How lucky am I to get a first peek into this brand new kitty-themed mystery series! I came home from another long day at work only to find an advance manuscript sitting on my doorstep. Ah the perks of book blogging! The book doesn’t drop until Dec. 2, but you can score an ARC (that’s book blogger talk for advance reader copy) by entering my giveaway contest.  Just name your favorite sub shop sandwich in the comment section below and the winner will be picked at random!

So what do sandwiches have to do with the book? Well as with many cozies, this Nick & Nora series revolves around a quaint shop in a charming little hamlet filled with colorful characters and small town charm. In this case, it’s a family-run sandwich shop in a sleepy little corner of Northern California. Our leading lady, Nora Charles, returns to her hometown to take over her mother’s sandwich shop after a long, exhausting stint on the Chicago Tribune crime beat. Her quiet life of sandwich artistry lasted about 10 minutes until she found herself smack dab in the middle of a cold case mystery involving the curious death of socialite Lola Granger.  Just goes to show, you can take the girl out of the crime beat, but you can’t take the crime beat out of the girl!

As she probes into the Lola’s mysterious cruise ship drowning, she finds more questions than answers. Why would someone with an irrational fear of the ocean jump off a cruise ship in the middle of the night? And how is Lola’s missing sister connected to all this? Is the smoking-hot Paul Walker lookalike detective really trying to help? Or does he have ulterior motives for keeping tabs on Nora’s sleuthing?

Adding to the mystery is the appearance of a portly little tuxedo cat on Nora’s doorstep.  She tries to shoo him away, but he’s intent on being her cat. Of course she succumbs to his cuteness and allows him to rule the sandwich shop.  How could she not? Turns out, he isn’t your ordinary alley cat. In fact, he once belonged to a private investigator who was looking into Lola’s murder mystery. With his uncanny talent for sleuthing, Nick uses Scrabble tiles to literally spell out clues for Nora.  He even warns her when she’s about to put her life at risk. How’s that for a kitty sidekick?!

Everything comes together in the end, but yet I’m still plagued with questions about the cat. How did he know to find Nora when she was hot on the case? And what is with his resemblance to his former owner? Is this a case of reincarnation or soul transference? I guess I’ll have to read the next book to find out!

I highly recommend this one to all my fellow kitty cozy mystery lovers.  Heck, even if you don’t like cats (which is crazy by the way), you’ll enjoy this book. There are plenty of suspects to consider and even a hot little romance simmering between Nora and the hot detective. I especially enjoyed Nora’s psychic best friend, Chantel, who was constantly torturing Nick with her fussy blinged-out kitty collars. I sure would love for her to make one for my Gizzy!

What’s your favorite sandwich? Post a comment and tell me all about it. Giveaway closes on Friday, Nov. 28.