Book Review & Giveaway: Borrowed Crime by Laurie Cass

About the book: Librarian Minnie Hamilton spreads the joy of reading throughout Chilson, Michigan, with her bookmobile, but she doesn’t ride alone. Her rescue cat, Eddie, and a group of volunteers are always on board to deliver cheer—until one of her helpers gets checked out for good...

When Minnie loses a grant that was supposed to keep the bookmobile running, she’s worried her pet project could come to its final page. But she’s determined to keep her patrons—and Eddie’s fans—happy and well read. She just needs her boss, Stephen to see things her way, and make sure he doesn’t see Eddie. The library director doesn’t exactly know about the bookmobile’s furry co-pilot.

But when a volunteer dies on the bookmobile’s route, Minnie finds her traveling library in an even more precarious position. Although the death was originally ruled a hunting accident, a growing stack of clues is pointing towards murder. It’s up to Minnie and Eddie to find the killer, and fast—before the best chapter of her life comes to a messy close…

I love the Bookmobile Cat mysteries as much as I love cats and books! Whenever I find a mystery series that merges the two things I am most passionate about I just could not be happier.

In this third book in the series Minnie and Eddie have moved into her aunt's boarding house for the winter. Back on the bookmobile Minnie is stuck dealing with volunteer-extraordinaire and uber-annoying Denise riding shotgun. Days later Denise sends her husband Roger out in her place and before the day is over he's gunned down when the bookmobile stops to make a pit stop. It's the beginning of hunting season and the blame initially falls on an irresponsible hunter, but Minnie soon begins to wonder if Denise had been the intended target. Roger's sister decides to sue the library and the library board threatens to park the bookmobile permanently, leading Minnie to hunt for the killer herself in order to save her beloved livelihood.

In addition to the mystery Minnie is dealing with relationship issues with her ER doc boyfriend (I really don't understand what she sees in him...he's allergic to cats, for crying out loud!) and a new neighbor across the street from her aunt's boarding house who acts very strangely. She's also forced to seek help from her library co-workers to find out if her boss Stephen has discovered that Eddie is a fixture on the bookmobile. Borrowed Crime was a fast-paced page-turner that had me guessing until the last dramatic scenes.

If you're like me and find your bliss in cats and books, this is a series that will make you purr with delight.

Check out Truffles' interview with Eddie here.

Giveaway: Leave a comment by noon eastern on Wednesday, March 11th, for your chance to win a copy of Borrowed Crime. (US entries only, please.)