Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

I was very happy to see Sarah, her rescue cat Elvis, her friends, and Charlotte’s Angels again! Sarah owns Second Chance, a repurpose shop in North Harbor, Maine. I enjoyed reading about the items that she and Mac, her right-hand man and more, give new life to merchandise in creative ways that keep locals and tourists coming back.

Elvis, a black cat, is an amazing feline lie detector. He has never been wrong, especially about the clients that Charlotte’s Angels take on in their private investigations business. Elvis is spoiled, loving, and loyal, with the ‘tude of rock-n-roll royalty. He loves Jeopardy! and the music of Elvis Presley.

Charlotte’s Angels came into being when one of their friends was accused of a crime they didn’t commit. It is made up of Rose, Charlotte, and Liz, and Mr. P – Alfred or Alfie – who is Rose’s beau. All except one of these wonderful seniors is a long-time friend of Sarah’s grandmother, with whom Sarah spent many summers when growing up. Gram has remarried, and she and John are often traveling.

Charlotte, Liz, Rose, and Liz’s granddaughter work at Second Chance. Charlotte’s Angels rent the enclosed sun-porch at Second Chance, in part so Sarah can keep an eye on them for Michelle and for Nick, Charlotte’s son. The Angels know that as seniors, most people don’t pay attention to them and would never imagine them as investigators. Sarah and Elvis have also been involved in their cases.

Sarah and Michelle were going to the North Harbor Spring Home tour, of which the proceeds go to help the local animal shelter. It may help Michelle with ideas for the home she hopes to purchase, as the best she can hope for is a fixer-upper. The Gladstone House might be Sarah’s favorite. In the family for over 200 years, the family line ends with Emily, granddaughter of its current owner, Annie. They run it as a B & B while keeping the charm and accuracy of the era it was built in. Reputed to be haunted, some people on the tour might be looking at more than its historical elegance.

They were on the second floor, where some of the rooms are cordoned off, when Sarah saw what looked like someone lying on the floor in one of the blocked off rooms. Michelle, a detective, went to check on the man, who she found to be dead. He looked like someone Sarah saw recently, and finally recalled where. Michelle’s day off turned into a new case.

The man, Mark Steele, was from a TV reality show. In this show, he and his co-host went to places reputedly haunted and tried to prove there were no ghosts. He had talked with and harassed Annie many times, as he wanted this home on his show. Why he was so insistent, his executive producer Delia, either didn’t know or wouldn’t say, other than that he was like a dog with a bone, and refused to take no for an answer. The police department had its hands full with the murder of this very well-known man, as do the very persistent Charlotte’s Angels.

The characters are very well defined, and I learn something new about them with each installment. Elvis and Sarah are my favorites, as well as the Angels as a whole. They are engaging and loyal, and each have a unique sense of humor and skills from their lives in business and teaching. The Angels could stay home and put up their feet, but they prefer to help their friends and community.

It was initially hard to come up with a suspect, since the man only knew Annie and Emily. Annie had severe arthritis and had been unable to climb the stairs to the second floor for a couple years. Emily, her granddaughter, had gone out on an errand for Annie, got a flat tire, and had not been at the house when he died. Delia had not attended the tour with him, and nobody else had been to the second floor. Plot twists revealed new suspects and motives, and in tracking his movements and what he was researching, a picture took shape. Just as fast as the suspects were added, one by one were eliminated. I was very surprised at who the killer was! This mystery was, as others in the series, plotted and executed well. I highly recommend this cozy mystery and series, and look forward to seeing Sarah and Elvis again!

I enjoy this series and will read more! I like the secondhand store and the senior sleuths and of course, Elvis the cat :)

<i>ARC Provided by NetGalley<i>

You’d think Sarah and her BFF, Michelle, could go on a house tour without finding a dead body. You’d be wrong. Behind the red velvet rope designed to keep visitors out of private areas on the upper floor, was the body of a man, very dead.

Luckily, Michelle is a detective for the North Harbor Police Department in Maine. And unluckily for Sarah, this has happened often enough, she knows the drill. Call the police department, find out who’s in charge of the tour, and keep the news to yourself.

Sarah owns a repurpose store where she strips, repaints, stains, and gives new life to neglected furniture and accessories. The back room of the shop is rented to the Angels, a group of older women and one older gent who are private detectives and a source of concern for everyone who knows them. They do tend to be involved in situations most people would avoid.

Also in the store, and her house of course, is Elvis the Cat. He’s opinionated, stubborn, loveable, and has been known to help solve a murder or two himself.

This time the victim is a man who wanted to debunk the idea of the house being haunted. He met with resistance from the homeowner, but she’s partially disabled and unable to climb the stairs so can’t be the killer. The problem is, it doesn’t look like anyone could be the killer but there the man is, dead on the floor.

This is book ten in the delightful series. Sarah and Mac are finding their way into a relationship rather than only a friendship. Rose, Mr. P, and the rest of the Angels are someone you could count on if you find yourself with a dead body and no alibi. Elvis the Cat steals all the attention, just as he deserves. I’d love to sit in the shop, Elvis on my lap, a cup of coffee beside me, and just watch them as they go through their day.

Start anywhere in the series but budget to buy all ten books—plus the fifteen books she writes as Sofie Kelly (the Magical Cats Mysteries), featuring felines Owen and Hercules. An equally good mystery series and fun read.

This series is a favorite of mine, a chance to catch up with friends rather than characters, learn the best way to refinish a table, laugh when Sarah tries to corral the Angels, and enjoy snacks and music when Sarah, Michelle, Nick, and Mac get together.

This is book 10 in the Second Chance Cat series. Sarah and her rescue cat Elvis are happy that winter is about over the tourist will soon be visiting her Second Chance Store where she sells all sorts of furniture, household items and gifts. She loves her home town of North Harbor and is upset like everyone else when a ghost hunter is found dead at the local B&B that is said to be haunted. The Angles are hired to help find the killer. The Angels are a PI firm that consists of several elderly local residents and Sarah. A cute cozy with lots of characters returning.

I love Ryan's cozy series. Elvis is one of my favorite literary cats. And the characters in this series feel like friends you want in your life. Another excellent addition.

Sofie Ryan continues the Second Chance Cat mysteries with Scaredy Cat. A TV programmer who debunks haunted houses is discovered murdered in his latest haunted house obsession and Elvis the Cat and the local team of amateurs detectives team up to find the murderer. Lots of suspects. Neat secondhand objects in the store and an intriguing old murder mystery. Read on.

I enjoyed this book in the series. I love the characters and the mystery kept me guessing .

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review

Princess Fuzzypants here: I have enjoyed this series from the get-go. Elvis the cat is a peach. Sweet, funny and an excellent judge of character, he is often the key to whether his human friends either accept or dismiss the honesty of a possible suspect. I have enjoyed the Second Chance store where he holds court with his human Sarah and her friends and family. I always get some great ideas for repurposing things, should I ever tire of using my floofs for decorations.

This time a ghost investigator gets a chance to join his prey when he is murdered in a historical home that he wants to debunk. He is a bully who uses his camera as a means to earn ratings through humiliation. But is the fact that there is or is not a ghost in the house cause for murder. And if that is not the motive, who else might want to see his run end. The seniors are hired by the producer of the program to find out who killed her star.

That is another thing I like about the series. There is a great combination of younger and older characters who are neither too quirky nor disrespectful of others. They work together as a seamless team, headed by Elvis of course. They are all intelligent, caring people whom the reader can admire.

Good mystery with an excellent twist at the end. Great summer read. Five purrs and two paws up.

This is one of those series where I always look forward to reading the latest books and it just feels cozy from page one. I love this cast of characters from Sarah, Michelle, and Nick to the Angels - the elderly PI agency with an amazing variety of connections and knowledge. I really wish Sarah's shop existed in real life because I love reading about the different projects and items they are always working on and selling.

The mystery was interesting with a modern and historical mystery - and a side of ghosts and ghost hunters. I love a team effort when it comes to investigations and the team of the Angels + Sarah and Elvis may be my favorite. Mr. P with his crazy computer skills may just be my favorite. This book kept me guessing and completely hooked from page one. This is one of my favorite series and it was so fun to catch up with everyone in this latest book.

The large cast of this series makes it fun but it does make it a bit more difficult to just jump in anywhere. I can see it being a bit frustrating trying to keep everyone one straight if you don't already have a long history with them. Other than that this was a fun visit to Maine to see some of my favorite fictional characters.

When Sarah Grayson agreed to go on the spring house tour with her friend Michelle, she thought they were trying to find ideas for Michelle’s first house. She’s still trying to find the right place and to get her offer in before everyone else. Sarah didn’t think that the tour would lead them to a murder victim.

It was at the second stop on the tour, Gladstone House, that they stopped entire house tour. The house had ben turned into a bed and breakfast by Annie Hastings, who ran it with her granddaughter Emily. It was rumored to be haunted, that the ghost of Emmeline Gladstone can occasionally be seen in a bedroom window, as she waited for her love, Captain Joseph Phillips to come home to her.

Only two of the upstairs bedrooms had been open to those on the tour, and the dead man was in neither of them. But as Sarah looked down the hall, she noticed a foot where there shouldn’t have been a foot. Michelle, a detective, went past the barrier to investigate and found that the man was dead. She immediately calls the station, and while Sarah stands at the bottom of the stairs, keeping anyone from going upstairs, police start arriving in minutes.

By the time Sarah gets back home, Rose already knows that a man was murdered at Gladstone House. Rose had been cooking, with the help of Sarah’s cat Elvis as taste-tester, and had already been called. Rose is Sarah’s tenant, works part-time at Sarah’s store Second Hand, and is a member of Charlotte’s Angels, a private detective firm. As an Angel, Rose has contacts everywhere, so she gets information quickly.

The news spreads through the town, that the man was Mark Steele, the host of the ghost debunking show Night Moves, where he chases down those who use ghost sightings as a way to draw in tourists. He had heard about the sightings at Gladstone House, even though Annie had never advertised it. She had refused to be on the show, but the man refused to take no for an answer and kept coming back. Finally, someone convinced him that filming there was not going to happen, but it cost him his life.

Delia Watson, his executive producer, shows up in town and hires the Angels to find out what happened to the man. Sarah doesn’t trust the woman, but she is convinced by Mr. P., Rose’s boyfriend, that Delia will hire someone, and if it’s the Angels, then they’ll have more control over how the story is told. Everyone who is a part of the Angels agree, over Rose’s coffee cake, and they get to work.

Sarah isn’t officially an Angel, but she’s close enough to keep an eye on them, as they operate out of her shop. But when Mr. P.’s research on the history of the Gladstones and on the story of Emmeline and Captain Joseph turns up some family secrets, she starts to worry about him and Rose getting too close to a killer. Will she be able to keep them safe, or will the Angels get too close to danger?

Scaredy Cat is the tenth book in the Second Chance Cat Mystery series. Author Sofie Ryan has created a community of characters in these books that makes reading them feel like coming home. It seems like everyone around her have several roles around the shop, around town, and in her found (and actual) family. Each of these people seem fully formed, with the murder mystery being a side note to their story.

Honestly, I would be happy with these books just following these characters, without the murder mysteries. I just love spending time in North Harbor, Maine with this group. But the mysteries are well plotted, and I really loved this one with the television show debunking ghost sightings at the center of it. I am a big fan of Elvis, but almost all the humans are pretty amazing too. This is a fun series, a comforting place to spend time, and a fantastic story. I just wish I had a frozen cake in my freezer to pull out too.

Egalleys for Scaredy Cat were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This is a delightful book in the Second Chance Cat Mystery Book Series. This is number 10 in the series. I had never read any of the books in this series aside from Scaredy Cat but that did not deter me from thoroughly enjoying this mystery. In fact, I like the characters so much that I plan to start with book number one.

Sarah has a second hand shop, a cat Elvis and a group of friends in various age groups. There is a Charlotte’s Angels group that helps solve Murders. In this case, a ghost is involved. The author creates a great sense of place … that is always important to me.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy cozy mysteries.

Scaredy Cat is book 10 in the Second Chance Cat Mystery series by Sofie Ryan.

This novel drew me in from the start and held my attention throughout until it was impossible to put down.
A wonderful story and an enjoyable bunch of characters.
Sarah and her cat Elvis were of my favorite.
Ryan writes great mysteries, and Scaredy Cat was a wonderful tale.
Her characters are fantastically written, and the mystery was very well plotted.
The mystery is complex and so intriguing I was completely invested and had to see how it ended.
The storyline moves at a nice pace and it’s filled with so many twists and turns.
A great mystery for those who love cozy mysteries.

This was my first book by Sofie Ryan and I am so happy that I read it. I will definitely be reading more of her books.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Berkley for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Very nice character buildup. Can be stand alone or in order of the series. I love the mystery development but would like to see a bit more of the cat, as in the earlier books.

Scaredy Cat is the 10th book in the Second Chance Cat mystery series. I've been reading about the adventures of Sarah Greyson and her cat Elvis for a long time! This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series!

This time around Sarah discovers the body of a deceased ghost hunter while enjoying the spring house tour in town. The Bed & Breakfast is supposedly haunted, but ghosts didn't commit this murder. Sarah is on the case with her sidekicks, the senior sleuths affectionately called Charlotte's Angels.

I love the mix of mystery, humor and interesting side characters in this series. The combo of all those things is why I keep reading this series! The mystery moved along at a nice pace, there was plenty of sleuthing and cute moments with these characters, and there were plenty of suspects and surprises to keep me engaged from start to finish. I love ghost stories and I enjoy watching ghost hunter shows (despite the fact I'm a complete skeptic), so the plot of this newest book was perfect for me. Love the cover art, too!

I'm definitely going to keep reading this series until the very last book. Always an enjoyable read!!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing. All opinions expressed are entirely my own**

"Scaredy Cat" is a cozy mystery. It's the tenth book in the series, but you don't need to read the previous books to understand this one. This book didn't spoil any of the previous mysteries. The main characters were nice, engaging people. More time was spent describing refurbishing furniture and eating food than on doing actual detection. The amateur detectives asked questions and looked into various alibis. They solved both the mystery from the past and the current murder. Everyone had an alibi, so they kind of ran out of steam. Off scene, Mr. P. tracked down all of the information uncovered by the murder victim, who was determined to expose the ghost story as a fraud. I actually did spot whodunit, but the motive seemed really weak to me. Also, I doubt many people even own an ice pick anymore, and it's not going to be in a bedroom if they do. Why debate if it was possibly an accident or crime of the moment? It's too obviously premeditated.

There were no sex scenes. There was only one use of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this mystery, but it's my least favorite of the series.

I really love reading cozy mysteries after a long, dark read so I'm always looking for a new series to try. I especially love when they work animals or scary elements into the plot. So, clearly, I wasn't going to pass up a cozy called Scaredy Cat. Our MC runs a second-hand antique story and, with the help of some friendly senior citizens, solves crimes on the side. This was a very fun, light read. I thought the characters were very entertaining and I loved the MC's cat, named Elvis. This is actually book ten of the Second Chance Cat Mystery so I plan to go back to the beginning of the series and enjoy it from the start. I recommend this book to cozy lovers, especially cat lovers. Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

The host of a TV ghost hunter show turns up dead in a “haunted” bed and breakfast whose owner has repeatedly declined being featured on his show. Sarah and her friend Michelle find the body during the North Harbor Spring House Tour. While Michelle’s investigation is official, she is a police detective, the dead man’s co-host hires Charlotte’s Angels, a detective agency staffed primarily by senior citizens, to find out who killed him. The agency is based in Sarah’s Second Chance antique-second hand store and she and her cat Elvis are part of the team. As they investigate the murder they find themselves delving into the past of Gladstone House and the Gladstone family as it becomes more and more likely that the roots of the current murder lie in a historic murder at Gladstone House.
The characters are all likeable and the setting is attractive. In this tenth outing in the series we have seen our characters and their relationships grow. The action moves along at a good pace, not too fast or slow, and the investigation is believable. I came to the conclusion about the murderer at the same time our sleuths did which is the hallmark of a well plotted cozy mystery. Elvis, the cat, is so very well portrayed it is clear the author must live with cats. Recommended

Sarah has a second hand store that she runs with the help of her friends and cat Elvis. Her senior friends also run a detective agency Charlotte’s Angels out of a back room of her store. Sarah always seems to get involved in their cases despite her better judgment. When Sarah goes on the North Harbor Spring House Tour with her friend Detective Michelle Andrews they never expected to find a dead man. When Charlotte’s Angels are hired to look into the murder they seem to find a lot of suspects but all with alibies.

This is a fun read with plenty of mystery and engaging characters. I highly recommend this series.