[Book Review]: A Cat Lover’s Guide to Murder by Catherine Wimpeney

About the Book

Genre: Cosy Crime, Drama

Publisher: Northodox Press

Release Date: 6th June 2024

YOUNG LOVE USUALLY HAS A BEGINNING AND AN END

For Anabelle, it began when she met Graham at high school. And never ended. Years later, Bella lives next door to Graham, who doesn’t acknowledge their past. Still, she cleans his house, cooks the occasional meal, and sometimes, when he’s away on business, sleeps in his bed. Bella is content with the arrangement and fawns over her cat, Sir Trevor, like the replacement child she never had…

When divorcee, Angela Maynard, moves to the street and sets up a psychotherapy practice from home, she grows close with Graham and Bella’s cosy routine is threatened. One morning a woman accidentally arrives at Bella’s door for her rst therapy session with Angela. Which is when the seed of an idea implants itself. A er all, Angela has taken so much from her and how hard can therapy be?

Posing as Angela, Bella starts to deliver her own style of therapy.

About the Author

Catherine Wimpeney was born and raised in Manchester. Her Sister’s Shadow is her debut novel. After leaving Marple High School Catherine worked as a mental health nurse. In 1991 she completed a degree in Psychology and subsequently qualified as a Psychotherapist. She has now retired from therapy and currently works in the family business of Lightning Protection.

Her writing keeps her connected to the field of mental health and Catherine is drawn to reading and writing in the moody psychological suspense genre.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CWimpeney

My review

4* Stars

A Cat Lover’s Guide to Murder, a cosy crime novel I couldn’t miss. Not only because I wanted to take a short break from hard-boiled thrillers and historical fiction and read something slow-burning and cosy at this time of the year, but also because one of the main characters is… a cat.

Set in Stockport’s (Greater Manchester) quiet neighbourhood, the story is told through the eyes of Anabelle (Bella) Pearson, a forty-something-year-old single lady who leaves alone with her British Blue, Sir Trevor, and is madly in love with her next door neighbour, Graham. She looks after Graham’s house when he’s away, occasionally cleans and cooks for him, and… even sleeps in his bed, still half-dreaming, half-reminiscing about their past relationship which Graham doesn’t acknowledge. With no family, no friends, and no job, Bella spends her time gardening, nurturing her “baby” Sir Trevor, and longing for Graham’s attention.

When an attractive psychologist, Angela Maynard, moves next door to Graham, Bella feels like her cosy environment is threatened. To make matters worse, Angela hates cats. She has almost run over Sir Trevor – a thing that Bella can’t forgive.

An opportunity for revenge presents itself, and Bella, hesitating at first, starts to deliver therapy sessions, posing as Angela.

Although this book falls into the cosy genre, it’s not an easy, superficial read. It deals with such deeply emotional topics like love, grief, loss, PTSD, and animal’s death.

Delivering sessions for her “clients”, Bella delves deeper and deeper into her own physiological issues: her difficult relationship with her mother, death of her parents, acceptance of her body, Graham’s betrayal, etc. Listening to her “patients” problems brings back half-forgotten, painful memories of the car accident which left scars not only on Bella’s face and body, but on her soul, too. It seems like delivering the sessions for the others, Bella not only helping them, but also herself, eventually making friends with some of her “patients” and becoming more open to the world.

It was hard to read about Sir Trevor’s illness and Bella’s grief over him. As a cat lady myself, I totally understand Bella’s motifs.

The author gives readers a thorough exploration of human emotions in all their complexity, asking difficult questions. Is love for our pets worth more than compassion to people? Do animals deserve more love and respect than some humans?

In Graham’s case, even Sir Trevor has more charisma and character than he does. Graham seems weak and cowardly. He takes Bella’s help for granted, allowing Angela to make cruel jokes about her, he moves from one love interest to another easily, forgetting Angela as quickly as he’s once forgotten Bella. Reading the book, I wondered how Bella could fall in love with him at all.

I give the book 4* stars because of its pace at the end. The scenes at the court are too long and repetitive, revealing a reader again and again the information they already know. I find it strange that Bella doesn’t work. She doesn’t charge her “clients” for the sessions either. I wish the author made it a bit clearer how she manages without a source of income.

I recommend this novel to everyone who likes heart-warming, cosy reads with an element of mystery and, of course, who loves cats.

Purchase Links:

Northodox Press:

https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/cat-lover-s-guide-to-murder-ebook

Amazon: