Not a Creature Was Purring

Paws & Claws Mystery Series, Book 5

By: Krista Davis

Narrated by: Elise Arsenault

Inn owner Holly Miller finds it ruff staying cheerful over the holidays when the dead body of a beloved businessman turns up in the pet-friendly town of Wagtail, Virginia.

Inspired by her German heritage, Holly's grandmother has arranged for Wagtail to have a Christkindl Market packed with goodies and decorations for the howliday tourists. But Holly's mood takes an unseasonable turn when she learns that her old flame and childhood friend Holmes Richardson has brought his fiancée home - and she'll be staying at the Sugar Maple Inn....

A love triangle becomes the last thing on Holly's mind when her Jack Russell Trixie's nose for trouble leads her to the corpse of a pet clothing tycoon. Now Holly and her dedicated detectives - Trixie and Twinkletoes the cat - must sniff out the killer to keep Christmas from going to the dogs....

©2017 Cristina Ryplansky (P)2017 Tantor

A fun trip to Wagtail

It is Christmas in Wagtail, and Holly Miller is busy getting ready for her first celebration of the holiday in Not a Creature Was Purring by Krista Davis. A few days before Christmas, Holly's Oma, which is German for grandmother, and her best friend, Rose, break the news to Holly that the Thackleberry family are coming to Wagtail for Christmas. Not sure what ominous warning this entails, Holly is taken aback to learn that they are the family of the fiancee of Holmes, Rose's grandson and the man Holly is in love with. When Dale Thackleberry arrives, Holly is delighted by this kind, giving man who has been sending lots of presents to Wagtail to deliver to children around the community. Dale owns the Thackleberry company that makes decorative clothes for dogs. But most of his family does not take after Dale's generosity. His wife, Vivian, steals the tip money that Dale has left on the resistant restaurant table. His grandson Blake behaves lazy and disdainful of everything around him. Granddaughter Norma Jean, Holmes's fiancee, has such expensive, highbrow tastes that she will only drink Mistletoe Cactus Dew, which comes from the water in the rainforest that lands on the cacti and thus never touches land. No one from Wagtail approves of Norms Jean for Holmes.

As Christmas draws closer, Holly gets summoned to the house of a new resident who has been bothering the town with a giant Grinch in his yard that plays loud music and uses a spotlight. While there, Trixie, Holly's Jack Russell terrier, follows her habit of finding bodies by locating Dale, hidden stabbed inside the Grinch. And all his odious family can do is fight over his money. But it turns out that there is less of that than anyone expected. And it comes out that Holly's Aunt Bertie, usually a cranky old woman, has actually been having an affair with Dale for years. However, he has been afraid to serve her with his divorce papers because of the fact that she has a bad heart. So could Aunt Bertie be the murderer?

This book takes us on a wild ride throughout the town of Wagtail, as Holly tries to work on solving the murder with the only police officer in the town. The plot has some creative touches in the mystery and keeps up guessing as we go, giving us first one and then another suspect in the case.

The characters in the book also are creative. I enjoyed seeing Holmes and finally getting to meet his fiancee, who shows herself to be a real piece of work. The character of Blake, aka, The Blakester, also evokes strong feelings. In addition, Holly's dog, Trixie, and cat, Twinkletoes, are as realistic of characters as the humans. I did wish that the book had described Oma's dog, who is mentioned without even stating her breed, let alone giving any further descriptions of the dog.

It was a lot of fun to visit the town of Wagtail again. It is so delightful to see all the animals that get along, even though I don't see that working realistically in real life. Too much conflict would arise with so many animals who are strangers to each other but exist in such close proximity to each other. But for the purposes of this book, Wagtail is a wonderful, imaginative place. I just wish that we could have spent more time visiting the town instead of being given the assumption that we know everything about the town. Some readers might not even have visited Wagtail before, so they likely would not have been as able to appreciate the book as a regular visitor to Wagtail. In addition, the ambiance of the town adds real sparkle to the books.

Elise Arsenault does a good job of performing this audiobook and serving as a tour guide to Wagtail. She has such a happy- sounding voice that she is highly suited to reading the book for us. I find her to be an effective narrator.

I really had fun listening to Not a Creature Was Purring. My trip to Wagtail left me a little disappointed in getting to see the details of the town. But I did really appreciate the interesting mystery. I give the book four stars.

Christmas in Wagtail

This is the Christmas installment of Paws and Claws. Another fun mystery that Trixie and Twinkletoes help Holly solve the latest murder. Holly also has to deal with Holmes fiancé and family. Lots of twists and turns. Krista Davis always surprises and keeps your attention. Love her Paws and Claws stories.

If I could give more than 5 stars, I would

I have always loved this series, but this book is my favorite so far. I REALLY want to live in Wagtail. It's a magical place and perfect for animal lovers like me. The characters are so familiar that I felt like I was going home for the holidays. I enjoyed seeing a little bit of the softer side of Aunt Bertie. Homes' fiance is a spoiled little princess and her family members give dysfunctional a whole new meaning. The mystery was very well crafted - I didn't figure out the murderer until the end. And the ending of this story was perfect! It was just what I was hoping for. Cannot wait for the next in this series!!

Christmas murder mystery

Krista is definitely getting better with the storyline as the series proceeds. tough to figure out who the murderer was too especially with so many possible suspects. Glad Holms figured out NJs true personality!

I love Wagtail.

I wish Wagtail was a real place. I want to go there with my pets.

Want to Visit

I really would love to visit Wagtale and stay at the Inn. The animals would be so fun to interact with and the town seems so charming. It got me in the mood to go and visit some small town to get in the Christmas spirit. “AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”

Loved it

Such a fun easy read during stressful times. I love all the dogs and cats. I wish there was a real town like Wags!

Solid Cozy Christmas Mystery

This is a feel good mystery even though there is a murder investigation going on in Wagtail. This is the 5th installment in this series and my first. I didn’t feel as if I was missing anything although there is some history mentioned about some of the characters relationships. Loved the pets involvement in solving the crimes.

Call the ASPCA

I really tried to like this series but can’t take it anymore. This book sealed the deal. Argue, Eat, over feed the pets, lose the pets, argue, eat, over feed the pets, lose the pets, argue, eat, over feed the pets, lose the pets, oh and somebody gets killed but who cares…let’s eat and lose the pets again. You have to suspend your grip on reality, use of all but one brain cell and be ok with repetitive use of a lost pet to insert hysteric drama when the story gets boring and repetitive. If you are going to dedicate chapters to how the inn gives every pet a GPS collar and insist on characters losing said pet, I don’t know…maybe use the darn GPS collar…or don’t have pets? The ASPCA needs a swat team to visit this place. I bought these books because I loved the author’s other series but the banality presented here will cause cognitive dissonance. Beware.

Stiff writing

I know there are millions that love stuff. For me the only thing worse then the story and the writing, was the narration. She probably reads the whole series and everyone loves her. Hahaha