ARC Review: Nine Lives and Alibis by Cate Conte

Nine Lives and Alibis
Author: Cate Conte
Series: Cat Cafe Mystery (Book 7)
Publication: St. Martin's Paperbacks (August 22, 2023)

Description: In Nine Lives and Alibis, the seventh in Cate Conte's Cat Café beloved cozy mystery series, Daybreak Island is gearing up for Halloween—but this year it seems like it'll be all tricks and no treats.

It’s October in Daybreak Harbor, which means everything Halloween. The town is going all out for the holiday, hoping to one-up the festivities in neighboring Salem, Massachusetts, and Maddie James is delighted to be part of the planning for the annual happenings.

But trouble brews when Maddie’s youngest sister, Sam, books a famous medium, Balfour Dempsey, to come to town for the celebrations and stay in the local haunted inn—along with his equally famous black cat. The town busybody books a secret reading with Balfour and doesn’t want anyone to know why. Maddie’s best friend Becky is hell-bent on getting Balfour to help her solve two 40-year-old mysteries—a murder and a missing maid. And the psychic has a stalker who’s followed him here to the island, demanding he connect with her dead husband.

When Balfour is pushed off the cliffs behind the inn to his death and his beloved cat goes missing, it throws the whole town into a frenzy. And Maddie and her family find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery straight out of a Halloween movie.

My Thoughts: This is the seventh book in the Cat Cafe Mystery series. It is the first I have read, and I enjoyed the variety of characters and the mystery.

Maddie James has recently come home to Daybreak Harbor. She opened a Cat Cafe with a partner and is busy getting back into life on the island. Currently she's working with her mother and sisters to coordinate the local Halloween celebration which they hope will rival Salem's.

After all, they have a haunted inn with a variety of ghosts and they have two unsolved mysteries from forty years earlier which are also still garnering attention. They have hired a psychic named Balfour Dempsey to come to town to be the centerpiece of the festival and to possibly provide insight into the two long unsolved crimes. Balfour's mother is a local who is recently retired but doing some work for the local newspaper.

When Balfour is found at the bottom of a cliff the first night of the festival, Maddie finds herself getting involved in the murder investigation. There are lots of suspects including members of his entourage, a stalker, and locals who aren't at all sure that they want the forty-year-old mysteries solved. 

This was a fun story. I liked the way Maddie uses her local knowledge to learn more about the past. I thought the plot was well-developed and interesting. I liked the way Maddie was a sceptic about the paranormal when everyone around her seemed much more open to believing in ghosts and psychics. 

Favorite Quote:

"What do you mean, the psychic can't stay at the haunted inn? That's kind of the whole point of bringing him here. To do readings at the haunted inn, in the haunted rooms. That's one of the reasons he agreed to come." Did I really need to explain this?

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.