Given the perfect opportunity to leave behind Hollywood life after inheriting her late aunt’s estate, Shell MacMillen tries to make a go at a new life in Fox Hollow. When a local woman she recently argued with turns up dead, she is forced to try to clear her name. Who knew that her acting would become real life skills.

What follows is a fun romp with a cat for a sidekick, new friends, and a former co-star Shell delves into the lives of the locals and finds there is no shortage of people who had issues with the deceased.

This new cozy ticks all the right boxes for popular cozy tropes and is the great start to a new series. I am looking forward to seeing how some of the relationships hinted at in this story play out in the overall arc. Extra points for the great name of Shell’s new business.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

Chishell McMillan moves from LA to Connecticut after her elderly aunt dies and leaves her a house and pet store. Chishell (or Shell for short) leaves behind an acting career and a failed love affair. Her fiance cheated on her with a scipt girl, creating all sorts of celebrity gossip. That's when she knew she needed to exit stage left and change her life. Connecticut, a small town, and running a pet store sounded perfect. She arrives in town just in time to have an altercation with the town's cantankerous, controlling old biddy. As if that isn't bad enough, she then discovers a dead body and is a suspect in a murder case. An old friend from her old life comes in to help her investigate before she's behind bars for a murder she didn't commit.

I loved the two Cat Rescue series books I read by T.C. LoTempio so jumped right on this new series. But I never really connected with Shell. I liked her friend and acting partner Gary better. Not sure why exactly. I just didn't "click'' with Shell. At one point she threatens to "press charges'' about a situation that isn't really that big of a deal and not really something that really warrants a formal complaint. It felt like a bit of a contrived plot point to create animosity between two characters so that the plot could continue.....didn't really gel with me. I was like "File charges with who? And for what?" Just didn't work for me.

All in all, I liked the story. It just wasn't a "wow'' for me. The mystery followed the usual cozy formula...girl inherits property, moves to a new town, sees sexy cop, finds dead body, girl is suspect and investigates, etc etc etc. I've read many, many similar cozies. I did like the premise of a known actor being the main character. The cats were a plus -- love them both! And I like the quirky side characters. So, I liked it....didn't love it. I will definitely be reading the next book to see if with a little character development I might feel more on board with Shell.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Midnight Ink via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

Crishell "Shell" McMillan has decided to give up acting when her TV series gets cancelled. Her aunt has just passed away and left Shell her pet shop - the Purr N' Bark. Shell has lots to do before the re-opening, but being a suspect in a murder investigation wasn't on her list. Shell was upset one of the museum board members didn't want to display her late aunt's collection of Cary Grant posters due to a long-standing feud, but it seems to be the perfect set-up for someone to get away with murder.

This had potential but just lacked that special something that could put it over the top. I liked the idea of a retired young actress inheriting her aunt's pet shop in a small town. I loved that there are two cats, but their behaviour wasn't always catlike, it was forced and that takes away from the flow of the story. It was easy to read, fun and I'll keep my eyes open for the second in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Midnight Ink for an ARC. ( )

This cozy mystery is the first installment of a new series featuring former actress and pet shop heiress Crishell McMillan. "Shell" inherited her shop, the Purr N Bark Pet Shop, from her grandmother.

The murder to be solved did not occur until page 100 of this 296 page book. For me, that is way too late for a whodunnit to be successful. Also, when a series is about a shop, the shop should be featured in the story. The Purr N Bark Pet Shop was rarely mentioned as it had not opened for business yet. The reader does not know what type of series this is going to be when the supposed setting for it has not been introduced. We don't know the decor, the characters who work there, and how the business is woven into the sleuthing. I think this is a fatal flaw for the series but we shall wait and see what book number two turns out to be. As for the two cats mentioned in the back cover summary of the novel, they were only involved in the plot to greet the protagonist when she came home in the evening. I don't know why they were even mentioned in the summary.

The main problem that I had with this book was that the conflict between the main character and her adversaries was based on an unrealistic premise. I can forget the other problems with the book and view this as a stand alone novel. What I cannot do is get interested in a plot that is based on a person being upset that a charity will not allow her to exhibit her vintage movie posters one their premises. Any one who takes offense at that has psychological problems. Unless the author wants to take us on a murderous rage, this plot falls flat. ( )

This is a classic cozy mystery and a good start to the new "Purr N Bark Pet Shop Mystery" series by author, T.C. LoTempio. The two felines appearing on the book's front cover were what first caught my attention and they are a playful pair, for sure. The main protagonist, Crishell ("Shell") McMillan, is an L.A. actress known to most by her stage name, Shell Marlowe, and t.v. spy, Hermione DuVal. Shell's Aunt Tillie recently passed away two days after the t.v. program got canceled. As Aunt Tillie had no children, it was not a total surprise that her aunt's home and pet store business were left to Shell. So Shell snuffed out her foot-candles, retired from Hollywood and settled into small-town, Fox Hollow. In addition to the real-estate, Shell surprisingly inherited her aunt's one-eyed Persian, Purrday, which was carefully introduced to Shell's coffee colored seal point, Kahlua. Feline detente was soon established and the relaunch of the Purr & Bark pet shop commenced.

Soon after, Shell has a public run-in with a leading member of the local museum board of directors. Shell is later summoned by this woman to the museum on a Sunday morning. Upon approaching the museum offices, Shell discovers the woman dead on the library floor and suddenly becomes a person of interest and front page fodder for the local paper. Shell figures the best way to get back on track for the shop's grand re-opening is to solve the murder and clear her name, and so the sleuthing begins.

This is certainly a light and humorous read with civilian characters having an inordinate amount of unrealistic participation in the detective work. It is a cozy mystery, after all. Personally, I prefer a bit more real world police procedural added to my cozies where the local constabulary reluctantly rely on the assistance of the book's protagonist. The sleuths in this book are instructed to stay out of it and of course they do not nor are they arrested for interfering in the investigation.

The character development is good and their interplay classic. The small New England village is well laid out with all the charm and tourist attractions one would hope for that setting. You catch a whiff of the steaming lattés served in the town's café and taste the richness of a true Reuben sandwich at a local pub restaurant where the town's residents all seem to hang out.

All in all, this was a charming light read for in between the heavier novels. Will I seek out further installments in this series?...maybe. ( )