Thank you Netgalley, Daft Notions, and Chuck McKenzie for sending me this advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a very short murder mystery, with some offbeat elements. The snarky cat was hands down the best part.

Surprisingly enjoyable novella that combines the old style private eye with some UF aspects in the form of a spectral assistant/manifestation of your conscience. Easy read that held my attention and completed in one sitting. Wish it was longer and I hope the author continues the series as id like to read more adventures!

With so many mystery/thriller books already out there and still being released, one wonders what newness can a yet-another-mystery book offer? And here comes Chuck McKenzie with his novella doing just that – a quirky take on this genre, still keeping the essence of a mystery thriller at its core.

The book is set in a world in which every character has a conscience, not just in one’s mind but existing outside the body with its own physical form. Our detective, Jim Carpenter, has his conscience take on the form of a cat, which is funny because Jim hates cats. The cat can speak and can interact with the rest of the world. I was floored by this book right here.

Jim is called to solve a murder case which seems impossible to crack. The person is dead, but there is no weapon to be found. Jim is given only six hours to solve the crime. Jim, with ample help from his smart conscience, the cat, cracks the case.

The only complaint I have with this book is it was over too soon. It is a novella, so I finished it in less than an hour and was craving for more. Here is a petition to the author to write a full blown novel with these characters. In such a short book, McKenzie creates such strong, memorable characters – the detective and the cat. I miss the cat already!

Thanks to the publisher for providing ARC.

A very short, but fun, murder mystery novella. And a talking cat?

The idea of everyone having a ‘Conscience’ companion is so cool, and I’d love to see it in a full-length novel. The mystery was also fun, even though it was super quick.

I loved the craziness of it, but it was too short to really get into it. On the plus side, today I learned what gonzo fantasy is and I’m intrigued enough to explore more of the genre in the future.

This was a fun little whodunit. I recommend for sure. What a way of viewing our conscience. Image if this was really the case.

Time Spent With A Cat is an outrageous and sharp-witted mystery that kept me hooked from start to finish. Jim Carpenter, a grumpy private eye with a talking cat sidekick, gets tangled in a murder case that's as impossible as it is entertaining. The mix of hard science fiction, fantasy, and noir-style humor felt fresh and unique. I loved how the banter between Jim and the cat added levity to the tension. This book is a quick, clever read that’s perfect for anyone who enjoys quirky mysteries with a dash of the surreal.

Jim is a private detective who hates cats. When everyone in the world was assigned a Conscience that can be seen and heard, Jim was assigned a cat. And that perfectly opens up this enjoyable, short novella that follows our protagonist out there solving crimes.

But it's more than that. Jim is visited by a long fallen out friend and offered a case to solve in a very short time, and we follow the case, the clues and the thought processes as Jim, and his cat, go to work sleuthing.

A short read but no less enjoyable for it. I really had fun reading this, and I suggest you do too.

Holy catnip, this book is wild! Time Spent With A Cat is like if a hard-boiled detective got dumped into a sci-fi circus and brought a snarky feline along for the ride. Jim’s got six hours to crack a murder case that makes zero sense—and his cat won’t stop being a pain in the butt. I laughed, I gasped, and I’m pretty sure I yelled, “What?!” at least three times. If you’re into weirdly awesome mysteries that make your brain hurt in the best way, grab this now. 😺🔍✨

Time Spent With A Cat is a fun short story. It's a whodunit detective style mystery with, you guessed it, a cat! The cat, however, is not just any cat. He is private investigator, Jim Carpenter's Conscience. While other people gave gotten pretty cool Consciences like Baron Samedi and John Lennon, Jim got a calico cat.
After Jim's former partner comes to him with an offer, Jim finds himself working to solve a case in six hours.
This is a fun short story, a mystery with many laughs along the way. I appreciate an author who can incorporate so much in such few pages. I didn't feel like anything was lacking or needed improvement, but instead, I was left with the feeling of satisfaction and wishing for more Jim Carpenter short stories!
Thank you NetGalley, BuzzBooks, and Chuck McKenzie for this read!

Thank you Daft Notions and Netgalley for this arc.

There are lots of clues scattered along the way and not necessarily in a "THIS IS A CLUE" way but I doubt that most people could solve this one. Even Jim and the cat need to Google some stuff once they have an idea of what to look for. The main draw, for me, are the working relationships, especially the smartass cat. Because we cat lovers, and also the cat haters, secretly believe this is exactly how they'd act and speak if they could. The dialog is snappy in the best noir way and it's a novella that can be read quickly. I hope that there will be future cases for Coco and Carpenter, okay, Carpenter and Cat, to solve. B

4.5★s
Time Spent With A Cat is a short novella by Australian author, Chuck McKenzie. The premise is interesting: everyone has been issued with a visible, audible Conscience. It’s only been four months, but it has, understandably, adversely affected Jim Carpenter’s private investigation business. Each person’s Conscience takes a different form, so that adds both irony and humour: Jim’s is a cat, and he hates cats.

When a former military colleague turns up with a job for him, he doesn’t exactly have a choice, with work thin on the ground. The top-secret nature of it adds a wrinkle, but it’s essentially a scientist who has been murdered in her lab, shot in the head but no weapon or bullet apparent, a locked room mystery. Her husband protests his innocence: did he do it, and if so, will he get away with it?

Between Jim, his unasked-for cat, the forensic tech and her Conscience, they ask the right questions and manage to solve the very puzzling how of it.

The consciences assigned to the characters range from cats to James Bond characters to rock superstars to bluebirds. They do seem to be more of the observer/commentator type, rather than warning their soul against morally dubious action. Jim’s cat is snarky, but proves also to be very smart. A fun piece of speculative sci-fi crime/mystery.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Daft Notions.

Jim Carpenter has a problem, he hates cats. He is an Australian P.I. who is saddled with an external conscience in the form of a floating, snarky cat. Everyone now has an external conscience that manifests differently for everyone else. But after a dry spell, Jim and the cat have a doozy of a case! A locked-room murder mystery with missing weapon and bullet plus a very short time line in which to solve the case. Will the reward be worth it when you have to listen to a cat? Read this short tale and find out! A fun story!

Thanks Netgalley and Daft Notions for the chance to read this title!

I knew this would be short so wasn't sure what I was expecting. A private eye in a world where the Conscience has been given form and his is a cat. He hates cats. This is a recent development in this world so Jim is still getting to grips with it. When an old friend shows up to offer him a job solving a murder with no weapon they may have to learn to work together.

I loved the whole creation of the Conscience. The cat is sarcastic and it's interesting to see what other people have through the story. The murder mystery plot I found well done and the twist of what happened to the weapon is quite an interesting one.

Overall I found this really creative and enjoyable. The length was good but I would like more, a bit more history with Jim and Alan and a lot more of how things have been going with the Cat and how the world is adjusting to the new way of life. Would love to see this in an anthology of Carpenter Mysteries.

Can't wait to read more from this author and explore other worlds he's created.

It is a truth universally accepted that if a cat could talk, it would be sarcastic. I fully expected that with this novella, but what I didn't expect was the cat's function in the protagonist's life.

His conscience? This intrigued me. In the first chapter, I'd thought everyone in this world had an animal as their conscience, but that's not the case. A couple others the reader meets are manifestations of dead people. I'm not sure some of the choices of these consciences makes this story full-blown gonzo, but it definitely makes a stab at it.

The snappy dialog evokes the hardboiled Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade, and Jim is definitely as world-weary as they come. There's as much character development as a novella can fit for Jim, though not for anyone else. We get a sense of his past, his ethics, and his considerable brain power--even if it sometimes lags behind that of the cat.

The pacing is enjoyable and the reveal had me slapping my forehead saying, "Why didn't I see that?" An enjoyable read and I would definitely pick up a sequel.

So here we are, in a near future that is in almost no way different from our present. The main character, James Carpenter (Jim), a private detective with a fedora and a long raincoat, fits even better in the 1950's than in the present, let alone in the future. He's narrating his own story, which adds even more to the look and feel of the old style detective stories. But there is this Conscience, a personal entity that has suddenly appeared a few months ago, is different for everyone, and always floats nearby. It talks, interacts, and has a rather annoying way of doing that. In Jim's case, his Conscience is a cat, and he hates cats. His PI business is dying since the Consciences showed up. At that moment, Alan, once a friend but not anymore, knocks at his door, requesting his help. A scientist was shot, and the suspect for sure is her husband. Only, there is no gun and the husband never left the room to hide it. Jim has only six hours to solve the mystery.

With only 10,000 words, the story is at the edge between short story and novella. A quick read that can be finished in less than an hour. It's well constructed though, without overhead and a good balance between story telling and dialogue. Chuck McKenzie doesn't make use of/misuse handy sci-fi tools to solve the mystery, nor is there any weird construction set up to make things fit. This is basically a solid how and whydunit combined, and basic interrogation and observation are the key elements. Again, truly a 1950's story. If it wasn’t for the floating cat, you could easily forget this is SF. While I guessed the 'how' rather early, it remained fun to follow the banter between Jim and his cat and see how they solve the mystery together. It's a well constructed story, no loose ends, no redundant scenario elements, and main characters that I’d like to see reappear in some follow-up stories. A recommendable read in case you have an hour to spare and don’t feel like getting engaged in a 600 page novel.

(Thank you Netgalley and Daft Notions for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.)

This mystery novella packs a great premise, some fun characters, and an intriguing mystery into a 58 page bundle. Four months prior to the story, everyone (literally everyone) suddenly, and without explanation, acquired a floating ethereal companion that people refer to as their “Conscience”. And in the case of the main character, James, it’s a cat:

“I hate cats. I really do. Feral, lazy, arrogant creatures. So it does seem unnecessarily ironic that my Conscience took the form of a talking calico cat. Maybe the current popular theory about Consciences being ‘shared subconscious projections’ is crap after all. Or maybe I just really do hate myself that much.”

And the Consciences can take a wide range of forms, and don’t always (ever?) get on with the people they’re attached to - unlike daemon’s from His Dark Materials, for example. My favourite, other than the cat (obvs), was Baron Samedi from the James Bond film Live and Let Die. Consciences can be fictional characters! For reasons too dull to go into, I have watched Live and Let Die dozens of times, so this, in particular, was a real treat. And there is a slightly snarky sarcastic tone of some of the characters (what else would you expect from a talking cat?!), which was pitched perfectly and I really enjoyed.

I would love to see the idea of these Conscience companions in a novel length story.

The mystery was a “locked-room” style mystery, where James (and the cat) needed to solve a seemingly impossible murder in a matter of hours. The solution to this was imaginative, unexpected, and quite satisfying.

So, 4.5 stars, rounded down. Why not 5 stars? Perhaps I’m being a bit picky, the first and second halves (character development vs. mystery solving) seemed a little disjoint, with the latter feeling slightly rushed. Or perhaps I’m just sulking about the whole thing not being longer, because I wanted to spend more time immersed in a story where the Consciences were a thing.

Thank you #NetGalley and Daft Notions for the free review copy of #TimeSpentWithACat in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [4]

I had a good feeling that I'll like this novella because…cat….and I was right. I liked the concept of the characters having their own subconscious projections aka Consciences that float beside them wherever they go, which is pretty funky, but it also reminds me of video game companions that follow you around to help you. This murder-mystery novella delivers exactly what it promises—a murder mystery with a unique and intriguing crime.

My only qualm was feeling a bit excluded from Jim and Cat's discussions. At times, they would both be surprised by something they've discovered, but never got to share what it was. The final explanation that they did at the end of the book was satisfying, and I liked how it all unfolded and where and how they came to that conclusion, but I would have loved more opportunities to guess along the way.

The banter between Jim and Cat was pretty amusing, and Cat's random remarks were a highlight. Jim was a contrast to Cat—Cat’s outspoken, and Jim’s more careful with his words. Though you could argue that technically, Jim's Conscience is the one outspoken, making him the sarcastic one.

Despite everything, I felt like the novella was really entertaining, and I got completely hooked on the mystery. The characters were lovable, their teamwork was great (especially Jim and Cat, but Alan and Samedi were awesome too). Would love to see more of this world and these characters if they ever make a comeback in the future and would definitely recommend this to readers who’d like to read a quick packed mystery with likeable characters solving an interesting case ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )

𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀

Fun short read but a bit odd at times. The conscious beings were a…choice. So was the statement that the protagonist hates cats (grrr). But still an entertaining 47 pages.

I’m so glad I picked up this sci-fi/fantasy detective mystery novella. I quickly read it and came to a number of conclusions. First I loved it, especially the very perceptive subconscious cat. Second, you don’t need a four hundred page novel to produce a book that is complete story, and very engaging. Thirdly, I want more novella’s or, to be contrary possibly, a book with these characters. Thank you to Daft Notions (this publishers name suits this book down to the ground) and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Great detective case; not so much a whodunit as a howdunit.

An open and shut case that seems impossible to close since there is no evidence at the scene, to convict.

No murder weapon or bullet, nothing beyond gunshot residue on the victim and the suspect’s hand.

A ‘locked room’ scenario where the presence of witnesses just outside meant the perpetrator was the only person in the room when the ‘shot’ was fired.

I loved the investigation and the inviting mystery to be solved. Made more critical by a legal time frame to secure the confession or obtain sufficient evidence to take to court.

What marked this novella out for me however were two factors beyond the usual murder scenes in this genre.

Firstly, there is a sci-fi angle to the crime which is cleverly expounded and marks it out as different.

Secondly, each character has a visible, talking subconsciousness that interacts with its owner and everyone else around them. This raises matters further and provides the writing as both original and brilliant. At times it becomes spooky; almost like a ventriloquist dummy taking control. "Here's Johnny" or rather “Here’s Chucky!” vibes.

The protagonist here is private eye, Jim Carpenter. His ‘Ultra Ego’ cum ‘subconscious factum’ bears no resemblance to him, it is a cat. Others have a James Bond henchman and one of the Fab Four as company.

The additional question is: Will the cat be a help or a hindrance in solving matters?

Original, entertaining and quite magnificent!