Curiosity Thrilled the Cat

A Magical Cats Mystery

By: Sofie Kelly

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

When librarian Kathleen Paulson moved to Mayville Heights, Minnesota, she had no idea that two strays would nuzzle their way into her life. Owen is a tabby with a catnip addiction and Hercules is a stocky tuxedo cat who shares Kathleen's fondness for Barry Manilow. But beyond all the fur and purrs, there's something more to these felines.

When murder interrupts Mayville's Music Festival, Kathleen finds herself the prime suspect. More stunning is her realization that Owen and Hercules are magical - and she's relying on their skills to solve a purr-fect murder.

©2011 Penguin Group (USA), Inc. (P)2014 Random House Audio

Promising "Cozy" Series

I often read for relaxation, so I'm always on the lookout for new "cozy" series. This is one of the best I've found recently.

One thing that appealed to me right away was that the story takes place in Minnesota, which is where I live. The fictional town of Mayville is situated on Lake Pepin. There are several real Minnesota towns in similar locations - it is a beautiful part of the state. I've visited the area often, so it was easy for me to visualize Mayville.

The pace is brisk, with a mysterious death occuring early in the story. Numerous clues are found, some are "red herrings." I wasn't able to guess the final solution until it was revealed near the end of the book.

Though I like cats, I would not describe myself as "cat person." Owen and Hercules, the main "cat characters", have some very unusual abilities that add an element of fantasy to the story.

I liked protagonist Kathleen Paulson. Many other characters are introduced throughout the story. I'm hoping that some of them will show up in future books of this series.

The 10 plus hours of this story went by quickly for me. I plan to listen to more books in this series.

Magical Mystery Worth a Listen

Would you listen to Curiosity Thrilled the Cat again? Why?

Yes it was very interested I enjoy the all the of the characters and I love the small town feel of the story. This series reminds of Heather Blake's series. I really looking forward to getting to know them all in the book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Kathleen, Maggie and of course the cats.

Have you listened to any of Cassandra Campbell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

She does a great job I have always enjoyed her I do hope she does the next books in this sereis

Any additional comments?

I think this is a wonderful series for anyone to listen to. I was little surprised at the ending but that is how I like them. I suggest this one to anyone. I have already downloaded the next 2 and hope the 2 after that are loaded up soon.

A Very Tame Cozy - Things to know...

The thing to know about this book is that there isn't much action. If you want excitement look elsewhere. I like peaceful books, with small town settings where characters bake and hang out with their cats and even I found this book very mild. There is a lot of meaningless polite dialogue too. "How are you today, Kathleen?" "I'm fine." "Are you sure you are fine?" "Yes, I am sure. Thank you so much for asking." That sort of thing. Kathleen is not an exciting person. There's no romance (though clearly the hunky detective who likes cats is intended as a future love interest). We don't really learn much more about the cats magical abilities than you could learn by reading the back cover. I am hoping to have things pick up in the next book. It isn't entirely clear why Kathleen is investigating the murder at all actually. In general I prefer a real reason to motivate a person. The thing I liked least about the book though was the ending. Most people want the victim to be someone not well liked so nobody is sad about it. This victim is a really bad person, probably too bad because I really didn't care if his murder was solved. Lastly, and this makes me a bad person I guess, when the killer is revealed I sort of wished Kathleen had left the whole thing alone. It seemed sort of self righteous to push this whole issue, and why really was she so hung up on getting "justice" for this dead jerk anyway? However, I have had that issue with other heroines in other series (like Skye in the Scumble River books). They pursue these things because they are such good people. Can't relate. I am going to read the next one though because I feel there is potential with the magical cat angle and the romance angle. I tried reading the print version of this book some time ago and made it about halfway through. It just didn't hold my attention. But I did much better with the audio version. At first I was turned off by the narration. Our heroine is given a very snooty voice and I wasn't sure I could stand it but she grew on me over time.

The narrator made me crazy

This is a fun story with a fun twist, but the narrator has an odd way of speaking, and it's distracting. You should make sure to listen to the preview to see if you can take it. To me, she sounds like she puts periods in the middle of words, e.g.: "LIS.en to the PREE.view to see if you can TAKE. iT." I managed to make peace with my reaction though, and I liked the book. By the second in the series the narrator has toned down the irritating affectation and it's barely noticeable.

Enjoyable

I'm not a cat person but I did enjoy this book. The characters were fun and likeable, the plot had a good pace and kept my interest throughout the book. The inclusion of the cats was a bit too gimmicky. But it didn't ruin the story. I'll read the next book in the series and I recommend it to others.

A lot of prattle en route to finding out whodunit

I hoped to enjoy this book much more than I did. I certainly did not expect a great literary work, but I did hope for a more consistently enjoyable and entertaining experience - and that simply did not happen. Additionally, the magical cats theme was largely what intrigued me as I enjoy both cats and magic; however, the cats role in the book is quite a bit less than anticipated. The plot and characters were generally fine, but it dragged on endlessly with sections which I found to be boring and meaningless with prattle and filler details.
There was a lot "trudging" through inconsequential conversations and situations to make it to the end of this book. 10.5 hours (and however many pages) could easily have been condensed to about half that long in order to tell this story. I forced myself through it since I try to make it through most every audiobook I purchase. If the book was much shorter it would have better kept my attention and interest. Unfortunately, there were many scenes and conversations etc which were not interesting and did not propel the plot/story either. The overall writing was simply not skilled enough to support the length of this book for this storyline. Also, if the book had been shorter, the cats would have played a more prominent role in the storyline as would be desirable in relationship to the title of the book and series.
Unfortunately, the narration did not assist this book in maintaining interest and attention. Although I found that the narrator (Ms. Campbell) clearly has the ability to narrate in a more natural manner...nonetheless, at least 75% of the narration felt very unnatural and was difficult to listen to in a variety of ways. It ranged from being monotone/boring, to "sing-songy", to forced characterization and then to men who mostly speak very slowly often causing them to sound dumb or slow-witted. It is curious to me that the narrator clearly displayed (much less frequently, unfortunately) the ability to narrate in a reasonably natural and believable manner - it is too bad that could not have been maintained 90-100% of the time instead of 25% of the time.
I personally cannot recommend this book, but if you enjoy listening to a lot of filler and largely insignificant and less interesting details at great length then you will probably enjoy this book. Wish it had been about half as long, then it would have proved to be much more enjoyable for me - though more natural narration would also been very helpful for improving the overall experience. If both were the case with this book, I could have potentially given one or two more stars.
The theme and plot definitely have good potential but I simply found this book far too long for the needs of the storyline.

story line decent but the narration ...

Where does Curiosity Thrilled the Cat rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Just above average but not outstanding. I did enjoy it. Light and quick, a good pick for the time allowed.

What didn’t you like about Cassandra Campbell’s performance?

There is too much mono-tone narration. A little more life in the voices would be more enjoyable.

Gave it 45 mins.

I was hoping this would be like "The Cat Who" books by Lilian Jackson Braun, which is one of my favorite series. It was not. I do not like stories where the characters are catty, gossipy, critical women who spend their time focusing on other women's hair color and dress size, among other things. And the main character has a cat who....(disappears?) Give me a break!

Boring

I was so bummed by the book. How it took 10hrs to tell this boring story is confusing to me. The narrator made it worse! All the characters sounds the sane, condescending.....and boring.

Light fun reading

Some clever touches make an ordinary book more enjoyable. The series should do well.

Is the narrator from California? What's with the "Valley-girl" delivery? She would be a good reader if she could lose that.

Great cozy series for cat lovers

A lovely cozy series with very solid writing and two fantastic cats. I've grown to love the town characters and the two very smart and mysterious felines, Owen and Hercules. Cassandra Campbell's narration is excellent and suits the narrative well. Definitely one of the better cat mysteries out there.

lovely catty stories

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

To a cat lover this is pure cat. a little romance budding and lovely food mentioned. Life in a small town - none of the nastiness of big cities.

What did you like best about this story?

the cats of course

Any additional comments?

more please (don't change the reader)

Really enjoyed it

This is a new series to me, even though this book is 11 years old. The story has nothing within it to date it, and I'm very happy to see that the books are still being produced, with a new one next month.
This was a great listen and I'm looking forward to listening to all of the others in the series.