town for a while, Kathleen hopes to get to know them better, and by extension, Marcus.

Before Kathleen can meet Danielle again, her body is found by the lake. It appears she fell off an embankment while taking soil samples. Marcus can’t work the case since he knew her so his partner, Hope, takes over. When she asks to meet with Kathleen, it’s to say Dani was hit by a car, and then her body dropped down the embankment. Worse yet, there are clues at the scene that point to Marcus as the killer.

John and Travis both have alibis, but there are other suspects. Marcus has a weak alibi. There’s a man living in the woods, claiming it’s his family’s land. The developer wasn’t happy to have “tree-huggers” trying to find a way to stop his project.

Kathleen has a secret herself. Her cats, Owen and Hercules, have magical powers. Owen can make himself invisible which can lead to some embarrassing moments when he stows away in her book bag or truck. Hercules can walk through solid walls, handy for when he wants to go sit outside, and no one is home to open the door.

This is the eighth book in the Magical Cats Mystery series. Kathleen and Marcus are committed to their relationship. Her BFFs, Maggie and Brady, say they’re just friends, but no one believes them. Roma and Eddie have broken up, at least in Roma’s mind. She thinks she’s too old for him but admits she does love him. Friends hope they’ll get back together.

The cats steal every scene they’re in, of course. The magic doesn’t detract from the story as readers come to accept their super powers like Kathleen does. The mystery has twists and turns and will keep readers guessing until the end with a nice bit of suspense as well.

To enter to win a copy of Paws and Effect, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “paws,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen October 22, 2016. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

Paws and Effect

You can also use this link to purchase the book on Amazon. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch, in the land of blues, booze and shoes—St Louis, Missouri. While writing magazine articles to support her mystery book habit, she secretly polishes mystery books of her own, hoping, someday, they will see the light of Barnes and Noble and a Kindle. You can find several of Sandra’s short stories at Untreed Reads including her newest, “Arthur,” included in the anthology titled, Flash and Bang, available now. Look for Denali, in the anthology Dogs and Dragons.