Customer Reviews

Catnapped (Animal Instinct Mysteries, No. 1)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Catnapped is a fun and fast-paced mystery. I loved the interesting characters and the humor was great--keep me laughing all the way through. Complicated plot, fun characters, and humor--my kind of book!

I almost didn't pick up this book at the store because it looked somewhat quirky. However, it was a very fun read. There were several parts that made me laugh aloud, causing stares in my direction! The best part was when Sara ends up at the hospital and, being afraid to call her husband, has the hospital call her friend who says he's her husband and that Sara is mad at him because he wanted 6 kids! Then, when the erroneous REAL husband shows up, she covers by saying that she is a pathelogical liar! I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Sara Townley, the investigator for a high profile Seattle law firm, is assigned the job of finding Flash, a cat worth two million dollars. After spending hours on the phone calling pounds and humane societies, she visits the home of multimillionaire Stuart Masterton of Masterton Enterprises, who has not been seen for a while either. Sara talks to Jeff Randall, who is living on the estate as Flash's caretaker. He called the lawyers and explained to Sara he searched the neighborhood, put up flyers and questioned the neighbors. She assures him they will find Flash and he will keep his cushy job.

When she gets home, the Navy Seal Connor she married after knowing him for only a week is there. He had to report to duty after they tried the knot and she hasn't seen him for four months and almost forgot she was married. When Jeff calls telling her a man called with information about Flash she runs out of the house to meet him. What she finds in the alley is a dead body and ends up with a concussion when she knocks her head against a policeman's chin. Connor picks her up and tells her they will work as a team, which turns out to be a good idea as they deal with a missing man, embezzlement, law suits and a killer who has no qualms about getting rid of anyone who gets in his way,

CATNAPPED is a delightful charming mystery that will appeal to readers who don't like blood and gore in their whodunits but demand a good story. It is hard to accept that Gabriella Herbert makes her debut with this cozy because it is so complex and multi-layered, and filled with fully developed characters who readers will love or hate. With no twists clues that lead in a straight path to more clues, the fun in this tale are the relationship between the sleuths and the myriad of suspects tat changes as more evidence surfaces.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this book and the following one in the series. The main character is hilarious! The people in her life compliment her zany views, from her over-the-top best friend, anal-retentive boss, and her 'i just met him in Vegas and we got married' Navy Seal husband. All of these characters unite (with a cat) in a 'who dunnit' that keeps you guessing.

Catnapped (Animal Instinct Mysteries, No. 1)
I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to more by Ms Herkert. I had a little trouble remembering all the characters but thought it was worth reading.

This was a great book for those that like stories centered on pets. It kept my attention and moved along really well. I would recommend this book.

entertaining!!! Although I found the beginning a bit slow, when the pace picked up, it went into high gear---forcing me to finish it as quickly as possible, simply because I could not figure out whodunit!!!

My criteria for a fun mystery read was more than met in this first of what I hope will be a great series..good characters (quirks and all) who are truly friends and a wonderful and new marriage (as I may have said before (quirks and all). And there will be some guffaws to go around as well...so I say--what could be bad??? Try it and I think you'll like it.

I didn't discover Sue Grafton until a few of her books were out so I could go back and immerse myself in the growth of her characters. That made waiting for each new book a bit easier. By now, Kinsey is an old friend I visit each year. The same with some others in this genre.

"Heroine" Sara Townley is like an interesting new friend who is launching her career and life by jumping right in. Now that I've met her, I'm eager to read more and see just what she gets herself into (and out of) next in Doggone.

Catnapped is an enjoyable romp with Sara as she pursues the mystery of the missing $2-million heir--a cat! Tracking through the litter box of her personal and professional life, she explores romance, friendship, murder and mayhem. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.
Heidi Thomas, Cowgirl Dreams (coming soon)
www.heidimthomas.com

This is the first book in Gabriella Herkert's `Animal Instinct Mystery' series.

There are a slew of cutesy female-sleuth books on the market at the moment.
Most of these series have a particular quirky `hook' to differentiate them. Diana Killain's `Mantra for Murder' mystery series has a yoga-loving protagonist. Judy McCoy's `Ellie Engleman' mystery has a heroine whose occupation is `dog walker'.
Herkert's series doesn't have any particular quirky `hook' except that the protagonist's sleuthing partner is Connor Maknamara. Connor is a NAVY seal and also happens to be Sara's husband - who she married in a Las Vegas quickie wedding.

This is a pretty interesting plot. I liked the idea of a murder mystery unfolding in conjunction to sleuthing newlyweds getting to know one another. But Herkert is extremely frustrating because she doesn't utilize the one unique aspect of her book. Shortly after Sara is assigned to a `catnapping' case her husband turns up on her doorstep. She hasn't seen Connor in the months since their shotgun wedding, and Sara was under the impression that if she were to ever see him again it would be to sign divorce papers.
This is not the case though. Connor is a handsome Adonis, drool-worthy and bizarrely insisting that he and Sara uphold their martial vows.

Herkert never rehashes the night in Las Vegas that Sara and Connor got hitched. There's no flashback and the characters rarely refer to their brief courtship.

Herkert's agent and editor really should have kicked addressed this glaring oversight.
Sara and Connor's relationship feels like a giant omission - and the book is poorer for it. I couldn't even bring myself to care about the murder mystery because I was too disheartened with the lack of information about Sara and Connor and their romance. It's made worse by the lack of smut. I don't always want to read sex scenes just because they're sex scenes - such intimate paragraphs can really heat up the relationship between characters and add depth to their partnership. Where Herkert could have potentially saved the Sara/Connor relationship by at least having them be steamy (if not forthcoming about their past) Herkert shies away from any explicit sex. It's the cinematic equivalent of cutting to a shot of billowing curtains right when the characters get hot n' heavy. All in all the relationship felt hollow and underdeveloped.

It really feels like this is half a book because there is no attention paid to character development or Sara and Connor's evolving relationship.
There's not even a character journey for Sara. Herkert keeps alluding to Sara's dark past, mentioning that she has secrets she can't even share with best friend, Russ - but nothing is ever explicitly mentioned and the tidbits don't tantalize so much as frustrate.

This was, above all else, an exasperating read. So much is left unsaid - to the point that I wasn't concentrating on the mystery plot so much as the plot that was missing. The one thing that could differentiate this series from all the others was a protagonist whose `Watson' was a husband she gained in a shot-gun Vegas wedding. But Herkert mentioned nothing about how these two came to find one another, or why they decide to stay together and tough-out their quickie wedding.

Surprisingly enough I do intend to read the second book `Doggone' - but only because the blurb of that book promises to delve into Connor's family background and hopefully reveal a bit more about him and Sara. I am still hopeful that this storyline will work; I just think `Catnapped' was the worst possible debut for the series.