Caturday Crime

A Cat Rescue Mystery #1

by Amanda Flower

First in a new series from USA Today Bestselling and Agatha Award-winning Author Amanda Flower.

Twenty-something Kinley Remington has problems. She’s stuck in a dead-end job at the local bank with a terror of a boss, but she’s too timid to try to look for something elsewhere. Whether are not she stays at the bank is taken out of her hands when she is fired for leaving eighty-something heiress Miss Penelope Slope in the bank’s vault alone. Shortly after, Miss Penelope’s priceless diamond necklace comes up missing.

Kinley feels horrible and goes straight to Miss Penelope’s mansion to apologize only to learn that Miss Penelope took the necklace herself. Surrounded by the many cats from her cat rescue, Miss Penelope promises Kinley she will clear up the misunderstanding with Kinley’s employer. However before Miss Penelope can make things right, she is murdered in her own home with only the cats as witnesses.

Kinley was the last person to see Miss Penelope alive and they are looking to her for answers and as a suspect… Kinley must play sleuth if she doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life in prison.

And the cat rescue? That’s on Kinley’s shoulders too. For the first time in her life, Kinley Remington will have to take control of her life and make decisions to save herself and Miss Penelope’s cats.

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2025

About the author

Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author of over thirty-five mystery novels. Her novels have received starred reviews from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Romantic Times, and she had been featured in USA Today, First for Women, and Woman’s World. She currently writes for Penguin-Random House (Berkley), Kensington, Hallmark Publishing, Crooked Lane Books, and Sourcebooks. In addition to being a writer, she was a librarian for fifteen years. Today, Flower and her husband own a farm and recording studio, and they live in Northeast Ohio with their two adorable cats.

Reviews

[Shirley Chapel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t wait to read this cute cozy by Amanda Flower. Caturday Crime is the first book of the Cat Rescue Series. I will be waiting patiently for book two to come out. I thought this was a cute Cozy Mystery but perplexing also. I loved that it was about a cat rescue mission. The mystery was very good and I was totally drawn into the book. This mystery was hard to put down and it would pull me back to reading it every chance I got. Like a magnet. I didn’t have a clue who the murderer was . Flower has the gift of making her books realistic. All the characters added depth to the story and main character Kinley Remington played her role well. The editing was not the best but it didn’t make me lose interest in the story. I gave the book five stars because of story content. I loved the book.
I highly recommend to readers of Cozy Mystery and suspense books. Caturday Crime is available now for purchase.
I purchased my own copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed here in this review are solely my own.

[Linda Langford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great debut cozy mystery with an interesting plot and lots of cats to be rescued and adopted! I suspected the killer early on, but enjoyed the chase and following the clues to the conclusion. The story needs a good editing as there were a lot of typos.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. The only reason I’m giving it three stars is because of all the cats and mostly good things happen. I don’t know how this book got away without being edited, but it was almost impossible to read.

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing Story

Thanks to the author for another fun read. Next time I would hope she would make sure the editing is up to par. There were so many errors that at times it took away from the story.

[Donna Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Not really knowing how this storyline was going to evolve I found it extremely interesting and an attention holder. There were so many twists and turns and possible suspects that seemed to change with every chapter. This book was hard to put down and I'm looking forward to more in this series. Need to keep up with the "guard cat". (There are some typos but those can be overlooked and the story followed).

[Stevie · Rating 5 out of 5]

terrific!

I love this author and this book is no exception. I was drawn in from the first page and couldn’t put it down until I finished. I love the ways the characters are developed, with some doubts cast on who can be trusted adding to the intrigue. The only downside of reading a new release right away is the long wait until the next one in the series gets published. I highly recommend this first in the Cat Rescue series!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many typos!

I love Amanda Flowers books but this one was just okay. I don't think I've ever read a book with so many mistakes. It was very distracting.

[Deborah Almada · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another cute new series by Amanda Flower, and I love the idea of the historical house and a cat sanctuary. This book is not quite as detailed as her usual series, and there are a few time and day confusions, but it was definitely an enjoyable read as you get more into the story. Kinley is a bit of a timid MC, the book starts with her getting fired, and she just walks away from her nasty boss. She feels she must explain to her grandmother's best friend that she made a mistake at the bank while Miss Penelope was there, and now her expensive necklace is missing. When Kinley gets to Slope House, she finds that Miss Penelope has the necklace on and with promises to clear everything up the next day. Kinley goes home to her cat in a hopeful mood. Unfortunately, the next day, Kinley finds Miss Penelope strangled with the necklace gone. Calling the police sets her up as a person of interest add finding out that Miss Penelope left her Slope House and her fortune as long as she continues to care for the cats just adds to the problem. Can Kinley figure out what happened to Miss Penelope? Does she want to take over Slope House? What will happen to all the kitties? Come along for an interesting and adorable mystery with a lot of fun-loving fur babies! #CaturdayCrime #ACatRescueMystery #AmandaFlower #bookreview #bookideas #retiredreader

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute cozy mystery that cat lovers and especially fans of Amanda Flower will love. I really like the idea of the main character, Kinley, getting involved in a cat rescue and think it will be fun in future books. There was a plot point about bank safe deposit boxes that didn't add up, but otherwise I enjoyed the book. I look forward to future books to find out what happens next for Kinley and the cats.

[Cozybooklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Book

I absolutely loved this new book by Amanda Flower. It was so much fun reading about the cats I see on her Facebook posts, and I adored the relationship between Marmalade and Gabriel.
Kinley is the main character, and the story centers around her grandmother's dear friend Miss Penelope and her cat sanctuary.
The story is well written and I'm excited to read more in this series.

[Linda Kleback · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great New Series!

As a cat lover myself, I was eager to read this new book. I enjoyed it very much. The characters are interesting and great to meet. The mystery is engaging. As an additional plus, proceeds from the book go to support the author and her husband 's cat rescue efforts.

[Heather Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Amanda Flower books, and this one is a fantastic addition to her series ❤️

[Sue Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't download a sample of this book because I am a fan of the author's work. If I had, I would never have purchased this one. It lost me in the very first chapter when it broke all the rules safeguarding what we keep in our safe deposit boxes. First of all, banks do not keep an inventory of the contents of the boxes. That is confidential. Secondly, opening a box requires two keys: one belonging to the bank and one belonging to the person renting the safe deposit box. So bank employees cannot open the boxes without that second key. If you lose your key, the bank has to drill out the lock and replace it at the box holder's expense. Finally, the bank would require some sort of legal document, like a search warrant or a power of attorney to open the box out of the presence of the box holder.

Then, the narrator kept wandering off in the middle of the narrative that interrupted the flow of the plot. The mystery itself was way too obvious. The only things I liked about the book were the cats and the idea of using the old house as a cat sanctuary. The rest of it was just irritating. I'm beginning to wonder if this book was written by AI. It's as poorly written as some of the "novels" I wrote in grade school to wile away the time while I waited for the rest of the class to finish the assignments that I'd already finished.

The only consolation is knowing that the proceeds from the book will go to help fund the author's feral cat colony.

[Alice Liu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Amanda Flower books for their intelligence and compassion, and so the initial premise in Caturday Crime completely confounded me. Does Flower not know how safe deposit boxes work? 1.) Bank employees/managers do NOT have access to customers' safe deposit boxes. 2.) Bank employees do not do inventory of safe deposit boxes. 3.) Customers do not need to fill out a withdrawal slip for their own belongings, and 4.) Bank Employees do not stay in the room monitoring the customer when they open their box. Further, there were plot holes galore, as when Kinley leaves the customer alone for a minute, then is accused of stealing a valuable, even though she was never alone with the safe deposit box. Though not Kinley's fault that there was an erroneous initial premise, it made her look dumb nonetheless. That, plus she kept making weak decisions, and couldn't even recognize opportunities to exonerate herself. Ultimately it was an enjoyable mystery, though marred by the absurd safe deposit box scenario.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was put off by the first chapter of this book where bank employees open a customer’s safe deposit box without them being present or their knowledge. And the bank supposedly had a list of the contents of the box. But I googled that happening and found that there were a number of people who apparently had a bank which had a third key open their box without their consent. I don’t believe any bank would have an inventory of someone’s box but I can overlook that as necessary to the story.

The main character Kinley was a bit unsure of herself but that made sense given her background. I expect that will change as the series goes on. And there is an interesting mix of secondary characters. It was too easy to figure out who the killer was but that was because there was only one suspect who made sense as the killer. Overall this was an enjoyable cozy mystery.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a cat lover or animal lover in general, I was waiting to be able to read this book. It didn't disappoint. Kinley Remington has a mundane life. She likes to fade into the background. Her days consist of working at the bank, visiting her friend Miss Slope and going home to her cat. When her world is flipped upside down, Kinley goes to Miss Slope for advice and condolences. They discover that Miss Slope was the reason Kinley lost her job. Vowing she will fix it, Miss Slope unfortunely passes away before she can. Now Kinley is the prime suspect in the murder. Meanwhile who will take care of all of Miss Slope's cats? Will Kinley be able to find out who killed her before the town takes Miss Slope's house? What will happen to all of the cats? I really enjoyed the storyline. The characters were just quirky enough to make them interesting. I look forward to the next in the series.

[Debbie Earls · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Miss Penelope is found dead at her family's estate, the community looks to her close friend, Kinley, who is like a granddaughter to her, as the murderer. Kinley comes under more scrutiny when she finds out that Miss Penelope has named her as the trustee of her vast estate and cat rescue. Kinley has to work hard and do some sleuthing of her own to clear her name and find out who the real murderer is. This is a new cozy mystery series by Amanda Flower. I enjoyed it. My only complaint is it needed to be proofread more than it was. There are a lot of typos and misplaced words in sentences making it hard to decipher at times.

[Marit · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️⭐️ A light, easy to read cosy mystery featuring Kinley Remington, a twenty-something bank teller with a cruel and demanding boss. When she is fired over an innocent mistake in the bank vault, leaving Miss Penelope Slope alone. Then a priceless necklace appears missing and everything changes for Kinley. She becomes the custodian of Miss Penelope’s cat rescue after the death of Miss Penelope and an amateur sleuth. Kinley is portrayed as rather naive and aimless in life but the highlights for me involved the antics and cute personalities of the cats and the lofty aims of cat rescue. Spoilt somewhat by mistakes in the editing process.

[Elizabeth F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book and the author! I thought it was a well written story with a great plot. I never guessed who done it. The characters were characters and of course the cats. Love the cats! Can't wait for the next book in the series. Highly recommend as a most enjoyable read!

[BethAnne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute cozy. I hope there will be more to come.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a cute start to a series. Cats and a mystery, what could be better. I did find several typos but they didn’t distract from the story. FYI, all proceeds from this book go to Amanda’s cat rescue!

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Amanda Flower's books and I was thrilled when I saw this new one with cats, as the stars of the book (in my opinion). I hope this is the start of a new series.

[Tammie Gunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story . Loved it.

[Nicole Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book, but SO MANY TYPOS. Seriously?

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinley Remington becomes the prime suspect in her 87-year-old friend’s death in Caturday Crime, the first installment of Amanda Flower’s Cat Rescue Mystery Series. After being fired from her job at the bank for theft, Kinley turns to her friend and mentor, Penelope Slope the owner of the necklace she’s accused of stealing. Penelope had removed the necklace from her safety deposit box without telling anyone and promised to clear Kinley’s name at the bank the next morning.

When Kinley arrives at Penelope’s home to accompany her to the bank, she finds her friend dead. There’s no shortage of suspects: a neighbor who wants to shut down Penelope’s cat rescue, a mayor who thinks Penelope’s house should have gone to the town, a young police officer with an unusual knowledge of the property, and even one of Penelope’s elderly book club members.

At the start, Kinley is dissatisfied with her job but drifts along until she’s fired. Over the course of the mystery, she learns to stand up for herself especially when Miss Penelope’s beloved cats suddenly depend on her. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series to see what happens with Penelope’s cat rescue and the colorful cast of characters.