I have news for the writers of cozies: it is possible to overdo the cats. Cats are well-known tyrants. They rule their owners and terrorise neighbourhoods, fair enough. But cats that go out to dinner parties with their so-called owners? That is really freaky, and not 'cozy' at all! Fortunately, in the cat-stalked village of Brimfull Coffers, the devious stuff is done by the humans.
Inhabited by a group of crime writing (almost) friends, there is enough jealousy
and mayhem to see the reader through a couple of series. For this adventure,
we have the unfortunate Macho Magee, who has been taken over by the unscrupulous
chick lit author, Cressie Adair. The intruder's moral character is sealed when
it is revealed that she is starving Macho's huge cat, Roscoe. In between creeping
around trying to find food for his pet, Macho teams up with his writer friends
Lorinda and Freddie as a hit and run driver causes havoc in the village. Could
this unspeakable behaviour have anything to do with the arrival of two further
authors each deadly rivals because they base their lucrative fictions on the
same Elizabethan character? Will the ghastly metropolitan Cressie turn out to
be the evil genius, a much maligned victim, or up to no good in ways hitherto
unsuspected? And who gets all the key suspects together in a locked room
and then sets fire to it? All is revealed, and not many despatched, in Retreat
from Murder. Despite a little too much from the cats, I can't wait to meet
the inhabitants of this English village again.
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Susan Rowland
Marian Babson is the author of more than 40 books.