Leann Sweeney - The Cat, The Sneak and the Secret

The seventh book in the Cats in Trouble Mystery series, published August 4, 2014.
Genre: cozy mystery
Cover: fun



In the latest from the author of "The Cat, the Vagabond and the Victim," a feline with a penchant for pilfering ends up unearthing a deadly mystery.
Jillian Hart and Tom are finally tying the knot, but first they need to make sure Tom's stepson, Finn, is as comfortable as possible in the lake house they will all call home. So when it becomes clear that Finn has fallen for a pretty cat from the Mercy Animal Sanctuary, Jillian and Tom readily agree to make room for one more even though the tortoiseshell kitty is a notorious kleptomaniac.
So far, the cat has sneaked out of the adoption center time after time, bringing back trinkets, shoelaces, and socks. But when she brings back an antique locket, Finn enlists Tom's and Jillian's sleuthing skills. They hope to return the treasured item to its owner, but their search for answers is sidetracked when a body is found. Still, their sneaky cat's find may just lead them to a killer. "


Another great addition to one of my favourite cozy mystery series.
Jillian is happily busy with the preparations for her wedding to Tom and her stepdaughter Kara is helping her. Then Ed calls her for help as a cat is stuck in an old sofa he recently acquired. Tom's stepson Finn is coming with her, and they discover it is the cat he wants to adopt. She is notorious for running away from the shelter time and again, and for being a kleptomaniac. So when she is finally freed from the sofa, and she has a golden locket around her front paw, that comes as no surprise. What is a surprise though, is that the sofa is drenched in blood … and Jillian calls in Candace.
So now Candace has a possible crime scene, but no body. Hopefully, the locket will lead her somewhere, someone must have seen it before.

While Jillian and Kara are busy with wedding stuff the next day, Kara (who owns the local newspaper) is called to a crime scene. A local construction owner is found murdered on his own lot, just before the hole he is in was filled in with concrete. No one seems to have liked him very much, so there are suspects galore, even amongst his own families.
His daughter however, does mourn him, and she ends up staying at Jillian's house for a while, to recover, as her mother is totally loveless towards her.

This mystery totally threw me, never could I have guessed this plot. This killer is truly evil, and not just this person. I can't believe that people can be so cold as some of those I have met in this book. And to kill for such a reason as happened in this book, a murder that devastated so many people, that is truly unbelievable. But I know it happens in real life as well.


No matter what happens, murder, mayhem and bad weather, Jillian and Tom manage to get married, the cats steal the show, and hopefully Leann Sweeney is busy writing the next book.

9 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian