Nine Lives

I have read every book in the Cat Caliban series by D.B. Borton. I love how she doesn't try to write to conform to traditional standards. She writes light, funny mysteries that touch on deeper issues like prejudice, history and high school sports drug use to name a couple.
Cat Caliban, the main character, is a relatable, older, chubby, fun grandma who swears like a sailor and is working on becoming a private eye with the help of her misfit group of friends.
Loved the story. Cat rushes into a burning house to save the lives of some stranded kittens and thinks she found a human skeleton, that takes her and her group of friends on the hunt to find out who the skeleton belongs to.
This is a great read for anyone who enjoys a witty, quick mystery and who isn't offended by a few swear words thrown in for the wow factor.

Much Mayhem…
A burning house is the catalyst for much mayhem in the latest Cat Caliban mystery - but is it murder too? Our feisty protagonist is the heroine of the piece after rushing in with no apparent thought for her own safety but her finds soon spark mystery and throw her once again into a tumultuous, often madcap, adventure. A worthy addition to this fun series with Cat as her usual gritty, brash and wonderfully unapologetic self!

private-investigators, situational-humor, verbal-humor, widow, seniors, series, cats, Cincinnati, arson, murder, murder-investigation, skeleton, forensics, forensic-medicine, ex-cop, missing-persons, 1980s, law-enforcement, cold-case, horses, inheritance*****

This is set in the 1980s.
Her role models are Mrs. Pollifax and Colombo.
Cat Caliban had decided to change her life. At 59 she is a widow with grown children. She sold her house, bought a small apartment building in a dodgy part of town and decided to become a private investigator. But to get a license she needs two years of experience! Well, that began when she found a murdered woman in one of the apartments.
Now the saga continues with this ninth book which involves a house fire, a skeletal body that probably belongs to the owner who has been pretty much invisible for the previous forty years. The characters are engaging as well as interesting. The sleuthing takes due diligence to an extreme and the plot twists/red herrings are not only inventive, but truly diabolical! I had my nose stuck to the (virtual) page from start to finish!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Boomerang Books/Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) via NetGalley. Thank you!

Such a great book! I love Cat - and it is refreshing to have a protagonist who is a bit older and who hasn’t had the typical career pathway often seen in detective novels. The suite of supporting characters is equally appealing and the way they interact is touching and real. The story itself is a clever one and the way in which Cat and Moses go about the investigation is captivating. Very excited to learn there are more in this series!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Boomerang Books for an advance copy of Nine Lives, the ninth novel to feature trainee PI Cat Caliban, set in Cincinnati in 1987.

Cat goes in to a burning building to rescue some kittens and comes out with the kittens and a skull. With the police declaring it murder Cat and her partner Moses Fogg go looking for the elusive heiress who owns the house. Once they find her she can’t shed any light on the victim’s identity, so their hunt for justice continues.

I thoroughly enjoyed Nine Lives, which is a quick fun read with a most unexpected storyline. The novel is told entirely from Cat’s first person point of view and that is the source of much of the humour. She is 62 and feeling it, so if it’s not her arthritis bothering her, it’s the fear of osteoporosis and broken bones. Nevertheless, she has a distinctive voice and a game attitude to life, only deciding to become a PI 2 years earlier when she was widowed. She’s fun and doesn’t take life too seriously- I love her attitude to family dinners, but can still put a case together through life experience and clear thinking.

I don’t even know where to start with the plot, which is so much fun in its ridiculousness. It does have its serious points with some major crime, not least murder, but on the whole it’s a caper. An absorbing caper to be sure, as I was glued to the pages, but still not intended for believability. Highly entertaining.

As ever with the author there is a theme to the novel. In this case it is sexuality and what it means to be different. This is highly topical in the States, so perhaps this novel will sway some minds through its humour and sensible attitudes.

Nine Lives is an entertaining read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

The book was very enjoyable. About half way through at least part of the ending was predictable but the other part I never would have guessed. It has great humor as well and I definitely laughed and it loud in some places

Princess Fuzzypants here: The reader might surmise from the opening of the book that cats would play a major role in the book. The various animals certainly do make an impact in the story, more to tell you about the human characters than anything else. But do not be disappointed. It is still a cracking good story.

Cat, not the feline variety but our heroine, is a senior unlike any other senior. After her children have all grown and started their own families and her husband has died, she decided to reinvent herself. She decided to become a private investigator. Turns out she is very good at it. It helps that her partner, Moses, is a retired cop. And she gets lots of assistance from the various residents and visitors to the apartment building she runs. One is a cop named Rap who hires Cat and Moses to find out whose bones were discovered in a trunk in an attic of a house that has just burned down. It is only after Cat meets the owner of the home, Freddy, that things really start to “heat up”.

Freddy’s very rich and important family have more than a few skeletons in their closet. The house had been built by the grandfather who began the family fortune and Freddy has been a very good steward of it over the years. But neither Cat nor Moses, nor the reader, could imagine the machinations and deceptions that have been rife in that family for generations. Some of them have been done with the best of intentions and some of them are downright nefarious. I do not want to give anything away. The reader should have the pleasure of finding out the truth at the same time as Cat.

At its heart, which it has a great deal of, is family and love and devotion. You cannot help but love Cat and her motley crew of associates. But you also have to love Freddy and the people closest to her. But it is the kids that really brighten things up. Cat’s grandson Ben and Malcolm, Freddy’s charge are delightful. And talk about smart and inventive. I enjoyed the entire book. Five purrs and two paws up.

Although this is only the third book I have read in the Cat Caliban series, one thing I have come to realise is that the mystery is never straight forward and the twists and turns continue right till the end. Also, for a series that is based in the 1980s the plot and characters don't seem outdated at all. The writing is so fresh, fun and witty! It's only when you seriously put your mind to it that you realise that no modern crime solving techniques and gadgets are used by Cat and her sleuthing gang because it's still the 80s!

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Boomerang Books and the author D. B. Borton for the e-Arc of the book.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

While rescuing kittens from a burning building, PI trainee, Cat Caliban, a senior woman, uncovers some bones. The bones are soon found to be human and decades old. The cause of death is found to be murder. When the woman who owns the house, a wealthy heiress, is nowhere to be found, Cat and her PI partner, Moses, are hired to find her as well as to shed some light on the identity of the body.

Nine Lives is the ninth in the The Cat Caliban Mysteries by D,B. Borton. It is a fast easy mystery with a cast of quirky characters. Set in the 1980s, Borton doesn't shy away from the politics of the period or social issues that are still very relevant today. A very enjoyable read less for the mystery which becomes pretty obvious fairly quickly but for its heart. This is the first book in the series I have read but it won't be last.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Boomerang Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

Nine Lives is the ninth Cat Caliban cozy mystery by D. B. Borton. Released 15th Oct 2022 by Boomerang Books, it's 274 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a well written, genuinely funny murder cozy set in Cincinnati with a feisty protagonist who's survived raising a family, the breakup of her marriage, a move, and a new late-midlife career change, and isn't inclined to put up with anyone's crap. She's salty, down-to-earth, and kind and loyal to her friends. The mystery itself, the plotting, and the pacing are very well done. The author definitely has a solid handle on her writing style. I found myself engaged in the story and never felt it dragged or raced. The dialogue is superlative. It flows naturally and believably. It has a delightful retro vibe being set in the 1980s and the author's references to cultural icons of the time will make those of us who remember the 1980s smile, or maybe wince. Writing humor is challenging. This one actually surprised a bark of laughter out of me a couple times. That happens very very rarely. There are also positive (admittedly stereotypical) depictions of people who are LGBTQIA+ in the book, as well as a warm fuzzy theme of "found family". Slight warning for rough language (sort of Bea Arthur Golden Girls level snark here). Her protege/sidekick Leon has a terrible stutter which is rendered organically in the text which I found distracting, but it's written respectfully and with verisimilitude (he uses AAVE in his speech patterns which also distracted a bit, but on the other hand, he's an 80s black kid from urban Cincinatti....).I'm not at all sure how well the stutter will translate to audiobook narration, so proceed forewarned.

With 9 books in the series, it would be a great candidate for a long binge/buddy/readathon read.

Four and a half stars. Tone perfect, very entertaining. Fans of Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton will almost certainly enjoy this series.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.