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9 Lives Cozy Mystery #1

The Cat Came Back

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Stormy the Cat, rescued by journalist Quinn Armstrong, is not what he seems.
Young mother Christy Jamieson just learned her husband, Frank, embezzled his trust fund, sold their Vancouver mansion, and ran off with a socialite. Worse, Frank's trustees are telling Christy to let them handle it. But they aren't doing anything, and Frank's enemies are coming after her and her daughter.
Desperate to find Frank and fend off his enemies, Christy asks Quinn for help. His price: the dirt on Frank. But the closer Christy and Quinn get to the dangerous truth, the more convinced they become that only the one who knows where Frank is at, is Stormy the Cat.

THE 9 LIVES COZY MYSTERY SERIES, in order
The Cat Came Back
The Cat's Paw

360 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 9, 2016

458 people are currently reading
329 people want to read

About the author

Louise Clark

26 books32 followers

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5 stars
315 (41%)
4 stars
255 (33%)
3 stars
153 (20%)
2 stars
35 (4%)
1 star
6 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
Profile Image for Betty.
2,004 reviews73 followers
May 21, 2017
A light mystery with elements of the paranormal with characters being able to hear its thoughts. At times the tale held my interest and other times was upset that Christy did not seek the advice of a lawyer. There was a discussion of items that had no bearing on the plot. Romance and sex are present but no graphic violence.
Christy Jamieson and her daughter had to leave the family home as it was sold by her husband. Noelle is changing her schooling from private to public. Frank Jamieson, her husband is missing and suspected to embellishing his trust fund. He was sighted traveling in Mexico with his girlfriend. The police closed the case and told Christy she needs to find him by herself. The family cat was missing and when he returns Frank's essence joined the cat. Christy asks a journalist, Quinn Armstrong to help search for Frank. Meanwhile, the trustees are putting pressure on Christy. Someone is releasing negatives items about Christy, the press reports are damaging to Christy. Christy must find answers before she loses everything.


Disclosure: I received a free copy from a-pubishing.com for an honest review. I would like to thank them for this opportunity to read and review the book. The opinions expressed are my own.
Profile Image for Nancy.
2,577 reviews65 followers
April 29, 2025
Read preview .. 3 chapters on 4.29.25.
Profile Image for Emmalynn.
2,938 reviews29 followers
April 5, 2023
This was goodish but way to long. It could have been 1/3 shorter and just as good. The premise of Frank co
I go back in the body of Stormy is a good one, just needed exploring more and wished Quinn could hear him as well. The sleuthing is okay, though Cristy allowing g herself to be bullied by Frank’s relative and threatening to take her daughter because she’s the “heir” is ridiculous. Their trying to control her dating life etc and her not putting her foot down especially now that Frank was dead/missing 🙄🙄 if she’s to have any real relationship with Quinn or anyone that would have to change.
Profile Image for Judy.
3,374 reviews30 followers
March 17, 2021
This is a fun cozy mystery with a paranormal twist: a cat which is hosting the spirit of the dead husband of the main character, Christy. With the help of an investigative reporter, she is trying to find out who killed her husband, and defend herself against the attempts of her late husband's trustees to get custody of her daughter. The level of writing is better than many cozy mysteries, and I will probably read some others in this series. 3.5 stars
Profile Image for Lea Day.
225 reviews9 followers
June 16, 2023
I agree with other reviewers the story is very good but should have been shortened. By the time I got to the last third of the book I was on edge of my seat so I guess it was worth hanging on to the end but I really do hate ‘suffering’ thru unnecessary length in a book. A good edit should have fixed that 1 flaw.
89 reviews
Read
September 7, 2025
interesting book... weird a bit but i liked it. finished in one day. I read alot instead ofother things!
Profile Image for Chelsea.
328 reviews47 followers
September 25, 2022
loved the book!

Very interesting storyline with some very surprising twists! Great cozy mystery with likable characters and a mysterious cat. Will continue to read in the series.
Profile Image for Kat Lebo.
855 reviews15 followers
June 8, 2019
The Cat Came Back, 9 Lives Cozy Mystery, #1
by Louise Clark

I very much enjoyed this mystery with a paranormal element. I found the characters easy to identify with, the action well paced and plotted, the danger to main characters real. The take on the involvement of the cat was unique, and one I've only seen one other time -- and then in a series where it was a one time shot, so I'll be interested to see where this author takes the cat character in future episodes. There is no cliffhanger ending -- a huge plus in my book. The editing/proofing had a glitch or two, but not horrible.

The description given of the storyline is a good one, so I'm not writing one here.

There were some things I didn't like. I always hate to see errors, but this book had three very early in the book. I didn't notice any after that. I'm reading this in a 3-novel compilation, so the percentages stay relatively inaccurate1 Unfortunately, I almost stopped reading the book because of these three early proofing errors:

Chapter 1, location 96 (96!!!), 1%: Maria Elena, the nanny Noelle known since birth...

Chapter 1, location 148, 1%: ..., since she'd cut off her long, golden hair and died it back to her original red-brown color...
^Well, hair is already dead when it exits your head, so I think she probably dyed her hair. SMH

Chapter 13, location 1988, 17%: He'd go crazy in secluded place.

I also thought the writing style, from description to dialogue, was often stiff.

While this is the first in a series, the author has written several books in a few different genres, so I didn't expect to find proofing errors or stiff, unnatural wordage. It seems to me that, at least for digital editions, correcting proofing errors shouldn't be too difficult or expensive. Why continue to offer something flawed as an example of your work? Paper and glue editions -- that's a whole 'nuther can of worms!

In any event, I did enjoy the book and plan to read at least the next two novels in the series which are already on my Kindle.
Profile Image for Stephanie Dagg.
Author 81 books52 followers
October 1, 2017
You know, this book really works! I was a little worried to start with that it wouldn’t, since it quickly emerges that there’s a magical paranormal element, and yet the book has such down-to-earth characters and a plot that has financial concerns at its core. Can such prosaic realism and such imaginative make-believe act in harmony? With this author, most definitely.
Frank, the heir to the Jamieson ice cream fortune, disappears together with his trust fund leaving his wife Christy, and his daughter Noelle at the mercy of Frank’s trustees. Their marriage wasn’t successful but Christy is genuinely worried about her husband and knows this behaviour is out of character. However, everyone else seems to accept it all at face value.
Christy and Noelle have to make big economies and so move to a smaller house, next door to the Armstrongs. Quinn, a journalist, at first pursues Christy for a story since there are suspicions she’s involved in the money’s disappearance, and she refuses to have anything to do with him, but soon she needs his help. In return for a scoop on Frank, he agrees to help her. More help comes from Stormy, Christy’s cat who ends up on Quinn’s doorstep.
There is a lot for Christy and Quinn to deal with, not least the growing attraction between them. It all makes for a very enjoyable and innovative mystery.
My only quibble is with the title. There are an awful lot of books with the same title. I’ve mentioned this before in reviews, but it is vital for a book to be instantly findable. A distinctive, unique title is a must!
961 reviews6 followers
November 28, 2017
I try to read a cozy mystery or something light after I've finished a demanding book and that's how I came to read "The Cat Came Back." Found the book to be entertaining and easy to read. My problems with the book (I stress they are my problems and not necessarily shared by other readers): the mystery angle was not well developed--an opportunity lost--and the cozy was too well developed. With so much emphasis on the 2 main characters being turned on by one another, and the cat gimmick thrown in, the mystery wasn't given much time. . .and then all of a sudden, it just seemed to solve itself. I do read these books for entertainment and "The Cat Came Back" delivered on that.
Profile Image for Kim.
4 reviews
December 30, 2019
I could not finish the book.
Her husband is missing but, imho, for someone who does not want to believe what is being said about him, she quickly becomes smitten with the reporter who is helping her, and she sure is smiling and laughing a lot, much of it at what I thought were rather inappropriate times.
1,504 reviews16 followers
September 25, 2017
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.
I discovered a new author thanks for eBook Discovery and I absolutely loved this cozy mystery.
The heir to the Jamieson Ice Cream fortune disappears, along with a large amount of the trust fund, leaving Christy, his wife and Noelle, his daughter behind to take the flack. The Trustees decide that there is not enough money to keep the wife and child in the manner to which they were accustomed in their mansion, and they are booted out the the suburbs of the local town to start life as "ordinary people". Quinn Armstrong is the journalist who is eager to write the Jamieson story and starts hounding Christy for an interview. Although Christy and her husband Frank are no longer close, she knows that there is no way he would leave her and their daughter who Frank adores in the lurch and soon it becomes apparent that perhaps he did not, and the family's cat Stormy may be housing Frank's soul/essence after all.
The characters are well fleshed out, the storyline well written and all in all a fantastic read. Will certainly be on the look out for her next book!
Profile Image for Judy.
312 reviews
March 2, 2023
Christy Jamieson’s husband Frank has disappeared and apparently stole money from the family trust to pay for his lavish lifestyle and drug use. Christy has to leave the mansion she lived in with Frank and their daughter Noelle because Frank sold it out from under them. Frank is spotted in Mexico with his girlfriend and then supposedly he returns to Vancouver. Quinn Armstrong is a report who wants to do a story on Frank and Christy doesn’t want any part of that. After she moves to a townhome, she realizes that Quinn is her neighbor. For some strange reason, Christy’s family cat, Stormy, decided to follow Frank the night he disappeared and he is missing for quite some time. I liked that Frank inhabits the body of Stormy and several people can hear him, except for Quinn. Is it because Frank is jealous because Christy is attracted to Quinn? I liked Christy and how she navigated the suspicions thrown her way about being in on it with Frank. I really felt for Frank when he was able to recall how he died. I love the snarkiness of Frank in poor Stormy’s body.
238 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2024
A pretty good story with a different storyline involving a cat being possessed by its former owner who was murdered but wants to get back to his family and explain what happened to him. I enjoyed the story, though I was sometimes annoyed with the female lead character. Sometimes she displays a near complete lack of common sense and apparently also has no sense of self preservation. She knows she has no self defense techniques in her wheel house yet goes to confront the potential murderer with nothing but her cell phone and her purse. No back up, no waiting for her cohort or the police. Definitely asking for bad things to happen to her. And why does she take such unnecessary risks when she is the sole living parent of an 8 yr old child? She was so concerned with making sure that her custody of her daughter was not taken away from her, yet she literally put herself in mortal danger. Aside from this rather ridiculous action for the final thriller part of the book, I did enjoy the reading and I will read the follow up book. As with some other authors, there is a need for better editing or proofreading because frequently words are omitted from sentences, and this disrupts the flow.
Profile Image for Darla Taylor.
1,850 reviews
February 19, 2019
Christy Jamieson is a young mother of an 8 year old daughter. Christy just found out that her husband, Frank, who's heir to the "Ice Cream King" is missing and supposedly embezzled from his trust fund. Due to that Christy and her daughter are having to make some drastic changes including a move from their mansion to a townhome. Christy winds up asking Quinn Armstrong to help her find Frank in exchange for an exclusive interview. However, as they conduct their search, it becomes more and more clear that Frank is not missing and did not do the things he's accused of. Of course, when Christy and her daughter are reunited with the family cat, Stormy, it turns out that he's now more than just a cat as Frank is now sharing the cat's body and can talk telepathically to some people.

A cozy mystery with some humor and romance, this book was a great read and I look forward to the other books in the series.
Profile Image for moxieBK.
1,763 reviews4 followers
July 8, 2021
A 9 Lives Cozy Mystery Book 1: The Cat Came Back (29 chapters) July 1-6, 2021

The first book in the The 9 Lives Cozy Mystery series. I read this as apart of a set featuring books 1-3.

Frank, a very wealthy trust fund husband, finds himself unexpectantly sharing space with the family cat Stormy. But Frank had a less than stellar life with his wife Christy and her new friend Quinn isn’t making it any easier.

When Christy sets out to find her wayward husband, she encounters resistance from Frank’s trustees and then things take a turn for the worst when bodies start showing up.

The series set up spent a bit too much time gathering up the characters and scenes. Editing would have helped the plot as well, since it dragged in places.

Hoping next book is better.

Being generous: three stars.
Profile Image for Bettye McKee.
2,188 reviews156 followers
November 27, 2017
Adventures with Smoky

You know those people who are born without a natural instinct for self-preservation, who are hell-bent on going where angels fear to tread? That describes Christy Jamieson

Christy's husband Frank is missing. He left the house one night and didn't return. Smoky the cat followed Frank, and Smoky is also missing. Everyone, including the press and the police, believes that Frank embezzled money from the Jamieson Trust Fund and fled to Mexico with his girlfriend. Christy is informed by the Trustees that Frank sold the mansion and she and her daughter must move out.

Of course, Smoky returns and the adventure begins.

22
Profile Image for Belinda Earl  Turner.
390 reviews3 followers
May 6, 2020
Christy Wants Answers!

Frank Jamieson is missing and so are funds from the Jamieson Trust which support his family! He is rumored to be in Mexico with a girlfriend living it up on the ill-gotten gains, but would he just have abandoned his young daughter?

Christy , his wife, wants answers! The police have blithely accepted the disappearance as another philandering husband whose theft financed his getaway. The trustees of the Jamieson Trust think so too. But Christy isn’t sure , and she’s determined to get answers to her questions! Read The Cat Came Back to discover the answers Christy got!♥️✝️🐑✡️♥️
12 reviews
March 25, 2021
A quick dive into a cozy about a wonderful idea of "afterlife"...and not just any "afterlife" but one inside the body of a cat. Well, I'm hooked. I wanted to know who gets to have this kind of afterlife but that question doesn't get answered in this book. Maybe in a later one, one can hope. Got a rainy day like I did with a thousand things to do but reading a getaway book sounds oh so much better? Grab this book and tuck yourself into a delightful, if slightly oblivious, story about a cat, a dead husband, an overstressed-out mother, and wait for it...a drop-dead gorgeous guy, well, you get the picture.
2,000 reviews37 followers
March 4, 2022
The wife of an ice cream heir enlists the help of a journalist when her husband disappears after being accused of stealing money from his trust fund in this wacky, action packed murder mystery set in the glitzy, idle rich high society of Vancouver, British Columbia. The characters are interesting and entertaining, the plot is brilliantly detailed, carefully peeling back the many layered plot like disassembling an onion, one layer at a time, there's action, a love interest an adorable little girl and a very finicky cat - all the components necessary to make a great cozy mystery.
This one's well written, well narrated and definitely worth your time.
Profile Image for Joan.
966 reviews
September 14, 2023
Interesting and entertaining

After Christy’s husband, Frank, heir to an ice cream dynasty disappears, everyone suspects that he stole from his trust fund. He was a drug addict and not the best husband, but he adored their daughter, Noelle, and Christy believes that he would never intentionally abandon her.

Successful journalist Quinn helps Christy unravel the truth with the help of Stormy the cat who it seems actually embodies the spirit of Frank. The cat can talk to Christy, Noelle, and Roy (Quinn’s famous novelist father) but unfortunately not with Quinn, whose mind cannot accept that cats can talk and that Stormy is actually Frank.
85 reviews
August 24, 2024
A Sad little cozy that turns itself around to a loving but strangely mixed new family

Enjoy!Well cats are all the craze these days, but this an entirely new take on karma.
Christy the wife of Frank Jaimeson, the remains heir to a vast fortune is denied the trust by a group of snotty upper crust group of liars, hateful family, cheats, fraud, illegal mafia style landfills which were perfect places to get rid of the bodies. It was a charming little cozy that I read in an evening and loved the new family who came out if the mixed species family who love each other the way you wish every family did
1 review
May 7, 2021
I am not normally a fan of the paranormal or sentient pets in mysteries, but it was reasonably subtle here. Together with the familiar Vancouver/Burnaby setting, some nicely-drawn characters, and a good mystery story,it was an enjoyable read. The biggest drawbacks were the main character continually running off in true damsel-in-the-dark-passage fashion to meet with potential murderers, and her seeming acceptance of the patronizing trustees’ right to dictate all her life decisions far beyond what would be expected of the terms of a financial trust.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
45 reviews
October 6, 2022
The cat came back

This is my 1st read by author Louise Clark.It was an interesting storyline that I certainly could not have predicted. It also took a stretch of the imagination to accept a mystery book with a talking cat. There were parts that caused me to laugh out loud and parts that were chilling. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. THESE REVIEWS WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER IF ONE DID NOT HAVE TO GO BACK AND CORRECT GRAMMATICAL AND SPELLING ERRORS OF THIS PROGRAM!!!!
Profile Image for Christine Goodnough.
Author 4 books18 followers
October 6, 2017
This writer really knows her craft. The story line is believable and the characters well fleshed out, just the right amount of descriptive details have gone into making this a high quality page-turner. I might have knocked off a star because of the paranormal angle. However, this aspect of the story is done low key, not terror-inducing, and it does portray an important truth about life and how it can be wasted.
I got this book free in an author promotion.
1,362 reviews13 followers
February 19, 2018
This cat mystery was extremely entertaining!

I was a little skeptical of this cat mystery at
first, but as it progressed it really sparked my
interest. As we were taken deeper and deeper
into this intriguing mystery it became harder to
put down. The characters are fascinating and I
especially like Stormy/Frank, the cat. This was
a very well written and exciting mystery and I'm
looking forward to starting book #2.
Profile Image for libreroaming.
408 reviews12 followers
September 8, 2024
A murder victim comes back as the family cat, but most of the mystery is the estranged wife having insta-lust with a reporter. You would think that having a cat/your dead husband psychically talk to you about his sudden death would be the priority, but nobody in this story behaves in a natural way. All of Frank's social circle is one dimensional rich villain mean, and the mystery is more nobody is bothering to investigate it rather than being clever.
145 reviews
November 27, 2017
Good book

This was a nice light read. It held my I interest throughout, was not predictable, and was enjoyable. The only reason I gave it 4 stars out of 5 was the lack of originality. The bad father being killed and coming back to his family as a cat, thing has been done before in many films and books.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews

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