A Creepy CATalyst

A Witch Shifter Cozy Mystery #2

by M.L. Bonatch

Being a witch who can shift has its perks—seeing ghosts isn’t one of them.

Hell-o, it would've been nice if someone had warned me that my ability to shift into a cat enabled me to see ghosts. I spent a good ten minutes explaining my new pet sitting business to a spirit. I thought something was off about her, but I wasn’t expecting that!

If only I could understand what she was trying to tell me, because it turns out she was murdered. She’s followed me home until I can figure it out. And now I must care for her familiar until the inconsolable cat is assigned a new witch. Moving the ghost and her keening cat out of my house can’t happen soon enough.

When old grudges are revealed, the list of suspects grows. And it includes a young witch at the Home for Wayward Witches, who’s flaunting too much attitude and power. It can’t be her, can it?

With a killer on the loose, everyone’s got a finger or paw to point. Since I have both, I’m caught in the middle of this murder mystery. Let’s hope I can solve it before an innocent witch gets accused, or worse, someone else dies.

Genres: Cozy Mystery

180 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 26, 2022

About the author

Just a small-town girl, Maureen Bonatch leads a double life. She lives in a magical world as a novelist, and as a nurse leader in reality. Maureen’s first novella was a paranormal romance published when blogs were a new-fangled thing. She’s since changed her focus to writing paranormal cozy mysteries as M.L. Bonatch and urban fantasy as Maureen Bonatch.

While she’s not busy writing or doing nurse-things, she’s a mom to her twin daughters, bicycling in the beautiful woods of PA with her hubby, doing the bidding of a feisty Shih Tzu, and dancing as much as possible.

She believes music can be paired with every mood, laughter is contagious, and that caffeine and wine are essential for survival.

Reviews

[Arabella Auberon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is a lot of fun. I’ve been reading it as a way to distance myself from darker stories that can get really intense, and there’s just enough fun in this series to be perfect for releasing any negative emotions left over from a difficult story. The writing is good, the characters are fun and entertaining and I enjoy the relationship dynamics and plot points.

5 ⭐️s= Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors, loved this story so much I’d buy it.

4 ⭐️s= Great story, highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Believable actions and reactions, realistic dialogue, a book I would consider buying.

3 ⭐️s= Good but not great story, noticeable discrepancies, grammatical and or spelling errors, undeveloped characters or unbelievable behaviors but still readable. Nothing majorly wrong with the story, just not interesting enough for me to continue. Would not buy the book.

2 ⭐️s= Not offended by the story, but not interested enough to finish. Unbelievable characters, poor writing, many mistakes, big holes or discrepancies, many spelling or grammatical errors, characters not believable, unlikeable or TSTL.

1 ⭐️= Offensive, extremely poor writing, horrible characters, victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. Would never buy this book, and do not recommend it to anyone.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[HeatherAnne Norbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the second book of the Witch Shifter series, we are introduced to more fun characters as we meet more witches and familiars in Witchteria Lane. Amelia didn't get enough page time in this book, but I can't wait to read more of her antics as she, Winona, and Betty Lou reinvigorate the GGW. And the felines won't miss out on the action either as they form their own investigative group. Poor Abigail is stuck in the middle as a witch who can shift into a cat.

I love how her relationship with Olaf is growing. After book 1, I wasn't sure how much I would like Olaf. He's pretty self-absorbed and a bit of a pain... but he has his witch's back (and backside in one instance) at every turn as she works to solve the murder of an old and powerful witch - one who is haunting her as a ghost until that murder is solved.

This book in the series was pretty light on the burgeoning romance with Scott - one so tentative at this stage I'm not even sure if "burgeoning" is the right word. I don't mind the slow burn to romance and I think it is authentic to Abby and Scott, given their pasts.

Definitely read this series for the characters. I'm not sure how much of a great mystery these ultimately are... but I'm also not one who spends my reading time trying to solve the mystery before the answer is revealed. But I love the characters in this world and they are only getting better! I look forward to continuing this series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Merry Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abigail was put into the witchness protection program at a home for wayward witches in order to help her get a handle on her magic since she had so many mishaps that has you laughing out loud. Now, in this book she is getting a handle on her magic and her ability to shift into a cat so she decided she wanted to get her own home with her familiar, Olaf and run a cat sitting business for familiars. When she rescues a familiar from a witch who was killed and finds no one seems to care about the old witch's death and the old witch has taken up a ghostly residence in Abigail's house. Her new ability is to be able to see and communicate with ghosts. So Abigail must look into the death of the old witch and try to solve the case so the witch can leave her house and the old witch's familiar can find a new witch to be a familiar to. With lots of mystery and laughs and twists and turns we are taken through a bunch of misclues. Can Abigail solve the death of the old witch or will she have to live with the ghost witch and her annoying familiar? I love this series so far and can't wait to see what else Abigail and Olaf can get into. I received an ARC of this book but the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abigail and Olaf are back for another supernatural adventure. After being placed in the Witchness Protection Program, Abigail was sent to the Home for Wayward Witches for her protection and to learn how to manage her new-found magical powers. She has achieved so much that she now has her own home and, together with her familiar Olaf, has started her own business, Abigail’s Fuzzy Vacation, a cat-sitting business for familiars. Before getting her first guest, Abigail rescues the familiar of an old witch who was killed and the ghost of that witch comes to live at her house! Since the Magic Bounty Hunters don’t seem to be interested in finding her killer, Abigail jumps right in. Will she be able to find the killer or will she be stuck with the ghost forever? Plenty of laughs and very quirky characters! Don’t miss this one!

[DianaRaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Creepy CATalyst by M.L. Bonatch is the second installment in her new series, A Witch Shifter Cozy Mystery. The pace is steady with enough tension to make this a good mystery cozy. Get ready, Olaf the bossy, food driven familiar pretty much steals the story. 

Abigail found out she's half mortal and half witch that can shift into a cat.  With the help of her familiar (Olaf thinks he's in charge) they stumble on a murder that has been designated an accident. With the help of the murdered witch's ghost and familiar, Abigail and Olaf take on the case. The biggest problem, too many suspects. The local witch's GGW and the feline's IFF investigators are also putting their two cents into solving the murder.

I recommend this story to anyone that enjoys cozy witchy mysteries.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abigail has moved out of the Home for Wayward Witches with Olaf her familiar and is starting or trying to start up a pet/familiar sitting business. Her first day of drumming up business is not going well. On top of that she discovers a new power the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Apparently shifting comes with hidden surprises. Now she has a murdered ghost following her and the inconsolable familiar of the deceased witch to take care of. To get some degree of sanity back she’s got to find the culprit and fast!
Quirky, magical fun. A quick lighthearted read. Enjoyable characters and an ingenious take on the small town mystery story. Great story and great series!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Emily Pennington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cat-Sitting Gone Ghostly . . .

Abigail is trying to get control of her magic. She has the ability to shift into a cat and that lets her see ghosts, to her surprise. She and her familiar, Olaf, have planned to start a business to cat-sit familiars. When a witch is killed, Abigail takes her cat familiar home. The witch’s ghost will be sticking close to Abigail until her murder is solved.

Humor is a common occurrence in this story line. Will Abigail be able to find the murderer of the ghostly witch so she can evict her new house guest before she becomes a permanent resident?

[Federica De dominicis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had quite a good time with this book, with the interactions between Abby and Olaf being a source of smiles and laughters!
There is still mentions of events and characters not described anywhere in the two books so far, but that is a minor nuisance at this point, as the story, dialogue, characters, settings etc. are a delight to read!!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2 is another mystery to be solved by Abigail and Olaf. With help from Precious, along with Scott and Winona's input and of course there has to be some ghostly help with the case.
Come get to know the previous characters as they meet new ones like Julie and see if the story unfolds as you think it will.

[Wanda Siesicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chatty cat

I love this neighborhood. It's actually a witches protection program. When one of the witches is murdered it fell on Abigail and Olaf to find the murderer. Do they find out who the murderer is in time to stop another crime from being committed? If you like witches, cats and a good, clean who-dun-it your going to love this book.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Abigal sees a ghost and takes in her familiar things get interesting.
This is book 2 in the series and the mysteries are getting better. It is a fun read about a "which" learning more about her magic side.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable writing. Challenge to figure out 'who-done-it'. Surprising abilities.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abagail is doing so good with learning her new found powers that she gets a house of her own and along with Olaf they open up a new business for the town in which she is cat sitting for other familiars. What's a girl to do besides run her business; oh yeah rescue a cat of a witch that was killed and oh yeah just for funnies she inherits the dead witches ghost.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[stephanie huntington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and entertaining

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Creepy CATalyst by M. L. Bonatch is the second book in the Witch Shifter Cozy Mystery series. Half human, half witch who can shift Abigail has moved out of The Home for Wayward Witches on Wisteria Lane. Abigail and her familiar cat Olaf have started a pet sitting business to make money for living expenses. While going door-to-door passing out ads for their business Abigail encounters the ghost of one of the neighbors. That's how it started - Abigail's and Olaf's investigation. I really enjoyed this book. The characters are lots of fun and very likable. This storyline kept my attention from page one. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

I received an ARC and this is my honest review.