Kat and her mother move to a small town in a cove who needs a veterinarian. Thy are lucky enough that housing is included. Soon, Kat decides to take on pet sitting so she can earn enough to buy her own laptop. She has no idea what trouble that will lead her to...

Farrar, Straus, and Giroux Books for Young Readers and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published October 9th.

Her first customer is a man with a parrot. He has to go on trip and wants her to care for his bird. She agrees. But when she goes to the house the next day, the door isn't shut and she finds his suitcase on the floor only partially packed. She waits the 24 hours needed to turn it in. The suitcase is missing and the cop thinks she may be lying to him. He tends to ignore her.

She's made a new friend (she's taking care of her horse) and they decide to investigate themselves. It's a plot thirty years old with Russians involved and her estranged grandfather in the middle.

It's a good mystery and I liked the interaction between the two girls and the animals. I'd read another in this series.

This one had a bit of a slower start but it wasn't long before we were following along on a great mystery filled with a whole host of interesting animals and humans alike. While I may be an adult now, I still enjoyed this start to a new series and absolutely would have adored it when I was a child obsessed with the likes of Animal Planet and Crocodile Hunter dreaming of maybe one day being a vet.

I enjoyed the complex and diverse family dynamics that were witnessed in this novel as well as the fact that they were not presented in a way that children may not grasp immediately.

The mystery was great and will be a joy to students before they graduate to older books such as Truly Devious, A Study in Charlotte, or Sherlock Holmes.

I would not give this to my younger cousins that are about first grade reading level but I would give it to family friends' children between the ages of 8 and 14.

Can Kat and Harper catch a spy?

Fast, fun, engaging read with a great mystery and strong characters. Kat’s mom is an overworked, underappreciated vet who barely has time for her daughter. When circumstances lead her to quit on the very day their apartment is burglarized while Kat is home alone, Dr. Wolfe takes the opportunity to look for her dream job where she’ll have veterinary work she can feel passionate about again, reasonable hours, and more time and happiness to share with Kat. Little does she know that her choice will lead them both to a supposedly quiet and idyllic seaside town, a vet practice with some very strange customers, a reunion with deliberately lost family, and an international mystery complete with spies and multiple murders.

Kat is quite taken with their new town, new house, and new pet, Tiny, a large F1 Savannah. It will take all of Kat’s animal whispering skills to befriend the cat, and she relishes the challenge. But she has hardly started when she is sidetracked by the first customer of her pet-sitting business disappearing. It’s up to Kat and her new friend Harper to uncover what’s happened with Ramon, because no one else believes them, not even the police chief. Harper has been sidelined since she fell off her horse, the Pocket Rocket, and broke both her legs. Harper partners with Kat, lending her hacking to the mystery. Can they find Ramon and solve the mystery of the Ghost Owl?

There is so much to love in Kat Wolfe Investigates. There are strong female characters, strong adult characters with brains (so rare in books these days), redemption, spies, and decently realistic kid hackers. I loved that all the characters had their own unique voice, skills, and each did heroic deeds in their own way. This might have read “it takes a village to solve a mystery.” I also loved that the kids and adults supported and cared about each other so much. The mystery was intelligent, well-plotted, and had a James-Bond feel that will appeal to a wide audience.

Highly recommended for middle-schoolers, parents, and those who love middle-school fiction, as well as mysteries, spy novels, and animals.

I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher through NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

This book is slow to start, but once it gets rolling, there is no stopping until the end! Although at first glance it appears as a book about a girl adjusting to her new home, it is nothing once a mystery is placed in her lap. As a reader, you have to decide if it really is a mystery or her over-active imagination--like all the adults believe it is. I found this book at times funny and others times suspenseful It was a wonderful read!