This is the second book by Lynn Cahoon in the Cat Latimer Mystery series. Just a quick backstory, Cat has inherited a huge Victorian house that she and her ex-husband bought and planned to fix up. In the meantime, she divorced him then found out he was killed. The house reverted to her, mortgage-free. Cat holds writers’ retreats and is starting the second retreat in this book. Lots of mystery and even mentions of the mob are happening in this book.
I would honestly recommend that anyone interested in this series read the first book first. I think you’ll enjoy this one a lot more if you do, and it will make a lot more sense even though the author does a great job of filling in some things that happened at the first retreat.
My review on Goodreads:
Fatality by Firelight by Lynn Cahoon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Cat Latimer and her friends Shauna and Seth (actually he’s her boyfriend now) are gearing up for another hopefully successful writer’s retreat. All Cat wants is a nice week with no murder or crazy excitement going on during the retreat. Apparently that was too much to hope for because while she and her guests are at the first day’s activity, skiing, a local man is found murdered in one of the ski resort’s rooms. Uncle Pete, Cat’s uncle who is with the police department seems very interested in one of the guests who was last seen with the dead man.
Meanwhile a couple of mysterious men are spotted around town, one of which seems to be most interested in Cat herself. She can’t help but think that this man could possibly have some connection to her deceased ex-husband, Michael.
This book was just as exciting as the first one was. Basically, it was one I didn’t want to put down. I do love the idea of Cat trying to move past Michael’s death by using his study more, and also that she’s now in a good place with Seth. He seems so perfect for her. Shauna was her usual fun self and I just love Uncle Pete! The guests were definitely a group of diverse and interesting characters. They will have you wondering (like I did) whether one of them is actually a killer. Or could it be someone from the outside?
I like that some things from the first book are continued through this one, some explained, some not but that’s kind of fun, like a nighttime serial drama. There were a couple of side mysteries and I was right about one of them. I wasn’t totally sure about the killer though but I’m glad it wasn’t the person I had suspected.
Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery 