Claws for Alarm

Nick and Nora Mysteries Series #2

By: T. C. LoTempio

Narrated by: Amy Rubinate

Since inheriting her mother's sandwich shop, Nora Charles is more about hot grilled paninis than cold-blooded murder - until her sister, Lacey, is arrested. The victim, an esteemed art collector and Lacey's bullying professor, was stabbed in the heart. Apparently, all over a lousy grade. Off campus, things were just as dicey. The prof had an ex with secrets, a trophy wife set to inherit a fortune in masterworks, and a scorned student mistress.

Going undercover, Nora realizes that investigating this crime is the biggest test of her sleuthing career. Because if she fails, even Nick's animal instinct won't be enough to rescue Lacey from a perfectly executed framing.

©2015 Toni LoTempio (P)2016 Tantor

Getting there

At least the cat sounds like a cat this time and they dropped the phone French accent Chantal had been using. The Ma Cherie has to go! No one says Ma Cherie with such regularity if at all!
Character development is definitely better this time round.

Awesome Mystery

This is a great series. It has well written fully developed characters and a well planned plot. It has humor, suspense, a little romance, and an intriguing mystery. This is a great mystery and I look forward to the next book.

Better than the first.

Would you consider the audio edition of Claws for Alarm to be better than the print version?

Don't know. Just have audio edition.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. A little suspension of disbelief at Nora's sleuthing but good twists. Like the mystery of the missing PI. Love Nick the cat.

Which character – as performed by Amy Rubinate – was your favorite?

Falling hard for Daniel. Please keep him. Not as big a fan of crabby cop/ex boyfriend. Please let her end up,with the sweet guy!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Unfortunately yes. Listened through weekend with flu. :-).

Any additional comments?

Love the characters and Nora is growing on me. Please write more!

Nick and Nora with a Twist!

Absolutely loved it!! Great concept about Nick the cat! Is he really Nick? Fun to think about the cat! So amazing all the cat can do. Really like the stories. Refreshing and fun. Thank you !!!

Love Nick and Nora

Any additional comments?

This is book 2 in the Nick and Nora series and I am hooked. I love Nick. I'm hoping that the next book in the series (Crime and Catnip) will be released in audio. I don't have time to read, but I have time to listen to books. These are fast paced and interesting. I like the characters - although I'm hoping they don't end up with a "triangle" as was hinted at - guess I'll just have to wait for the next installment to find out. I have pre-ordered these books as they become available and I'll be watching for the next one.

Great narrator, horrible protagonist

Any additional comments?

Narrator was very good, but otherwise hated it because of the protagonist. Trying to remember this is just a book and that there is thus no one to actually be mad at, but oh, the main character was just so loathsome! I get it--the hallmark of a cozy mystery is a sleuth that is very much NOT a part of any sort of law enforcement agency, who catches things the police missed and saves the day; suspension of disbelief is usually necessary. But a sleuth who helps solve the case not through their smarts, but by being condescending, aggressive, and engaging in multiple criminal activities? That is just too much! Nora's attitude can be summarized as "I'm in the right and am superior to everyone else, so I can do whatever I want, including frequently taking off from my actual job, breaking the law, and lying to the police about it (which is breaking the law in itself)!"Nora thinks far too highly of herself. She not only thinks the police can't do their job, but she thinks she can do it BETTER than they can. I mean, in Nora's world, why should anyone bother becoming police officer or detective at all with her around? They might as well shut down all the police stations and let her handle all investigations, because clearly police don't know what they're doing and need her to figure out everything for them. Further, she commits multiple CRIMES, and thinks it is the RIGHT/MORAL thing to do! Impersonating a police officer twice? Why, that's just a "white lie"! And she has no qualms about having her friends hack the police's intranet or breaking and entering...in fact, she encourages and applauds such activities! And then, when she is threatened with going to jail for some of these crimes, she has the audacity to get angry and offended that the police would even consider such a thing! She is also a hypocrite. She gets mad at the FBI agent, saying how wrong and unfair he is because "you lied to me!" ...but then turns around and lies to him AND the police, promising she'll finally butt out, when she has no intention of doing so. (I thought lying was wrong and unfair, Nora? Guess only when you're the one being lied to). Then when they don't believe her that she'll butt out and put police detail on her, she gets indignant and says something like "can you believe that? they didn't trust me to keep out of it?!!" Umm, well, you DID lie to them and try to continue being a nosy busybody, so they were right to do that!!! Could she be any mire obnoxious??? I haven't even finished the book, but I'm sure she'll* believe that it was her criminal activity that "solves the case," thus "proving" that the police "couldn't have done it without her" and that she was right all along. PUH-lease!!! As previously stated, I'd much rather have a sleuth whose brains is what helped solve the case, not their criminal activities. The very fact she had to resort to constantly taking off from her actual job and breaking the law to solve the case proves she is NOT fit to be investigating anything.*I'm aware this is a work of fiction, so Nora will actually feel none of this as Nora doesn't exist. But the writer created the most unlikeable cozy sleuth I've ever encountered, so she really got under my skin! I wish the book ended with her actually going to jail for interfering with a police investigation.... meaning there were no more books written regarding this travesty of an amateur sleuth. As this is not the case, the best I can do is to avoid any other books in this series and urge other readers to stay clear of them as well.