Review: Cat on a Cold Tin Roof by Mike Resnick

A Mysterious Review of Cat on a Cold Tin Roof by Mike Resnick. An Eli Paxton Mystery.

Review summary: This third in series mystery starts strong with an interesting premise, but then takes its time resolving the case of the missing cat. Though the story moves along briskly, not much happens between the opening and closing chapters. A nice, quick, generally enjoyable read, but not altogether memorable. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Cat on a Cold Tin Roof
Mike Resnick
An Eli Paxton Mystery
Seventh Street Books (August 2014)

Publisher synopsis: Hard-luck gumshoe Eli Paxton is hired to find a missing cat — a very important cat, it turns out, because its collar is studded with diamonds worth a small fortune. What starts as a routine search of animal shelters soon becomes a perilous journey through a murky underworld. The woman who hired Paxton is the wealthy widow of a recently murdered financial adviser with an alias and mobster ties.

Paxton finds the cat, but not the collar. Eventually, he's forced to unravel an intricate plot involving a Bolivian drug cartel. On top of all this, the temperamental widow is more likely to throw things at Paxton than pay him for his services.

As he turns up one clue after another, leading him ever deeper into a treacherous maze, Paxton hopes, first, to survive, and then to make enough money to afford a new transmission for his broken-down car.

        

Deadly Debut, A Mystery Anthology by Clare Toohey, Editor, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Glenmere Press …

Deadly Debut by Clare Toohey, Editor

A Mystery Anthology

Publisher: Glenmere Press

Price: $0.99 (as of 08/28/2014 at 5:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

It's curtains for Gotham in this anthology, taking the first bow in the Murder New York Style series. Written by members of the New York/Tri-State chapter of Sisters in Crime, these twisted tales reveal New York City's dramatic and dark underbelly.

In these pages, a Bronx teen steeped in Poe confronts a tormentor; on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a recovering alcoholic sweeps up deadly secrets (an Agatha Award nominee for Best Short Story); and in post-war Queens, a gutsy lie shatters lives. From a Brooklyn nanny's street smarts to a small grocer's grit, from a nightclub's belly dancers to a P.I. reared on jive, the characters in these mysteries will have you cheering.

Selected from the Chapter's first anthology, these urban short stories offer bites of action-packed murder and mystery that range in tone from fun to dark and in genre from cozy to noir. The amateur sleuths, police officers, private investigators, and female protagonists who grapple with crime in these pages are richly drawn and engagingly authentic.

— Deadly Debut by Clare Toohey, Editor

New This Week: A Hidden Element, The Element Trilogy by Donna Galanti

Omnimystery News is pleased to present a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during August 2014 and priced $4.99 or less …

A Hidden Element by Donna Galanti

The Element Trilogy (2nd in series)

Publisher: Imajin Books

Price: $3.99 (as of 08/28/2014 at 4:30 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

Evil lurks within…

When Caleb Madroc is used against his will as part of his father's plan to breed a secret alien community and infiltrate society with their unique powers, he vows to save his oppressed people and the two children kept from him.

Seven years later, Laura and Ben Fieldstone's son is abducted, and they are forced to trust a madman's son who puts his life on the line to save them all. The enemy's desire to own them — or destroy them — leads to a survival showdown.

Laura and Ben must risk everything to defeat a new nemesis that wants to rule the world with their son, and Caleb may be their only hope — if he survives. But must he sacrifice what he most desires to do so?

— A Hidden Element by Donna Galanti

The Hitwoman and the 7 Cops, The Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman by J. B. Lynn, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the author …

The Hitwoman and the 7 Cops by J. B. Lynn

The Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman (7th in series)

Publisher: J. B. Lynn

Price: $0.99 (as of 08/28/2014 at 4:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

All reluctant hitwoman Maggie Lee really wants is to have a calm, normal life.

She doesn't want to go around killing people for money. She doesn't want her sister to be terrified of her ex-pimp. She doesn't want her Dad to disappear from the Witness Protection program.

But Maggie rarely gets what she wants. Instead, she finds herself trying to keep everyone out of trouble.

With the help of her ragtag team of supporters: her semi-psychic friend, a handsome, charming con man, her almost-lover cop/hitman mentor, her curious Southern Belle cat, her haughty lizard, and her sweet, but dumb Doberman, Maggie does her best to stay a step ahead of Law Enforcement, while helping those she loves.

​But will Maggie end up being the one who needs to be saved?

— The Hitwoman and the 7 Cops by J. B. Lynn

The Danger Game by Kevin Brooks, a New Travis Delaney Mystery

Omnimystery News is pleased to present in this post a new First Clues: Mysteries for Kids series title published this month …

The Danger Game by Kevin Brooks

Series: Travis Delaney

Publisher: Macmillan

Format(s): Paperback, eBook

Recommended for Apprentice Sleuths, Ages 13 and older

  

For more information about the book, see a synopsis, below.

Fourteen-year-old Travis Delaney is trying to get his life back on track following the crash that killed his parents last summer. The police called it an accident, but Travis knows better. His parents were on to something, and whatever they were investigating … ended with their murder.

Since Travis's Grandad took over Delaney and Co, things have finally started to look up. But when his private investigation partner, Courtney, is attacked following a routine inquiry into a local business, Travis can't help but get involved, even though he's supposed to be focusing on his own investigation into thefts at school. But what he discovers draws him into more danger than he ever could have imagined.

Tangled up in a web of gang warfare, dirty police and secret organisations, Travis needs to find a way out. But at the heart of it all is a traitor. Someone close to Travis. Someone he's supposed to trust.

But trust is a dangerous thing.

— The Danger Game by Kevin Brooks