Tortie Shorties on Mystery Monday: Miss Cuddlywumps Investigates Books 1 & 2

Meows from Mudpie!

Last year our favorite "new to us" cat cozy mystery was Mandy Morton's Hettie Bagshot series. Now we've fallen madly in love with another fictional feline, Roby Sweet's Miss Cuddlywumps. (Who is also an incredible blogger, by the way.)

In fact, we loved Miss Cuddlywumps' first book so much Mommy did something unheard of...she started reading book 2 immediately! (She never reads two books from the same series consecutively. Nor does she binge watch any TV shows. Her attention span is very short.)

Here are our reviews of books 1 and 2...and as soon as you finish reading them head over to the Kindle store and tap your paw on the "Buy Now" button!!!

A Bump in the Road (Miss Cuddlywumps Investigates) by Roby Sweet

From the publisher: Rory Roberts is happy with her quiet life. She’s single, forty-something, and lives in the sleepy town of Brooksford, MD, population 227, where the latest excitement is the debate over speed bumps. With a cozy cottage to call home and her lifelong best friend right next door, what more could she want or need?

Certainly not a cat.

But she becomes intrigued with the fluffy-tailed calico she meets at a neighbor’s house and agrees to take the cat home, just to see how it goes. In short order, the calico, whom she names Miss Cuddlywumps (a.k.a. Miss C), has taken over Rory’s life and Rory begins to fear she is becoming one of those “cat people.”

Miss C, though, is no average cat: She is a classically educated feline who can quote ancient texts and solve mysteries. When she witnesses the violent murder of a speed-bump advocate outside Rory’s front door, Miss C must use all of her education and wits to identify the killer before her new person becomes the next victim.

Tortie Shorties Review: When Rory attends her neighborhood book club meeting she never expects to go home with a cat, but that's exactly what happens when the beautiful calico her host is fostering takes a liking to her. Cassandra Cat is grieving the loss of her person Professor Eleanor who she'd lived with since kittenhood. They were constant companions, spending their time together grading papers and reading mysteries late into the night. Those days are gone forever, and now with Rory she has a new name (Miss Cuddlywumps, Miss C for short) and she fears her brain will soon turn into mush thanks to the mindless television Rory is so obsessed with.

Life has completely changed for Rory too, as suddenly she's woken by 5 every morning for breakfast followed by cuddle time on the couch reading the newspaper she's now forced to subscribe to. She finds herself making trips to the big box pet store buying expensive cat food, kitty condos, even a stroller and new desk to accommodate Miss C's bed! But their new life together is soon thrown into a turmoil when late one night while looking out the front window Miss C witnesses the grisly hammer murder of local banker Don Miller. While it appears the motive for murder is the debate over speed bumps through town, a series of robberies has everyone baffled. Thankfully for everyone the mystery-loving Miss C is on the case, and thanks to her stroller she has wheels enabling her to get out and about to conduct her investigation!

This book and these characters are pure delight from start to finish. It's impossible not to fall in love with Miss C. Memories of her time with Professor Eleanor are heartbreaking because pets grieve just as we do, yet alternatively the time she spends whipping Rory into shape as a first time cat owner is hysterical (and *so* true.) The killer's capture is extremely dramatic and had me on the edge of my seat. If you love cozy mysteries starring fantastic feline characters, Miss Cuddlywumps will leave your purring with joy!

The Ides of October (Miss Cuddlywumps Investigates) by Roby Sweet

From the publisher: Rory Roberts has problems. Her restless nights are filled with nightmares as she prepares to testify at the trial of the man who tried to murder her. She's lost a good friend in her town's mayor, who just happens to be married to that man who tried to murder her. Everyone seems to think she's "getting friendly with the sheriff," which is more fantasy than truth.

And now someone is sending letters threatening her and her cat.

U and ur dum cat better shut up or DIE!, the first letter reads. Rory wants to think it's a joke, but her cat, a fluffy-tailed calico she calls Miss Cuddlywumps (a.k.a. Miss C), knows better. Fortunately for them both, Miss C is a classically educated feline who is also well versed in mysteries. Rory tries to play detective as the threats escalate, but once again, it is mostly up to Miss C to sort through the suspects and identify the one person with wicked intent...before anything truly devastating happens.

Tortie Shorties Review: This book picks right up where A Bump in the Road left off with repercussions still being felt around town. Rory is experiencing the hardest time between having nightmares and the unintended loss of a good friend, but things go from bad to worse when a series of threatening notes start arriving in the mail. Rory has her suspicions as to who might be sending them, but Miss C knows she's wrong and can only hope Rory smartens up before both of them end up in serious trouble. Maybe the Agatha Christie novel Rory borrowed from the Little Free Library will help...

Miss C steals the show once again between her keen insight and adorable observations about the world around her. While there isn't a murder to be solved in this mystery the threatening notes (especially towards Miss C) are very frightening and by the end she's forced to save herself from a scary situation.

Long live Miss C!!!

Disclaimer: These are affiliate links which means if you click on one and buy something Mudpie gets a little money for her piggy bank!