Dollycas’s Thoughts

Cat Latimer is excited for her 2nd writer’s retreat since she has returned to Colorado and turned the home she and her now deceased ex-husband used to share into a B&B. Her best friend Shauna is by her side as the chef for the retreats and as the person who keeps everything organized so Cat still has time to work on her own writing. Cat has also reunited with her high school boyfriend, Seth, handyman, and chauffeur extraordinaire for the B&B and the retreats. Her Uncle Pete just happens to be the sheriff which comes in handy because trouble seems to follow Cat on a regular basis.

This round of authors is an eclectic group. The romance author, Christina, seems to have forgotten what the retreat is about and hooks up with a local guy she met at the nearby ski resort. The problem, he is engaged to another woman and he is now dead. The evidence points right at Christina but she swears she didn’t do it. There’s also a new guy in town who would like to get to now Cat better but she thinks he knew her ex-husband and may know why he died. Her uncle is also hot on the case of a very valuable book stolen from the library. Things seem to be snowballing out of control in Aspen Hills, can Cat rein them in and solve all the mysteries with just a little help from her friends?

I am really kicking myself for getting behind on this series because I love these characters, I love the theme, and who wouldn’t love the Colorado setting.

Ms. Cahoon’s characters are so well developed, their dialogues flow so easily. They are realistic, engaging and funny at all right times. Cat, Shauna, and Seth make a fantastic team. Uncle Pete is positively priceless.

I like that Cat and Seth appear to be a perfect match but that Cat realizes she needs to work out a few things about her ex before she can truly move on. The subplot dealing with Micheal’s demise and what he was involved in prior to his death continues from one book to the next. More clues are revealed in this installment that makes it clear his death what not how it appeared. I enjoy that this string connecting each story.

The author does a terrific job of drawing the reader in. The mysteries are intricately woven together in an exciting way. I found the story to be complex and very hard to put down. Learning that “the mob” has a connection to the town that Cat didn’t realize gave the story a very different insight. The excitement ramped up at several places in the book and the ending was really intense. I loved it.

The only good thing about being behind on this series is that the next book, Of Murder and Men is already on my To-Be-Read shelf and I can’t wait to start reading it!

In this second book in the Cat Latimer series, Cat and her friends Shauna and Seth are gearing up for another successful writer's retreat. After her last session, all Cat wants is a good week with no murder or crazy excitement. Unfortunately that doesn't work out. After spending a day at the local ski resort, one of the retreat guests is caught up in an illicit relationship with the local playboy. When he turns up dead after having a quiet night with Christina, she is the first suspect. Uncle Pete, Cat's uncle who is the police chief, questions her, but believes that she is not the guilty party. There are also story lines regarding a stolen Hemmingway book from the university and a couple of mysterious men wandering around the small town. One is connected to the mafia and seems to have a rather unusual interest in Cat. Could he have something to do with Michael's death?

I love the idea of Cat trying to move past Michael's death by using his study and reading his papers. She and Seth seem to be in a good spot with their relationship as well. Shauna was her usual fun self but seems to be getting more involved with Kevin, the owner of the ski resort who also wants her to come and work as a chef for him. And then there is Uncle Pete, a bit of a curmudgeon who wants to take care of Cat. The guests were definitely a group of diverse and interesting characters. They will have you wondering whether one of them is actually a killer. Or could it be someone from the outside? There are a lot of suspects and I did not figure it out until the reveal at the end. There are still some things unanswered from the first book and I hope we continue to get glimpses into the situation until everything is revealed. Another great book in the Cat Latimer series.

This cozy mystery had some things I enjoyed and some I did not. I like the small town Colorado Setting. The Writer's Retreat is a fun background with new characters always arriving. The mystery was very easy to figure out. There was really only one suspect and there were no twists turns. The on going mystery of Cat's husband is still not resolved. A lot of the book is just the characters sitting around and eating. The visiting authors are not full characters. This series should be read in order and spoiler alert. if you read this book without reading the first one she tells you who did it. I am also not happy when the cover and/or title do not reflect the book. There is no murder in a library in front of a fireplace.

I've enjoyed Cahoon's mysteries, which focus on Cat Latimer's writing retreats, which unfortunately seem to include murder on the agenda. Cat must help one of her writers, after the man she was canoodling with is found dead. These are fun mysteries with memorable characters.

The Cat Latimer series has an interesting premise, with a B&B owner who offers monthly retreats for writers. And since this is a cozy mystery series, those retreats also include a death. Then there's an overarching mystery that runs through the series. Add in some romance and you've got a packed story.

It's the second month of Cat's new retreat service and she's both excited and nervous. She's more introverted than you'd expect from someone in the hospitality business but fortunately she has her friend Shauna to help out. Shauna's also the cook, and yum, I wish she cooked for me.

This retreat has a young romance writer with bad judgment in men and before long she's embroiled in the murder of a local man. AS if that weren't enough, she has a stalker back home that she's also dealing with. Add in complications with the local college and a possible Mob hit man in town and Cat is busy keeping her guests safe while fulfilling her duties as hostess and trying to figure out her relationship with handyman and boyfriend Seth.

Cahoon writes a twisty mystery full of details and interesting people. I accurately guessed at parts of the mysteries while I was wrong about others. There was one aspect that that seemed very obvious to me but it took the characters a lot longer to figure it even with clues taring them in the face. The self-contained mystery and the larger series-wide mystery intersected in this story and I'm curious to see where Cahoon goes with it.

I do have concerns about the sustainability of the series. This story was set a month after the first book so it's only the second retreat and both had had murders. Obviously if this keeps happening, the B&B will lose business. Then there's the pacing; if each book is only a month after the previous one, the series will quickly fall behind the real world timeline which will make writing the stories more challenging, and of course, having a murder occur every month, with every retreat, will seriously strain credulity. It was good to see that Cat was worried about some of these same things so maybe Cahoon is already working on solutions.

"Fatality by Firelight" gave us a story with a small town setting, rich characters, intriguing mysteries, and enjoyable insight into being a writer. I was caught up in Cat and Shauna's lives and left wanting to know more about Cat's own personal mystery. "Fatality by Firelight" was a fun weekend read.

I love this series the mystery surrounding Cat's husband is better then the mystery take place in the present. This is a solid series that leave me wanting more.

Fatality by Fireplace

Synopsis

Cat Latimer inherited her home from her ex-husband and turned it into a bed-and-breakfast. She plays host to writers who utilize her home as a retreat.

To kick off a winter writing retreat, Cat and her handyman boyfriend, Seth, escort the aspiring authors to a nearby ski resort, and before long, Christina, romance novelist is warming up next to a local ski bum who might have neglected to tell her about his upcoming wedding.

Unfortunately, the young man’s been found dead in a hot tub—and Christina shows up crying and covered in blood. Now, between a murder mystery, the theft of a rare Hemingway edition, and the arrival of a black-clad stranger in snowy Aspen Hills, Cat’s afraid everything’s going downhill. Not to mention a mystery concerning her former marriage is unraveling and causing her some issues.

Book Review and 4.2 stars

It is a good read, however, Ms. Cahoon is a bit stodgy with the details of Cat's former marriage. I am really anxious to find out more about her former husband and what is going on. At the same time, I hope it, whatever it is, does not interfere with her relationship with Seth. Time will tell!!

The second retreat that Cat Latimer hosts at her writer's retreat doesn't go exactly as planned. Winter has arrived in Colorado so the guests are treated to a trip to the mountain however, more edges were caught at the bar than on the slopes and when the bartender is later found murdered, one of the writer is a prime suspect.

Couple this with a missing rare book from the library used by the "retreaters" for research and Cat has her hands full keeping things from getting snowed under.

A good continuation on this new series.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series and I am absolutely loving the authors Tourist Trap series. However this second in the new series fell very flat and took me weeks to actually finish. While I like the concept and find the regular characters interesting enough there just wasn't anything about this book that really grabbed me and kept me hooked.

As the story unfolded I found myself confused by the various characters and uninterested in the actual plot. The murder was a far off occurrence that had very little to do with the main character and even less to do with her guests after any connection was ruled out. There was a weird angle with the mob and an even stranger stalker twist but all in all it felt like a mess of various little ideas that got thrown together to meet a deadline.

While I will definitely be continuing with the Tourist Trap series I doubt I will pick up another installment in this series. There is nothing here too keep me invested in the series and despite the talk of a bigger mystery it is slow going and somewhat casual. It's a shame really because this series looked like it had a lot of promise.

I've read many of Lynn Cahoon's books, but this was the first Cat Latimer mystery. I've really enjoyed her other series, but this one just missed the mark for me. I found it plodding in its pacing and the characters uninspiring. The best part of the book is the mystery surrounding her husband's death. Without giving too much away, Cat Latimer runs writer's retreat weekends in the Victorian home she recently inherited from her ex-husband. She has an in house chief cook and bottle washer and an old friend (maybe boyfriend) that is her all around handyman and good guy. The basic mystery is that one of local good ol' boys dies in a hot tub. He's engaged and was last seen with one of Cat's writer guests. There's also a side story about a valuable book that is missing from the library and Cat's curiosity about her husband's untouched library and sudden death. Each plot line seemed to be lacking a spark and perhaps that's because of the lack of character development in the ancillary characters. As this series moves forward, I think the author would be better served to stick with a single plot line and develop the relevant characters in detail.

This is another great read by Lynn Cahoon. It is always nice visiting with Cat at the bed-and-breakfast. This was a nice follow-up to the first one in the series. I'm not sure how Cat handles the guests but somehow she does. There were nice twists and turns. Although I had one mystery solved, the other had my reading until the end.

Nice touch of romance and extra intrigue regarding her ex-husband kept me turning pages well into the night!

Thank you for allowing me to review!

Book 2 in the Cat Latimer series and it's just as good as the first.

Our main characters return and are fleshed out more, the setting is wonderful and you really feel like you're there with them.

More about Michaels past and what he was working on before he died is slipped into the story but it doesn't detract from the mystery at hand but does intrigue you enough to keep wanting more.

Highly recommend this series!!

The second book in the series centers around Cat Latimer's second writer filled retreat at her home in Aspen Hills, Colorado. I liked the book overall, but hope there won't be too much of a love triangle messing up Cat's life for long. The body that wound up dead seemed a bit odd at first, but it leads the police to one of Cat's new retreat attendees, therefore enabling Cat to nosy around. The history of Aspen Hills and the college is fleshed out a bit more, entwining the present day mystery with some mystery from Cat's ex-husband's past. Quite a bit more of Michael's life is being slowly revealed via the stories, and I hope that Cat will be able to wrap up her conflicted feelings and continue with her life. The descriptions of the town are wonderfully vivid, and it's almost hard to believe these writers are going to accomplish much with all the skiing, dining and investigating that occurs. Framing the book with a retreat works really well, plus Cahoon will always have quirky new characters or suspects to write about.

This is the second book in the Cat Latimer series, and I am already hopelessly hooked--although I'm not sure I'd ever want to attend one of her writer's retreats! :D

Although none of the retreat attendees were killed this time, one of them was a person of interest when a murder occurred at the local ski resort--and everyone was questioned about the theft of a rare book from the college library. On top of that, Cat learns some fascinating information about Covington College which had somehow managed to escape her attention up to this point.

In other words, there are a lot of things going on in this book, but most of it gets tied up neatly by the end. We're still left wondering exactly what was going on with Cat's former husband and whether or not his death was a murder--but I have a feeling that is going to play out over several more books.

It was nice to see the relationship between Cat and Seth growing, slowly but surely. Shauna and Uncle Pete play a big part in this book as they did in the first one, and we get to know them each a little better.

This is a fun read with a great mystery/mysteries to solve. I would highly recommend it.

Fatality by Firelight sucked me right in from page one. Cat’s Victorian home is the perfect cozy setting for a writer’s retreat. When one of her guests is suspected of murder, she has to play detective as well as hostess. Fatality by Firelight is full of romance, good food, and plenty of suspects.

Having read A Story to Kill, I enjoyed reacquainting myself with Cat as she welcomes the participants of the second writers’ retreat into her home. I like Cat, she’s good-hearted and hard working. When a local man is killed and one of the writers is a suspect, Cat takes it upon herself to prove the young woman’s innocence.  The central plot – the murder – is resolved in a satisfying manner, with a few twists along the way.  At the same time, in a recurring intricate subplot, Cat continues to delve into her late ex-husband’s secrets and the mystery surrounding his death.  This was an enjoyable and well written mystery. I look forward to following Cat’s story in the future.

After the first traumatic writer's retreat, Cat and her best friend, Shauna, feel this one has to go more smoothly. A diverse mix of writers have signed up for the week and Cat, herself, is psyched to get her own book finished. To allow the guests to mix and mingle as well as enjoy some of the local attractions, the retreat crew takes the writers skiing. At least, that is the plan.

Another well crafted cozy with developed characters and clues sprinkled throughout each page.
I did figure out the main suspect relatively soon but this is not a one crime novel.
The house takes on a major role and Michael's past and death again come into question. This adds additional strain to Cat's already confused emotions and feelings for handyman, boyfriend Seth.

Love is always complicated and this mystery shares various ways relationships can play out.

Lynn Cahoon’s second Cat Latimer mystery is a solid, satisfying entry in a series I’m rapidly moving into my “must-read” category. It’s a quick read with plenty of mystery threads, clues, and red herrings, and it held my interest throughout.

Another writers’ retreat is marred by murder, but this time, the victim isn’t one of Cat’s guests. However, Christina, a young woman attending the retreat who was seen kissing the murdered man, may have been the last person to have seen the victim alive. Worrisomely, Christina herself may have a stalker — and that person might have followed her to Aspen Hills.

There’s a lot more going on in the sleepy little town, too. A rare Hemingway book has been stolen from the college library, the dean is trying to back out of the college’s contract with Cat for the writers’ retreats, several strangers in town give off an ominous air, and Cat is still trying to come to terms with the fact that her ex-husband, now dead, may have been trying to protect her from his mysterious employers. Add in a new/old relationship that’s starting to heat up and more than one retreat guest acting a little oddly, and Cat’s got a lot to worry about.

Frankly, I don’t know why Cat isn’t writing mysteries instead of YA urban fantasy, because she’s pretty darn good at asking questions and putting two and two together. And by and large, she avoids TSTL Syndrome*, which is such a relief in a cozy series! I enjoyed the immediate mystery (or mysteries) of this book, but it’s Cat’s personal life, particularly the long-arc puzzle of what Michael was up to and whether his death was natural, that really keeps me coming back for more. I want to know what really happened as much as Cat does — and I want her to be able to move beyond it and get on with her relationship with her highschool sweetheart, Seth.

Actually, I also want to find out more about Cat’s friend and employee Shauna. I realized while reading Fatality by Firelight that we don’t know much about Shauna’s background, other than that she cooks like a dream, is loyal to Cat, and was working as a bartender before Cat offered her the job of cook/housekeeper for the writers’ retreats. If you notice, even in her guest post above, Shauna doesn’t say a whole lot about her past beyond the basics. Maybe Ms. Cahoon is holding her backstory in reserve for whenever the ex-husband Michael arc is wound up. Something to do with that “loser” Shauna mentioned, perhaps?

If you’ve read any of Lyn Cahoon’s Tourist Trap mysteries, you’ll find the Cat Latimer series a trifle more serious in tone, but still decidedly in the “cozy” subgenre. If you’ve never read Cahoon’s books, you can certainly read Fatality by Firelight as a standalone, but since we’re only two books into the series so far, why not start with A Story to Kill?

* * *

*too stupid to live, a designation for those idiotic heroines who blithely go into dangerous situations without thinking. You know the type. In a horror movie, they’d be killed early on, but when they are the heroine of a cozy mystery series, they miraculously get away with it every single time — and they never learn. Thankfully, Cat is not like that. She may occasionally end up in a dangerous situation, but it’s not through being stupid!

FATALITY BY FIRELIGHT by Lynn Cahoon
The Second Cat Latimer Mystery

Cat Latimer is ready to put the unpleasantness of her last writing retreat behind her as she gears up for her second. She gets another odd group however, including a writer more interested in researching local history than writing, an intense poet, and a romance writer falling for a local bad boy. When the local bad boy turns up dead and Christina becomes a suspect, Cat knows she needs to step in. Cat gets more than she bargained for as she discovers her quiet Colorado town serves as the educational hub of mob families and her late ex-husband may not have been the louse she thought, instead he may have been working to protect her. As Cat sparks the interest of a connected visitor to the town, she also tries to evaluate her relationship with Seth...and find some closure with Michael. Will she be able to get through her second retreat and still get her word count in without any more dead bodies?

Lynn Cahoon delivers another fine mystery in FATALITY BY FIRELIGHT. The characters are well developed with solid backstories. Even the more minor characters are able to give glimpses of their lives beyond the page. The author is able to manage the current murder mystery with puzzles of the past, both compelling, and neither overshadowing the other.

FATALITY BY FIRELIGHT is a well written novel that wraps you up in coziness. The frigid Colorado temperatures are countered by the warmth of Cat and her friends, buffeted by the murder and puzzles that surround them.

FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a digital ARC provided through NetGalley, in the hopes I would review it.

I liked the first book in this series and was happy to find that the second book was out. What could be more enjoyable for someone who loves reading cozy mysteries than one with a writer’s retreat? The author does a nice job of setting the stage for the story, and I feel as if I really get to know the characters she writes about. She takes the time to show the reader what they are made of. While there are some characters that are hard to like, I think that always makes for a better story than having the feeling that I would love everyone to be my friend.

The little details about what it’s like to be a writer are a nice addition. I tend to glamorize the ability to stay at home and write bestsellers when actually keeping up with the necessary word counts for the day, and not always feeling like writing, doesn’t sound that exciting; however, I appreciate that she adds this honest look at the life of a writer.

Once more, I tried to solve the mystery; however, things aren’t always what they appear. By the end of the book, the loose ends are neatly tied up. This Lynn Cahoon is definitely one of my favorite cozy mystery authors, and even though this works beautifully as a stand-alone book, I don’t think you should miss a bit of the action.