Book Review: Murder, She Meowed by Liz Mugavero (Pawsitively Organic Mysteries #7)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Mystery and mayhem as Stan prepares for her wedding

Cons: Wedding takes over at times

The Bottom Line:

Wedding prep sidetracked

To find who killed a stripper

Enjoyable book

Corpse of a Stripper

I always enjoy going to weddings of friends, especially when I’ve been rooting for them to get married.  I consider the main characters in the books I read to be friends, albeit fictional ones.  Therefore, I enjoy it when I get to attend their wedding via a book.  And that’s just what we get to do for Stan Connor and Jake McGee in Murder, She Meowed.

Stan and Jake’s wedding is just three weeks away, and Stan is starting to really stress out.  No, the pressure of the big day isn’t getting to her, it’s her mother and sister.  Her mother, Patricia, especially, is trying to replan the wedding in her image while her sister, Caitlyn, is insisting on a traditional bachelorette party, even though that isn’t want Stan wants at all.

Stan gives in on the bachelorette party only to have it end early when the stripper Caitlyn has hired doesn’t jump out of the cake.  Instead, he’s lying inside dead.  Worse yet, Stan knows the man thanks to his job delivering items from a nearby farm to her pet patisserie.  Stan feels compelled to find out what happens, but can she figure any of it out?

It was very interesting seeing Stan interacting with her family more in this book.  When the series started, she didn’t have a good relationship with them, and we’ve seen that slowly change over the course of seven books.  The upcoming wedding causes things to revert, which is realistic, and it definitely brought out some different sides of the characters, which I enjoyed getting to see.

Having said that, I did find the wedding planning took over the book at times.  If that had been trimmed a bit and the mystery given a bit more prominence, I would have enjoyed the book better.  What can I say, I enjoy fictional weddings, but I’m still a guy.

But that is a minor issue, overall.  The mystery has several viable suspects, and I happily spent time with Stan as she uncovered clues and alibis in her attempt to learn the truth.  The ending was fantastic, and it wrapped up everything perfectly.

I already talked about Stan’s family, but there are plenty of other characters in the book.  With everything else going on, a few of the regulars play a smaller role, but it was still fun to see them again.  The book has plenty of suspects, and they all come across as real, keeping us engaged in the mystery.

And for pet lovers, we get another couple recipes for organic pet treats.

Longtime fans of the series will be very happy with this latest visit to Stan and the rest of her family and friends.  If you are new to the series, you may want to back up a bit to fully appreciate what happens here.  When you have, you’ll want to RSVP for Murder, She Meowed.

Here are the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries in order.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.