Lovely visit with old friends. I enjoyed the mystery and it kept me guessing. I like the characters and the small town. Loved the cats.

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

Shell has returned to her hometown after a stint in Hollywood on a popular TV show. After the show is cancelled and she finds her boyfriend is cheating on her, she’s ready for a new chapter in her life and is now running a pet store and helping the local pet shelter. She now has three adorable cats who are great help in solving mysteries!
Her mother is putting on a murder mystery dinner as a fundraiser for the animal shelter and a famous chef has agreed to be the celebrity guest, but he’s a terrible person and has history with some staff members. Soon a real murder occurs and Shell and her friends (and cats) are busy investigating. Complicating matters is the hurricane that has moved in and keeping them trapped at the hotel.
This was a fun cozy mystery with lots of red herrings. Thanks to Beyond the Page Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

After pet shop owner Shell McMillan's mother Clarrisa’s first foray into fundraising for the Fox Hollow local animal shelter was very successful she has chosen a murder mystery dinner for her next extravaganza! With celebrity chef, Reynaldo Venery hired to cater the event, tickets have been extremely popular and have become the main topic of conversation in town.

A dangerous storm is brewing which threatens the whole event at the Fox Hollow Inn, but after a body is discovered it becomes a very good reason for Shell's boyfriend, and local detective, Josh Bloodgood, to forbid anyone from leaving without mentioning the word murder! As Shell looks into the victim’s life, while trying to stay under the radar, she discovers a history which is linked to many of those trapped in the hotel all of whom had good reason to become a killer.

Book 5 of TC LoTempio's Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries series is another great read. Bad weather, an unpleasant victim, and secrets going back decades, all come together to provide clues, red herrings, and some very plausible potential killers. My only grumble is that there were very few Shell and Josh scenes. This is a fun read which I completed in two sittings.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Beyond the Page, but the opinions expressed are my own. This is a good read with no spoilers so you can jump right in! I

fundraiser, celebrity-chef, murder-investigation, animal-shelter, relatives, unpleasant-victims, family, family-dynamics, amateur-sleuth, Connecticut, local-law-enforcement, local-gossip, cat, cozy-mystery, situational-humor, small-business, small-town, relationships, relationship-issues, verbal-humor, ex-boyfriend, bullying, cop-boyfriend, closed-circle-mystery, dinner-theater, former actress*****
It was, indeed, a dark and stormy night when her former boyfriend came to visit, the hurricane blew in, the electricity snuffed out, the corpse was uncovered, the suspects multiplied, and Shell's mother got even more obnoxious. Almost as obnoxious as the celebrity chef. Shell and her three cats are on job to find out who murdered that chef with his own signature knife even as her boyfriend/local police detective and what officers he could pull off road detail are also doing their best under the circumstances. Lots of suspects, a dinner theater fundraiser, and rising flooding add to the surprises that seem to never stop.
I requested and received an uncorrected digital proof copy from Beyond the Page Publishing via NetGalley.
#ASideDishofDeath by T. C. LoTempio #UrbanTailsPetShopMysteriesBk5 #NetGalley #BeyondThePagePublishing #cozymystery #murdermystery @goodreads @bookbub @librarythingofficial @barnesandnoble ***** Review #booksamillion #bookshop_org #bookshop_org_uk #kobo #Waterstones #mysterydinnertheater #smalltown #smallbusiness

#ASideDishofDeath #NetGalley is a fantastic addition to this cozy mystery series.
Shell is looking forward to the murder mystery fundraiser to help the local cat shelter, but the threat of a hurricane dampens her enthusiasm.
Just as the murder mystery skit is starting, a thunderous crash causes a power outage. In the quick moment before the generator kicks in, someone decides to take the life of the pompous chef, but who did it and why?
This story is well written and the mystery kept me guessing throughout the book.
I loved the cats in the story, the author captured their personalities in such a comical way, that I could picture them in my mind.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

I might be a bit biased as Princess Fuzzypants, feline heroine and girlfriend to Purrday in the books, was my baby. She was every bit as wonderful and clever and beautiful as Toni portrays her in the stories. And she looked just like the pictures on the covers. She sadly went to the Bridge last September but lives on in Urban Tails.

This time Princess Fuzzypants and Purrday, with Kahlua and Serendipity are ambassadors for a dinner theatre murder mystery in aid of the shelter. They are as fine as representatives as they are as sleuths. They have a habit of knowing when Shell is in danger and leap to the rescue more than once in the story. The story itself is fun. A world famous chef is preparing the meal for the attendees and he makes Gordon Ramsey look like a choirboy. Not only does he bully the people with whom he works but he is rude and inconsiderate to everyone he meets. But he is rude once too often to the wrong person and ends up being the corpse.

With a hurricane swirling around the inn and lights flickering on and off, the atmosphere is ripe for murder. The audience is trapped in the inn due to flooded roads but so is the killer. Shell and Gary get deeply involved because Shell’s former fiance is one of the prime suspects. When they do figure it out, it tells a sad tale of betrayal and cruelty. I did figure it out early but I suspect Princess Fuzzypants might have helped. Still, it was a fun read and I love her adventures with Purrday. I know you will too. Five purrs and two paws up.