‘The Terminal Velocity of Cats’ by Carol Westron

Published by Pentangle Press,

July 2013.
ISBN 978-1-48499-104-6

I loved this book!   The story held me enthralled as Mia Trent is called to the discovery of bones during the clearance of a building site on Bridge Road.  She is the Scene of Crimes officer with valuable archaeological experience so she soon realises that the bones are from a recent death.  The story gathers speed as the other detectives develop the investigation and various individuals become suspect.  The pace of the novel is one of its strengths - there is both an absorbing investigation which changes directions as the story progresses and characters with whose activities and attitudes the reader becomes deeply involved.   Mia is the focus since there is a killer in the town who had already murdered 3 women and she seems to have attracted his attention.

           

Another strength here is the title which is one that I can remember and which is cleverly referenced during the book.  Do not fear, cat lovers - as Carol notes at the beginning, ‘no cats were harmed during the writing of this book’!   The fast pace of the adventures of Mia and her team reminds me of Beverly Connor’s Diane Fallon books set in Georgia USA which I greatly enjoy.   We have a different setting here - Mia is in an unspecified small town in the South of the UK and she works directly for the police and in a team but the interest in forensics, the clever heroine and the exciting speed of developments are similar. 

           

If you want a real page turner this is your book but don’t read it on the train or you might miss your stop!

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Reviewer: Jennifer Palmer

This is, I think, Carol’s first published book but she has written short stories for women’s magazines and About the Children, another crime novel, is previewed at the end of The Terminal Velocity of Cats. On her

web site Strangers and Angels, a Victorian murder mystery is listed for autumn publication.

 

Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative Writing teacher.  She is the moderator for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly Dames.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  The Terminal Velocity of Cats is the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, published July 2013

http://www.carolwestron.com/

 

  Jennifer Palmer Throughout my reading life crime fiction has been a constant interest; I really enjoyed my 15 years as an expatriate in the Far East, the Netherlands & the USA but occasionally the solace of closing my door to the outside world and sitting reading was highly therapeutic. I now lecture to adults on historical topics including Famous Historical Mysteries.