Book Review: Words with Fiends by Ali Brandon

Blurb: Brooklyn bookstore owner Darla Pettistone and her oversized black cat, Hamlet, have solved a few complicated capers. But after a recent brush with danger, Darla needs to get Hamlet out of a feline funk….

Lately, Hamlet hasn’t been chasing customers or being his obnoxious self—something Darla surprisingly misses. Concerned, she hires a cat whisperer to probe Hamlet’s feline psyche and then decides to get out of her own funk by taking up karate to learn how to defend herself in case the need arises again.

But when Darla finds her sensei dead at the dojo, it seems that even a master can be felled by foul play. Darla decides to investigate the matter herself, and the promise of a mystery snaps Hamlet out of his bad mood. After all, Darla may be the sleuth, but Hamlet’s got a black belt in detection….

My Review: When I first read the blurb for this book and saw that it centered around Darla's involvement with yoga, to be perfectly honest I wondered if I would enjoy it. It ended up being my favorite book in the series thus far!

In this third Black Cat Bookshop mystery, Darla and Hamlet are still traumatized by the events that took place in A Novel Way to Die. Darla is dealing with it by taking karate classes to learn to protect herself, but Hamlet is just moping around the bookstore not acting like himself at all, leading Darla to contact a cat whisperer, who tells Darla that Hamlet feels that he let her down and needs to prove himself. He gets that chance when Darla and her young employee Robert find the sensei dead at the dojo.

A really fun part of this book is that during Darla's spare time she plays the popular word game Words with Friends. (I'm addicted, are you?) The role that the online game plays in the mystery, especially how Hamlet uses it to communicate to Darla, is extremely clever. Another highlight is Robert's new friend, greyhound Roma, left in his care following the sensei's death. How will Hamlet react to a canine in his life???

This is a sensational cozy mystery series that just gets better and better. I'm looking forward to my next visit to Pettistone's Fine Books to spend time with Darla, James, Robert, Jake and of course the incredibly handsome Hamlet.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher with the request for a review.