Софи Райан - No Escape Claws

PRAISE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SECOND CHANCE CAT MYSTERIES

“A surefire winner.”

—Miranda James, New York Times bestselling author

“An affirmation of friendship as well as a tantalizing whodunit, The Whole Cat and Caboodle marks a promising start to a series sure to appeal to anyone who loves a combination of felonies and felines.”

—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Ryan kicks off the new Second Chance Cat Mystery series with a lot of excitement. Her small Maine town is filled with unique characters . . . This tale is enjoyable from beginning to end; readers will look forward to more.”

—RT Book Reviews

“If you enjoy a cozy mystery featuring a lovable protagonist with a bevy of staunch friends, a shop you’d love to explore, plenty of suspects, and a super smart cat, you’ll love The Whole Cat and Caboodle .”

—MyShelf.com

“I am absolutely crazy about this series . . . The cast of characters is phenomenal . . . I loved every minute of this book.”

—Melissa’s Mochas, Mysteries & Meows

“This is an enjoyable series, in part for the lessons in refinishing, reimagining of old items but also for the friendships between the characters and the murders they solve.”

—Kings River Life Magazine

“If you are looking for a charming cozy mystery with a smart main character and an adorable cat, then you should check out The Fast and the Furriest .”

—The Avid Reader

Titles by Sofie Ryan

The Whole Cat and Caboodle

Buy a Whisker

A Whisker of Trouble

Telling Tails

The Fast and the Furriest

No Escape Claws

BERKLEY PRIME CRIME

Published by Berkley

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

1745 Broadway, New York, New York 10019

Copyright © 2019 by Darlene Ryan

Excerpt from Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly copyright © 2011 by Penguin Random House LLC

Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

BERKLEY and the BERKLEY & B colophon are registered trademarks and BERKLEY PRIME CRIME is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Ebook ISBN: 9781101991251

First Edition: January 2019

Cover art by Mary Ann Lasher / Bernstein & Andriulli

Cover design by Katie Anderson

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Contents

Praise for Sofie Ryan

Titles by Sofie Ryan

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Excerpt from Curiosity Thrilled the Cat

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Special thanks go to my editor, Jessica Wade, and her assistant, Miranda Hill. Many times I’m the one who gets credit for their efforts. My agent, Kim Lionetti, is both advocate and cheerleader and I’m deeply grateful. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

A big thank-you to all the readers who share their stories and photos of their cats with me. I love hearing from you!

And as always, love and thanks to Patrick and Lauren. I wouldn’t want to do this without you.

Chapter 1

The first thing I saw when I made it to the back wall of the storage unit was Elvis, sitting on top of a wooden casket. He looked at me, cocking his head to one side, and his expression seemed to say, Look what I found!

“Good grief, what’s that doing in here?” I said.

He didn’t answer. Not that I expected him to, seeing as he was a small, black cat and not the swivel-hipped King of Rock and Roll.

I reached up and ran my hand over the smooth surface of the long wooden box. When I’d bought the contents of the storage space—and a second one three doors down—I’d given things a cursory check, just enough to feel comfortable about making an offer. The fact that the owner of the building had taken that offer without haggling had made me wish I’d offered a little less. At the time, I hadn’t spotted the coffin—that’s definitely what it was—sitting on several wooden packing crates by the end wall.

“Hey, Sarah, you all right?” my brother Liam called. He’d come along as muscle to help me load my SUV and the trailer it was pulling. He’d been in town for several days, consulting on the harbor front development project.

“I’m fine,” I said, raising my voice a little so he could hear me. “You won’t believe what Elvis found.”

“Let me guess. The real Elvis in one of those white jumpsuits?”

The cat Elvis, who as far as he was concerned was the real Elvis, wrinkled his nose as though he’d understood Liam’s words.

“Ha-ha. Very funny,” I said. “No, he found a coffin.” I looked around for Charlotte but couldn’t see her. Charlotte Elliot worked for me part-time. She was also one of my grandmother’s closest friends, which was how she’d ended up with a job at my shop.

“Ha-ha. Very funny back at you,” Liam retorted. I could hear him moving boxes and furniture out of the way as he made his way to me.

“I’m not joking. It has to be at least six feet long. I think someone made it.”

“It’s probably just some big wooden box.” He gave a grunt of effort and I saw a stack of boxes behind me shift sideways.

“There’s a cross carved on the top and there are four handles on the side. It’s a casket.”

Liam poked his head above a six-foot-long metal toboggan that was blocking his way and grinned at me. He was a shade over six feet himself, with blond hair and blue-gray eyes. “You better hope the person who rented this space wasn’t trying to save money in other ways besides not paying for the last six months.” He craned his neck and studied the wooden box. “Assuming that’s not the person who rented the space in the first place.”

There was an orange foam football sitting on an upside-down wooden chair that looked like it had been wrapped in zebra-print duct tape. I threw the football at his head. It bounced off his left shoulder and landed near his feet.

“Your elbow’s too high,” he said. “Your arm should be making a right angle.”

I stuck out my tongue at him.

Elvis’s curiosity seemed to be getting the better of him. He scratched at the edge of the wooden box then looked at me.

“You’re right,” I said. “We should take a look inside, but you’ll have to move.” I picked him up and put him on the seat of the flipped-over chair. My hair was coming loose from the ponytail I’d pulled it into when we’d arrived at the warehouse. I yanked the elastic loose, raked my fingers through my hair and refastened it.

“You’re not really going to look inside that thing, are you?” Liam asked.