A Cat Mystery? Of course! I'm In! Check Out - Sofie Ryan's Latest in Second Chance Mystery Series! Fur Love Or Money

 

See First in Series for Background!

Elvis attends meetings

“Are you serious?” Rose asked. “Well, of course I am,” Liz said. “People are already gossiping, speculating that Channing has been involved in helping Ian Stone avoid the authorities for nearly three years and that’s why he was staying at the cottage, which is ridiculous. I won’t have Channing’s name dragged through the mud, and the best way to stop that from happening is to find that young man’s killer and then learn where he’s been, who really was helping him and what happened to the money he swindled from his investors.” I wasn’t sure I agreed with her logic. Finding out who killed Ian Stone wasn’t necessarily going to lead to whoever had helped him fake his own death. However, I didn’t think Liz would be dissuaded if I spoke up.

“I’m afraid the last part isn’t going to be so easy,” Mr. P. said. “People have been looking for Mr. Stone and his money since his purported death.” Liz reached for her tea. “That’s true, Alfred,” she said. “But we haven’t been.” She took a sip from the cup and set it on the table again. “We need to put our heads together.” She looked at Mac. “We’ll need all of your contacts.” Mac nodded. “You have them.” Liz turned her attention to me. “We may need Peter’s connections as well.” “I know Dad will be happy to help,” I said. Peter Kennelly was my stepfather and a former journalist. He’d helped the Angels before on more than one case and I knew without question that he’d help this time. “For the record, I am the client,” Liz said. “Not Channing.”

“No,” Mr. P. said. All heads turned in his direction. “Excuse me?” Liz said. I knew that tone in her voice. So did Mr. P., but he didn’t seem the slightest bit alarmed. “This case is not business, Elizabeth,” he said. “As clichéd as it might be, we are a family—everyone in this room and several more who aren’t here. When one of us or somebody one of us cares about ends up in deep water we throw out a rope and we all, without question, grab that rope and pull.” I liked his metaphor. He looked around the room at each of us, coming to Liz last. “We will clear Channing’s name. I give you my word.” Liz pressed her lips together for a moment before she spoke. “Thank you,” she said. I could see the wheels turning in Rose’s mind. She was already organizing our plan of attack. She turned to Mr. P. “Alf, we need everything you can come up with on Mr. Stone, his business dealings and his so-called death.” “I’m on it, my dear,” he said. She looked at Mac. “See what you can find out that didn’t make the news, please—we need to know who made money with Mr. Stone, who lost it, who if anyone might have helped him and who hated him enough to kill him.” He nodded. “I’ll get started right away.” Rose turned to Liz. “Find out everything you can from Channing about his friendship with Richard Stone and how the rental of the cottage works. I’ll get Charlotte to see what she can find out about Victoria Stone.” “How can I help?” I asked. “You and I are going back to see Ashley and Casey. She may have heard or seen something she didn’t realize the significance of at the time.” “And we can take another look at the crime scene,” I said. I knew the way Rose’s mind worked. She smiled. “Why yes, I guess we may be able to do that, too.” “Thank you, everyone,” Liz said. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and laid my cheek against the top of her head. “Love you, kiddo,” she said. I smiled and gave her the reply she always gave me. “Yeah, yeah, everyone does.” Liz drank the last of her tea, got to her feet and walked over to Mr. P., who had already opened up his laptop. I turned back to Mac. “Apparently ‘knock on plants’ doesn’t work.” He nodded solemnly. “I will file that away for future reference.” “Thank you for saying you’ll use your old contacts to help Liz.” He smiled. “I’m glad I have a way to contribute. And Alfred is right. We are a family.” Rose joined us then. “Could we go see Ashley and Casey tomorrow morning?” she asked. “I don’t see why not,” I said. She smiled and I got the feeling she had just checked that off on a to-do list she kept in her head.

Elvis at Jam

“Do you know if Nicolas will be at the jam?” Nick and I and my friend Jess were regulars at the jam, also known as the Thursday Night Jam at The Black Bear pub. Sam, who owned the place, was also a very talented musician. He and some of his friends got together every Thursday night for a couple of hours of old-style rock and roll. Anyone was welcome to join them.

“Last time I talked to him he said he’d be there,” I said. The only thing that kept Nick away from the jam was work. “Could you bring him up-to-date, please?” Rose asked. I nodded. “Sure. I can do that.” “And keep an ear out for any gossip going around,” she said. “It helps to know the scuttlebutt.” “I can do that, too,” I said. Rose turned her attention to Mac. “Alfred has a couple of questions for you.” “I’ll go talk to him right now,” he said. He looked at me. “Are you going to have lunch before you go back outside?” I nodded. “I’m going to check on Avery and Charlotte first.” “I’ll be there in five minutes,” Rose said. Mac and Rose went over to talk to Mr. P. Liz straightened up and had a brief conversation with Rose. Then she stood in the doorway. I realized she was waiting for me. I needed to check on Charlotte and Avery. “Are you coming to talk to Avery?” I asked. “I am,” she said. “You know how that child is. She doesn’t miss a thing.” “Yeah, I wonder where she learned that?” Liz glared at me but didn’t say anything. There were no customers in the shop. Avery was by herself, rearranging our collection of teacup planters and adding several of the bottles I’d seen her showing her customer earlier. “Hey, Sarah, I sold three of those ugly old vases,” she said. “And no, I didn’t say they were ugly to the customer even though they are.” “I appreciate that,” I said. Like her grandmother, Avery tended to speak her mind, but she was learning—mostly thanks to Charlotte—that sometimes it was better to keep her opinions to herself. Avery glanced up at the ceiling. “Charlotte’s upstairs looking for a bag. She’s taking two teddy bears and a tablecloth home with her. She said the bears are a bit grubby and the tablecloth is limp as a dishrag.” “That’s fine,” I said. We used the teddy bears mostly for décor and every once in a while they needed to be wiped with a damp cloth and brushed because they got handled a lot. As far as the tablecloth went, I should have known I wouldn’t be able to get away with not starching it. I saw Avery shoot her grandmother a quick sideways glance as she moved two teacups to the back of the tabletop. “You know what’s going on,” Liz said. Avery nodded. “Yeah, Nonna, I know.” I guessed that she had eavesdropped on at least part of the meeting. It wouldn’t be the first time. “So what can I do to help?” she asked. “I like Channing, and yes, he told me to call him that and not Mr. Caulfield.” I spoke before Liz could say anything, which I knew would be something about Avery staying out of the investigation. “Keep doing what you already do: listen and pay attention.” Liz’s eyes narrowed. “And what exactly is she going to listen and pay attention to?” “Everything. Anything. People often treat teenagers the same way they treat senior citizens.” “You mean they ignore us,” Avery said. I nodded. “Yes. And sometimes they say things in front of you because they didn’t notice you were there.” Avery nodded. “Yeah, teachers do that all the time. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I’ve heard.” I shot her a warning look. “Which you don’t really need to hear.” “If you hear anything,” I said, “anything—no matter how insignificant you think it is—you tell me or Mr. P. right away. Deal?” “Not to mention me,” Liz added. “And don’t do anything stupid, please,” I added. The teen rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said. “Is this just your way of keeping me out of everything?” I couldn’t help laughing. It was exactly the kind of thing Liz would have said. “No. Give me credit for being smart enough to know that would never work. There’s going to be a lot of gossip about this case. It’ll help if we know some of what people are saying.” A customer came in then and Avery went to help him. I linked my arm through Liz’s. “C’mon, I’ll walk you out,” I said. “Are you sure involving that child is a good idea?” she asked as we made our way back through the workroom. “No, I’m not,” I said. “But one way or another she will end up involved because she loves you. At least this way we have a chance of knowing what she’s doing instead of her sneaking around behind our backs.” I gave her a look. “It’s not that long ago that I was a teenager.”

~~~

I read my first Sofia Ryan novel in 2014 from another series... If you enjoy cats within cozy mysteries, move to the right column and search on the author's name to find all her books I've read--so far! The Second Chance setting is also a wonderful way to get ideas about how to repurpose things that you may think should be discarded--but could be saved by somebody who knows how or just had an interest--and a business--to do the necessary work. 

In many ways, this series goes beyond the average one amateur detective, since as it has evolved, two of the team members have gotten their PI license. But, really, that just made what they were already doing legit! The characters are wonderfully drawn from real life inasmuch as you may identify most of them as being like someone from your own life. The original team included four older citizens who were proving that the active brains of each often far exceeded those of the local police--at least in getting the mystery worked out quickly.

This time, however, was much more difficult. Because the man who had been murdered had already been dead years ago... Yes, I did say that right. You see, the man had faked his death after scamming millions of dollars from many of the people living in the surrounding area. Now, Ian Stone had been found dead in a storm cellar and found when Rose and Sarah were visiting a neighbor, and their dog had run away, only to be found near a large hole where a puppy was trapped... Seeing a ladder laying at the bottom of the hole, Sarah decided she could get down and then use the ladder to come back up with the puppy. While she was down there, she looked at what she thought was probably garbage... But she was curious enough to check, only to find that part of a body was within the garbage bag and then covered with a tarp!

Once the identity had been confirmed, the list of those who could have committed murder was long, but the first obvious one was his ex-wife who was now remarried... She was quickly eliminated, at least by the team but not the police... And even though the police stick with their desire to solve their case, normally they are talking with the team throughout the investigation. After all, this time it was at the request of one of the team, and the team was...all... family!

The number of interviews required could have gotten tedious in another series, but with so much going on in the shop as well as in the area where even dumpster dives are often brought in for their special restoring, it is never boring! Don't be surprised if you will learn a good way to remove, say, stickers from a cabinet...

The mystery gets solved; but, if you are like me when reading a cat mystery, you'll have so much fun just reading what is happening with this fantastic set of characters where work at Second Chance and work on a murder mystery gets so intertwined that you'll forget about whodunit! Cozy lovers, animal enthusiasts, or those who enjoy senior citizen characters are bound to love this one... I recommend you start from the beginning, it's a great series!

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