The characters were well-developed, and I found myself invested in their lives. The plot was well thought out and had enough twists and turns to keep me on the edge of my seat. I appreciated the attention to detail, and the author did a great job of creating a vivid world that was easy to picture in my mind.
The themes explored in the book were thought-provoking and gave me a lot to consider. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story with well-developed characters.
Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with this book and would definitely read it again. It was a great addition to my reading collection, and I can't wait to see what else this author has in store.

This one was not for me.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I picked up this book without realizing that it's the fifth part in the Cat Caliban series by D.B. Borton. But reading this one didn't feel like I was missing anything, so this book can be read as a standalone too. 'Five-Alarm Fire' is a murder mystery that I loved reading, especially Cat.

Cat Caliban, wants to be a private investigator, but at 60 she's finding it rather hard to go through menopause. In order to distract herself from this midlife crisis Cat joins a local pottery class. But she finds human remains in the kiln, leading her to more clues and questions. There was never a boring moment in the entire book, and I loved the twists in the story. Borton has masterfully crafted the plot, scattering crumbs of information and clues. This is the kind of mysteries I love reading and I enjoyed this so much more than I had expected.

I would definitely recommend this book to a mystery lover.

Cat Caliban is going through menopause and she is absolutely not enjoying the stress of it! To help shift her mind and relax, her friends and fellow tenants suggest a pottery course for beginners.

<b><i>Speaking of temperament, if you are menopausal, premenstrual, pissed off, or just crabby by nature, let me give you a word of advice from your friend, Cat Caliban: working with clay will do nothing to improve your disposition.</b></i>

But not being even marginally decent at it is not helping matters for Cat's stress levels and it definitely doesn't help when she finds burned bones of a fellow course mate in the klin and the fact that one of her misshapened piece was used as a murder weapon!

This book was good. The mystery was well plotted and the humour quotient was great as well with Cat's signature snarkiness and sarcasm on high here. The scenes of the pottery classes and the Halloween party in particular were a hoot to read. It wasn't easy to guess who the culprit was and the reason behind the murder until Cat's big reveal in the end. The story is set in the mid 80s but the plotline is very relevant to today's time too as it addresses issues of class, colour, race/mixed-race.

I received an e-Arc of the book from the publishers Boomerang Books/IBPA and the author D. B. Borton via NetGalley.

Book received for free through NetGalley

I got into this book but couldn't get any further as it didn't hold my attention. I wanted to leave my review as it was though. I had loved the previous version of the book and although it was written well it wasn't my cup of tea at this time.

What a fun mystery. Love Cat's sarcasm and snarky ways. She made me smile. I spent years in the Cincinnati area so loved revisiting some old haunts. The mystery is a good one, the characters are interesting and the ending was a bit of a twist. I liked the book!

This book maybe based in the late 1980s but its surprisingly apt for the current issues the world is facing now.

Issues such as racism, ageism, LGBTQ+ issue and sex work are handled beautifully and with such empathy. Even though quite a bit of the focus is on the theft, the ending was all about getting justice in any form.

Coming to the story, Cat undergoes through THE change as one undergoes at her age. And her emotions are all over the place. To cheer her up and distract her from her predicament, the fellow residents of Catatonia Arms (Cat's neighbours) decide to enrol Cat and themselves in a pottery class.

Cat and Moses are having a very hard time of it, which makes for a hilarious description and dialogue.😂
Which means I had to Google a bit of all the pottery jargon mentioned in the book. Apart from that there is a particularly chaotic and funny Halloween scene for which I burst out laughing and couldn't stop for a while.😂

Cat finds the burned bones of the victim in the klin and later finds out her misshapen pot/plate is the murder weapon.

The mystery aspect was quite strong in this book. It was so difficult to even guess the "whodunnit" and "why" part this time. However I would've liked to know a bit more of Cat's thought process as she was investigating the case.
I found my attention wandering as Cat was interviewing suspects and delving into history.
As a result it took me long to finish this one.

Also I felt there were less of the pets and their shenanigans this time and I missed them.
Overall it's a pretty relevant and good cozy mystery. I already have the sequels to this and I'm excited to read them.

Thankyou to Netgalley and the Author for sending me this review copy.

First, I loved it.
Second, Menopause is not equivalent to Medicare as MOST women go through it in their early to mid-forties!
Time of story is 1985 Cincinnati, book was originally published in 1996 and does have a lot of true historical information about people and attitudes in the US and elsewhere as well as facts about Cincinnati Art Pottery, specifically Rookwood. That being said, this book is hilarious because of the situational and especially the verbal humor. The cozy murder mystery is very well done as Cat brangles with friends and law enforcement over her way of sleuthing. Plenty of plot twists and red herrings, too. I loved it and plan to hunt up others with Cat Caliban!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Boomerang Books, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) via NetGalley. THANK YOU!

Cat is menopausal and stressed so her friends suggest a pottery for beginners course as relaxation. Not so relaxing when one of her misshapen pots is used as a weapon before the body is stuffed in the kiln and burned. Soon she’s investigating a link to the missing Justice collection of Rookwood pottery, once owned by an infamous madam in the early 20th century.
Well written and enjoyable

Cat Caliban is an amateur detective who has the ambition to become qualified as a private detective. She lives in a house (or apartment building, it’s not clear) with a few (how many is unclear too) fellow retirees, and they take classes together at the local arts centre. When Cat finds human bones in the kiln used to fire the pottery from their class, and it appears that the murder weapon was one of Cat’s creations, she is determined to find out who the murderer is.

This is book five of the Cat Caliban mysteries. Since I have not read the previous books, I had some trouble understanding who the secondary characters were, and I am still unclear about their living arrangements. Some series manage to situate new readers fairly easily, but this book did not. Still, the mystery is good and complex, even though I sometimes got confused by the number of suspects. I loved the collective nature of the investigation, Cat is good at taking advantage of all the resources she can, miles away from the kind of fictional detective who broods antisocially. This aspect of the novel does make me want to read more in this series, if only to get to know Cat’s friends better.

This edition is new, but the original book was published in 1996, which does give it a slightly historical bent. I was put off by an early description of a secondary character as having “mild r****dation”, so I read cautiously after that but there were no other slurs that jumped out at me. Because it is an older book, I was pleasantly surprised by how the author treated the issue of race in the book, not shying away from describing the divisions and the injustices imposed on Black people historically and at the time the novel is set. It is depressing to see how little has changed since then.

Overall, this was a pleasant if not terribly memorable mystery featuring interesting characters.

I'm loving this cozy mystery series and this book is as funny as the other installments.
Cat is a fantastic character, full of life zest and clever. I was glad to catch up with the characters and had fun.
The mystery is solid and kept me guessing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A mixed bunch of friends, menopausal Cat in the midst of hormones which go up and down like a yo yo. A small town
background. The book starts with the idea of getting Cat (and the group) involved in some activity in this case pottery in
order to get Cat's mind occupied. It then gets on to the business of murder and trying to solve, first the victims (as the first
body is found charred in the kiln) and secondly the reasons for the murders.

The story did not hold my interest very much. It dragged in places and I thought I had lost the plot more than once.

A new D. B. Borton mystery is always a pleasant surprise to find in one's reading list. Her characters are funny, quirky and loveable and the books are a fun easy read for these troubled times.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Boomerang Books for an advance copy of Five Alarm Fire, the fifth novel to feature Cincinnati based amateur sleuth Cat Caliban.

Cat is menopausal and stressed so her friends suggest a pottery for beginners course as relaxation. Not so relaxing when one of her misshapen pots is used as a weapon before the body is stuffed in the kiln and burned. Soon she’s investigating a link to the missing Justice collection of Rookwood pottery, once owned by an infamous madam in the early 20th century.

I thoroughly enjoyed Five Alarm Fire, which is a humorous cosy with a plot full of twists and turns. It is told entirely from Cat’s point of view in the first person, so what she knows the reader knows, not that it helped me guess either the perpetrator or motive.

The novel starts with a laugh or two at Cat’s expense and then gets down to the serious business of setting the scene and introducing the first murder, because, oh yes, there is more than one and a few other major crimes. Ok, I was kidding about the serious bit. Cat has a lively sense of humour and a rather trenchant take on life, so the laughs keep coming, whether through her observations, unorthodox approach to investigating or mishaps.

The novel was first published in 1996 and is set in the mid eighties, so I’m not sure how dated that makes the plot nowadays as it is all about race. It made me feel slightly uncomfortable by the end, but I’m not American and have no wish to pass judgement on something I haven’t experienced.

Five Alarm Fire is a fun read that I can recommend.

Having not read the previous books in the series, I enjoyed the twists and turns of menopausal amateur sleuth Cat Caliban’s adventures as she sought to solve a murder of the victim she discovered in the pottery kiln. Mix in a dash of racial tension and an inheritance search and this sleuth was kept on her toes. At least her wry sense of humour and a group of (mostly) supportive friends got her through her battles with menopause and no one else was murdered. Although I would consider it a light read, the book touches on more serious topics like ageism, race, and sex work in a way that is both interesting and insightful. Set in the 1980’s and delving into the past makes this a well researched double historical mystery. An enjoyable, light read, good as a standalone piece. Highly recommend. .

When aspiring PI Cat Caliban signs up for a beginner pottery class at the local art centre, she probably didn't expect to find ashes and bone fragments in the art centre's kiln. The plot thickens when Cat discovers a possible connection between this case and a legendary missing collection of vases once owned by a famous madam from one of Cincinnati's houses of prostitution in the early 20th century. The more Cat investigates, the more secrets she uncovers. Are these secrets really worth killing for?

The more I read cozies, the more I realize just how many books rely on similar tropes and character types. They're usually set in the present, usually in a fictional small town, usually with a young or middle-aged female protagonist, usually with an all-white cast of characters. Five-Alarm Fire is a wonderful exception to this observation.

For starters, Cat and many of her friends are older than the typical protagonists of the genre, with Cat's age playing an important role in how she conducts her investigations and how she is perceived by others. It's also the first cozy mystery I've read that includes several well-rounded and prominent characters of colour and LGBTQ+ characters! The book's discussions of more serious topics like ageism, race, and sex work are dealt with thoughtfully, in a way that greatly contributes to the plot and the backstories of the characters.

On top of all of this, it's a historical mystery in two ways: it's set in the late 1980s and the main mystery digs into the past. It's clear that Borton has done her research on the real-life history of Cincinnati and its pottery. I highly enjoyed reading the historical tidbits and facts she included.

All in all, this book features interesting plotlines, realistic and hilarious characters, and a cozy mystery that's different from the typical book in the genre. 10/10 would recommend this book!

Readers should know that there is some strong language in the book, but it's used sparingly. Also, the book includes some mild violence.

The perfect heroine, albeit unconventional. A great balance of humour and mystery, which is not often something authors can find. This isn’t a cozy mystery despite the quirky characters and fun setting - it’s a strong mystery which will keep readers engaged.

In Which Cat Discovers Ceramics…
In which sleuth Cat is very reluctantly persuaded into taking a pottery class. Events take a dark turn, however, when a body is discovered within the ceramics. With a delightful protagonist, pitch perfect narrative and a colourful cast of supporting characters this is another entertaining read and a worthy addition to the series.

Wanna'be Private Investigator Cat Caliban may be a hormonal mess what with menopausal night sweats and hot flashes but when it comes to sussing out the bad guys, she has good instincts. You might think her successes are more the result of pure dumb luck than actual expertise but then you'd be wrong. As a distraction to the ravages of middle age, Cat and her friends take a pottery class but the night she has kiln duty, the Cincinnati Arts Center turns into a major crime scene. Cat discovers human bone fragments among the ashes in an already cold kiln and then she gets conked on the head and a major fire breaks out. What ensues is a tangled web of murder, history, genealogy and Rookwood pottery.

In "Five-Alarm Fire" D.B. Borton gets Cat deeply embroiled in early nineteenth century Cincinnati history, centered around what at that time was its red light district. Not exactly a topic for polite society but whoever said Cat Caliban was polite? Au contraire. Cat is the antithesis of polite, especially when she goes on a tear and starts swearing like a sailor on shore leave. She's a delightfully offbeat character that sometimes gets in over her head yet she somehow manages to succeed in spite of herself. I can relate to that. Four stars.

Thanks to Net Galley an D. B. Borton for another entertaining afternoon with Cat Caliban and her quirky band of friends. If not for the host of them and their assorted pockets of eclectic information, Cat may not have been able to solve this case.

I especially enjoyed the pairing of Malvina and Constance, two historical society matrons, with research skills to rival any academic research assistant. Their contributions to the resolution of this case were invaluable. To say nothing of their sniping at each other throughout their work made for an amusing combination.

Like books one and two in this series demonstrated, Cat is an unconventional P. I., but she gets the job done. She uses old-school tools along with sharp instinct honed over her sixty plus years. Good work Cat Caliban! Have a gin and tonic on me!