when irish eyes see a murder

Charlie Harris and his wife Helen Louise Brady are enjoying their honeymoon in Ireland. After several days in Dublin, they head to County Clare, where Helen Louise has family. Her cousins run a bed-and-breakfast at Castle O’Brady where they can stay, even with their beloved cat Diesel, who was allowed to make the trip with them. But as they’re pulling up to the house, a body falls from the top of the castle. Helen Louise stops the car and gets out to see it’s her 100-year-old Uncle Finn.

As Charlie meets the cousins and staff at the castle, Helen Louise is heartbroken at the death of her uncle. And as Charlie has some experience with investigating, the family asks him to look into the death. Was it murder? Was it an accident? How did Finn get up to the roof in the first place? It was well known that he was a man who didn’t lie heights.

Helen Louise’s cousin Lorcan is set to become the new Baron and take over the estate, so of course Charlie has to consider that as a motive. But Lorcan was already running the estate and was in line to inherit, so unless there is some reason to speed up the process, Lorcan doesn’t have a reason to kill Finn. And Charlie can’t see a reason for that. So that means he has to consider everyone else in the castle at the time of their appearance.

When a threat shows up on their bathroom mirror, Charlie and Helen Louise have to decide whether or not to keep investigating. But then help shows up in the form of a ghost. A ghost cat, to be exact. Fergal appears to Charlie and offers up purrs of encouragement before disappearing again. But when another body is discovered, will ghost purrs be enough to help Charlie put the pieces together? Or will Charlie, Helen Louise, and Diesel have to head back home with no answers?

Something Whiskered is book 17 in Miranda James’s charming Cat in the Stacks Mysteries. I loved the Irish setting for this one, but it was challenging to keep track of all the new characters and how they fit together. I enjoyed watching Charlie piece everything together, but the ending was a little disappointing. Everything got wrapped up, but the way they did it wasn’t as satisfying as many of these mysteries have been. I did love Fergal. I thought the addition of a ghost cat was a lot of fun, and I found his purrs just as comforting as Charlie did. Something Whiskered is an interesting trip to Ireland, but after this trip, I’m not sure I’ll want to travel there with Charlie, Helen Louise, and Diesel again.

Egalleys for Something Whiskered were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.