The Cat, the Corpse & the Quilt
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The Cat, the Wife & the Weapon by Leann Sweeney |
| (Obsidian, $7.99, NV) ISBN 978-0-451-23647-0 |
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| Quilter Jillian Hart has returned home to Mercy, South Carolina, after visiting craft fairs and cat shows selling her creations, cat quilts. Her three cats, Syrah, Merlot and Chablis are glad to be home as is Jillian, though she is worried that her boyfriend Tom has not been picking up his phone and was seen leaving town in his car with a strange man in a hurry. When Jillian goes to Tom’s house to see if he is there, she finds his brother, one she didn’t know he had, and doesn’t find Tom’s diabetic cat Dashiell.
When she finds Dashiell, he is close to death, but Jillian is able to get him to the vet in time. When she returns to her house, she finds Tom in her basement shower, a bit worse for the wear, with a story of being kidnapped by his former partner Nolan who is now married to Tom’s ex-wife Hillary. Realizing there is a lot about Tom that she doesn’t know, Jillian settles in for a long story. What she learns that disturbs her most is that Hillary had a young son when Tom was married to her that he hated to leave behind in the divorce because he felt Hillary wasn’t very maternal. Finn is now eighteen and missing. Tom and Jillian find Finn on the road to Mercy, covered in blood with no memory of the last twenty-four hours. With a gun that Finn claims is not his in a backpack, and rat terrier Yoshi in tow. Jillian’s best friend, Deputy Candace brings Tom to the police station when his car is found crashed with Nolan, shot, in the front seat. The gun in Finn’s possession matches the bullet and wound in Nolan, but the evidence says that Finn was in the car when it crashed and did not pull the trigger. Now Hillary descends on Mercy and Tom’s mother Karen gets involved as she has always favored Finn, and a man shows up claiming to be Finn’s father, a father he never knew, creating chaos in the small Southern town, and bringing a murderer into their midst. A fun-filled series, this entry brings Tom and Jillian’s relationship into focus as his past is explored and brought into the present. Jillian, a young widow, is independent and has developed and maintained a relationship with her adult stepdaughter, and is exploring a new relationship with Tom. She is passionate about animals, cats specifically, and supports a local shelter run by friends.
Carefully plotted, there are several mysteries for Jillian to solve with plenty of red herrings and suspects, all leading her closer to Tom and a new chapter in both their lives as Jillian learns about Tom’s past, a past he is now able to put behind him.
--Jennifer Monahan Winberry |
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