Just finished reading...

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat (Magical Cats #1) by Sofie Kelly.*

When Kathleen Paulson's boyfriend returned from a 2-week fishing trip married, she leaves her life in Boston and moves to Mayville Heights, Minnesota.

She takes over the classic Carnegie public library while it's being renovated, and quickly learns to love small-town life, making friends with her neighbors and even adopting two stray cats.


When the conductor of the town's Summer Music Festival is taken ill, the position is taken over by the arrogant Gregor Easton. Easton manages to alienate many of the town's residents, including Kathleen and her staff, when he pitches a fit because the Internet at the library is not yet functioning. Tabby cat Owen somehow sneaks into Kathleen's gym bag, and jumps on Easton's head when he bullies the librarian.

The next day, searching at the concert hall for her carpenter Oren, she finds Easton's dead body slumped over the piano, with a bloody gash on his head. Although Kathleen had never met the conductor before, she suddenly becomes the prime suspect in his death, and while trying desperately to divert suspicion from herself, she somehow manages the opposite.

Kathleen tries not to feel like an outsider, and wishes that her family and most of her friends weren't so far away, but she has two small, furry investigative assistants.

Although Owen's aid with the disagreeable Gregor Easton was surprising, Kathleen is even more surprised when the cats continue to appear out of nowhere just when she needs help.

This charming debut is kept from being cloying by wonderfully creepy villains, and humour that verges on the slapstick, but doesn't quite cross the line.

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.