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Scaredy Cat (Second Chance Cat Mystery, Band 10) - Softcover

Buch 10 von 12: Second Chance Cat Mysteries

Ryan, Sofie

 
9780593201992: Scaredy Cat (Second Chance Cat Mystery, Band 10)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 059320199X ISBN 13: 9780593201992
Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2023

Inhaltsangabe

Secondhand store owner Sarah Grayson and her affectionate rescue cat, Elvis, will scare up a few leads to find a killer in the newest installment of this captivating New York Times bestselling series.
 
After a long, cold, and snowy winter, it seems as though spring may be arriving early in Maine. Sarah Grayson is busy at her store, Second Chance, and she’s looking forward to an afternoon break from the hustle and bustle, tagging along to the North Harbor Spring House Tour with her friend Detective Michelle Andrews.
 
But it turns out one of the houses has a haunted history, and when a ghost hunter is found dead on the premises, Sarah knows the best way to uncover the killer/to solve the mystery is by investigating the not-so-dearly departed. With help from Elvis and Charlotte’s Angels, the crew of senior citizen private detectives who work out of the store, she’ll close the case on this creepy crime.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sofie Ryan is the author of the New York Times bestselling Second Chance Cat Mysteries. She also writes the New York Times bestselling Magical Cats Mysteries under the name Sofie Kelly.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter 1

Elvis had left the building, or to be more specific, our apartment. He headed down the hall toward Rose Jackson's apartment, walking with his usual swagger.

"Don't eat too much and spoil your supper," I called after him.

The only answer I got was a flick of his tail, appropriate since he was a sleek black cat with a long scar across his nose and not the King of Rock and Roll, although he sometimes had the attitude that he was some kind of rock royalty. Elvis was going to spend the afternoon with Rose and act as a taste tester for the treats she was making for Matilda, the little amber-colored corgi that belonged to our next-door neighbor Tom. Matilda had a birthday coming up and Rose believed that every birthday deserved cake or the equivalent, whether you were a person, a cat, or a dog.

Elvis and Matilda weren't exactly friends. They tolerated each other at best, but weren't above teaming up against any creature they perceived to be an interloper in their territory, human or otherwise.

I heard Rose's apartment door open. "You're right on time," she said to Elvis.

"Mrrr," he said. He disappeared inside and Rose poked her head around the doorframe. She was barely five feet tall with short white hair and kind gray eyes. She was one of my grandmother's oldest friends so I'd known her all my life.

"Have fun, sweetie," she said. "I want to hear all about the inside of the Walker house when you get back."

"I will shamelessly peek in every corner," I promised. I was heading out on a spring house tour with my friend Michelle Andrews. The fundraiser was a chance to look inside some of the beautiful old homes in town and support the local animal shelter. I liked to poke around in old places in general and I was always looking for creative ways to reuse and display items at Second Chance, my repurpose store. Michelle had been quick to say yes to joining me on the tour. She was currently house-hunting, but after looking at several places, she'd come to the conclusion that she was going to have to buy a fixer-upper, so she was interested in seeing what had been done in other renovations.

My own house, an 1860s Victorian, had been a fixer-upper. It was located in downtown North Harbor only a few blocks from the waterfront. The houses on the street were a mix of styles and there were lots of tall, leafy trees. It was quiet, but the neighbors were friendly. Something about this part of town had felt like home from the first time I turned down the street.

The house hadn't been kept up by the previous owner, who hadn't even lived in town. The building had looked shabby and neglected but my dad and my brother, Liam, had poked around and concluded the house had good bones. Liam had discovered that the ancient furnace was on its last legs, and the seller had taken several thousand dollars off the purchase price, which made it an even better deal. After a lot of work the house had turned into the home I had hoped it would be.

Elvis and I lived in one of the main floor apartments; Rose had the other one; and my grandmother and her husband, John, lived in the second-floor unit. All of that togetherness hadn't seemed like it should work but it did. Gram and Rose were both easy to get along with. Neither one of them kept their opinions to themselves, but neither one was offended if I didn't take their advice. And they were both excellent cooks. In fact, I had my fingers crossed that Rose would make more than dog and cat treats this afternoon.

I stepped outside into a beautiful, sunny afternoon. The trees were bare but the snow was gone, and the wind that had blown for the past three days and felt as though it had come from somewhere north of Labrador had finally died down. After a long, cold and very snowy winter it looked as though spring might be arriving early.

North Harbor is located on the midcoast of Maine. It stretches from the Atlantic coast in the south up to the Swift Hills in the north. The town was settled by Alexander Swift back in the late 1760s. "Where the hills touch the sea" is how North Harbor has been described for more than two hundred and fifty years. Full-time residents of the town total just over thirteen thousand souls, but that number more than triples between June and September with tourists and summer people.

We have no drive-throughs or fast-food restaurants. Our more relaxed pace of life is what attracts so many tourists, that and the beautiful, historic buildings; quirky little shops; award-winning restaurants and gorgeous scenery.

Michelle pulled up at the curb in her new-to-her car, a dark gray Subaru a couple of years old that she'd bought at a police auction in Bangor. Michelle was a detective for the North Harbor police department. She'd watched the list of vehicles up for auction for months, looking for just the right vehicle for our winters. It had come with a set of knobby, off-road winter tires, reinforced front and back bumpers, and some kind of engine modifications that pretty much meant it would go like stink. I'd been itching to drive the car ever since Michelle had gotten it, but given that I had a bit of a reputation-undeserved as far as I was concerned-for having a lead foot, I was pretty certain she was never going to let me get behind the wheel, even for a sedate drive around my own neighborhood.

"Where's Elvis?" Michelle teased as I slid into the passenger side of the SUV.

Elvis went to work with me every day. He often tagged along if I was having dinner with Rose or my grandmother. When a group of us had gone to the drive-in in Farmington over the summer he'd settled himself in the middle of the front seat of my SUV and actually seemed to watch the movie. Aside from the fact that Elvis was a bit of a backseat driver, the cat was good company. I told people he was Robin to my Batman although I had the feeling that Elvis saw things the other way around.

"Number one, he already had plans," I said as I fastened my seat belt. "And number two, I got the last two tickets Gram had. And lest you think the idea of a cat having a ticket to the show is weird, I should tell you that two years ago I did the house tour with my mom and there was a woman in line who had one of those fluffy little white dogs in her bag. And the dog had its own ticket."

Michelle grinned at me. "And did they let the dog in?" she asked. She was wearing jeans and a deep violet quilted jacket, her auburn hair pulled into a low ponytail.

I gave her the side-eye. "This is the North Harbor Spring House Tour we're talking about. It's been going on for seventy-three years."

She pulled away from the curb. "So yes."

"Like I said. The dog did have a ticket."


The first stop on the house tour was a newly renovated saltbox-the Walker house that Rose was interested in-just three streets east of my neighborhood. The outside was the traditional New England style with gray shingles, white trim and large multipaned windows.

"This is the house Rose wants to know all about," I said to Michelle as we walked along the sidewalk to the front door.

"So why isn't she doing the tour?"

"Because those last two tickets I got from Gram turned out to be the last two tickets, period. And the only house she's interested in is this one." We lined up behind two couples.

"Why this one?" Michelle asked.

"Rose's grandmother was a Walker. There's some family connection to the place."

We ended up not spending very much time inside the Walker house. The interior was very modern-all black and white, cool and austere-a design choice at odds with the traditional exterior. There were no cat food bowls in the kitchen and no fat pillows on the all-white sofa.

"That's not my style at all," Michelle said once we were outside again. "I like things more casual...

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Verlag
Penguin Publishing Group
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
059320199X
ISBN 13 
9780593201992
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
272
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

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