The Bengal Identity

January 15, 2018
A New Jersey cat groomer asked to take on a particularly needy client realizes she may be harboring a fugitive cat.Proud of her cat-lady ways, Cassie McGlone has recently returned to her hometown of Chadwick. The highlight of the new life she's forging is her grooming and boarding business, Cassie's Comfy Cats. She and employee Sarah Wilcox love being able to care for animals, and Cassie especially enjoys teaching others cat facts that may help them understand their feline companions better. When new client Rudy Pierson comes to Cassie's shop with an emergency boarding request, Cassie and Sarah aren't sure how to handle it. Rudy tells them that there's been a fire at his house and he needs immediate boarding for Ayesha, his large, active cat. But he can't provide any paperwork to show that Ayesha is his or veterinary records to fill in her medical background. Because Rudy seems so desperate, Cassie can't help but agree, even grooming Ayesha's unusual brown fur. During the grooming, Cassie sees that Ayesha is spotted and that her fur may actually be dyed. That discovery, combined with Rudy's subsequent disappearance, sets off alarm bells. Could Rudy be trafficking purebreds, and is Ayesha actually a Bengal? When the police find an unidentified body, Cassie gets in touch with her detective friend, Angela Bonelli, and the two realize that Rudy has been murdered, bolstering Cassie's theory. As in The Persian Always Meows Twice (2017), Cassie feels compelled to learn the truth, this time to ensure that Ayesha is returned to her rightful owners, all with the help of her boyfriend, Dr. Mark Coccia--assuming that he can tear himself away from the cute new office hire in his veterinary practice.A warm, wholesome cat cozy, perhaps a tad preachy, whose biggest flaw is the multiple climaxes that drag out an obvious ending.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from February 19, 2018
Chadwick, N.J., cat groomer Cassie McGlone reluctantly accepts an unusual-looking large brown feline, Ayesha, for emergency boarding from a nervous customer, Rudy Pierson, in Watkins’s first-rate sequel to 2017’s The Persian Always Meows Twice. As Cassie and her assistant, Sarah Wilcox, bathe Ayesha, her true colors are exposed, and it becomes clear she’s a valuable show cat. Talk of a large cat having attacked a dog and even a young child nearby raises the question: could the culprit have been Ayesha? Car problems send Cassie to the local garage, where smarmy mechanic Todd Gillis is hyperinterested in her and Ayesha, but he and his cool classic car soon disappear. Meanwhile, Rudy turns up dead, and Det. Angela Bonelli lets Cassie in on the growing investigation. Dr. Mark Coccia, Cassie’s romantic interest, also lends a hand. Solving this mystery may cut short more than their relationship. It doesn’t take a cat lover to fall in love with this perfectly crafted cozy series. Agent, Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency.