MURDER BY MOONLIGHT by K.I. Montgomery

Cozy Mystery, Cats, Amusement Park

4****

Blurb: When murder strikes at their amusement park, Cat and the Felines of Fairytale Forest must solve a roller coaster of a case! At Fairytale Forest, a theme park in the South Carolina Lowcountry, the custodial staff and a clowder of feral cats keep things neat and tidy. Until something very messy happens—one of the custodial managers is found strangled to death. Catherine Lyon is a night-shift custodian who finds herself topping the list of suspects. Sure, no one liked the victim—but someone really hated her enough to murder her in cold blood on the park’s main street? Cat certainly didn’t do it—and she wants to prove it by finding the real killer. She’s shocked when Zoe, a member of the cat colony charged with eliminating vermin in the park, leads her to the dead body and the first clue. Can Cat, Zoe and the rest of the felines clean up the mess and solve the murder of the manipulative, mean-spirited manager?

THOUGHTS: This was a cute, different cozy mystery. Cute in that there are “sentient” cats involved. Different in that the lead cat, Zoe, communicates telepathically with the sleuth—the night custodian—and helps her solve the murder. Oh, and the sleuth, Catherine Lyon, goes by the nickname “Cat”. Plus, she’s an older woman who has been working at the theme park for 20+ years on the night shift. Cat and her nighttime partner are doing their usual cleaning when Zoe comes to her and gets them to follow her to the body. Normally, the park cats don’t have anything to do with the humans, but when Zoe does, Cat pays attention. As Cat’s one of the main suspects, it’s up to her, her evening partner, and the cats to prove that she had nothing to do with the murder.

The story is told from the POV of both Cat and Zoe. It’s fun reading Zoe’s POV – about how they keep down the vermin population and their rivalry with another clowder of cats in another section of the park. An enjoyable story with a different slant on things.

Recommended.