14 talented mystery authors team up with Trouble, the black cat detective, to take a whirlwind tour of mystery locales—and holidays—across the country and the calendar. In this unique collection of original stories, the black cat shows his charm and sass as he works with cozy sleuths you know and love!From facing down the spirits of Halloween with a Maine Coon Cat named Diesel in Mississippi to … Diesel in Mississippi to Christmas in Taos, Trouble is on the prowl for arch criminals, and he’s never needed the skills he learned from watching Benedict Cumberbatch on the telly as Sherlock Holmes more.
Join the wise-cracking cat and a host of “biped” sleuths for a romp across the mystery map—where he works with only the finest amateur sleuths to bring justice.
Authors are Ritter Ames, Rebecca Barrett, Susan Boles, Pamela Sue DuMond, Caroline Fardig, Carolyn Haines, Miranda James, Ava Mallory, Claire Matturro, Joanne Pence, Larissa Reinhart, Connie Shelton, Susan Y. Tanner, Jaden Terrell.
Read the stories all at once—or savor them as each holiday approaches! Just remember: Life is never the same when Trouble takes a holiday!
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“Year-Round Trouble” is so much fun! It follows Trouble, the black cat with inclinations to help humans solve crimes. Fourteen adventures are provided with different “bi-ped” helpers. Help is offered through a main character of each of the authors. Larissa Reinhart, Ritter Ames, and Connie Shelton were already on my favorite cozy author list. This was a great way to find new authors I want to read! Also I’ll be wanting more Trouble. It was addicting! I couldn’t put it down until I had all fourteen stories polished off! I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book and agreed to post an honest review.
Year-Round Trouble” (Familiar Legacy Mystery ) by these 14 amazing authors Susan Y. Tanner (editor), Carolyn Haines, Larissa Reinhart, Ritter Ames, Connie Shelton, Miranda James, Caroline Fardig, Claire Matturro, Jaden Terrell, Ava Mallory, Rebecca Barrett, Joanne Pence, Susan Boles and Pamela Sue DuMond . I loved this book!
Even though this is the first book I have read in the Trouble series and several authors are new to me, I was able to follow along easily. So it can be read as a stand alone. I really enjoyed it and practically read in one sitting and have since purchased the other books in the series. I have even found some new favourite authors!
The protagonist is a lovely black cat named Trouble, aka the black cat detective. We follow Trouble around the United States as he visits mystery locales and celebrates 14 holidays with some of our favourite biped sleuths.
The mysteries are interesting and well plotted, and I loved the characters especially Trouble! As the other main characters in each story are from cozy mystery series we know and love they were well developed, quirky and fun.
I found some stories had plenty of twists and turns which kept me guessing and second-guessing myself on whodunnit right to the very end. Each story moved at a steady pace, and they meshed together beautifully. I was worried it might feel disjointed but was pleasantly surprised at how well it flowed.
A few stories stood out for me:
Trouble in the a Treehouse by Claire Matturro
All aboard for April Fools Trouble by Ritter Ames
Eggspectation of Trouble by Susan Boles
A Motherlode of Trouble by Larissa Reinhart
Midsummers Trouble by Carolyn Haines
I recommend this book to all my cozy lover friends, and cat lovers.
I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from the authors. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
14 stories of Trouble the black cat investigating his cases. Each involves a holiday from Mardi Gras to New Years Eve in 2020.
I like that the stories are written by different authors as it gives Trouble a different voice as he travels throughout the US solving mysteries.
What a great idea of year-round mysteries featuring the sleek black cat detective, Trouble on his many adventures throughout the various year round holidays. Fourteen highly entertaining stories ranging from twisty mysteries to sweet romances to satisfy a wide variety of readers.
I had a difficult time picking four stories for this review, so I will start with one of the funniest short story that I have ever read in a very long time. My sides are still hurting from all that laughing from Trouble’s Crummy Valentine’s Day by Pamela Du Mond. Any story that starts with a mad cat and a crazy businessman with wild advertising ideas is a winner for this reader. I LOVE Annie Graceland’s unique sense of humor about her crazy life. The character names are fabulously funny, names like Gussie Gunk and Ed Winterbottom, will make you laugh out loud this excellent outlandish read. I did some research on this author’s other works and found out that Annie Graceland has a mystery series, so I will be most definitely buying these e-books in a couple of weeks!
The second story is a Southern down home mystery with plenty of Southern sassy and laughs. I love the nosy Lily Gayle Lambert and her crazy crew in Mercy, Mississippi. Lily Gayle, along with Trouble, is on the hunt for a missing Easter Egg at her church Easter Celebration. Ms. Boles does provide an excellent back history of this character and the community is a huge plus. This attention to detail about the characters’ histories will lead this reader to find more of the Lilly Gayle Lambert books. I especially enjoyed the quirky Miss Edna, who is a bonafide trip in this story. These characters are quirky and so much fun!!
The third story is the one that I waited for is back in this series! The Stars of this Show is back, Sarah Booth Delaney and Trouble are back in Zinna, Mississippi causing more mischief during the Summer Solstice. My Holiday wish is granted!! A priceless BB King guitar is gone so Leah Lassfield and her friend, Blake and Trouble are on the case to find who stole the missing guitar before Devon, Claire Odom’s boyfriend, gets sent up the river for stolen goods. An excellent storyline that is well-written and full of fun with a great ending is the perfect way to end the day. I love these two together in this second installment of the Sarah Booth Delaney and Trouble, these two can have their own series, and I will be a happy reader for LIFE!
The fourth story, Trouble’s Auld Lang Syne rounds out the last favorite story in this review. Trouble and Tammy Lynn are in San Francisco for a rare book estate sale before they can go back home to Alabama before the New Year celebrations can begin. A robbery of a valuable Al Capone diary has Trouble and Inspector Rebecca Mayfield on the trail of tracking down the diary nappers before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. I love mysteries set in San Francisco, which is one of my favorite cities, so any mystery that is based this City by the Bay is a huge draw to me. Rebecca and Trouble work well with each other in this well-plotted mystery. Inspector Mayfield is a very likable down to earth character so I will be checking out her mystery series very soon as well.
Overall, this is an outstanding mystery book for readers who love a sassy British sleuthing cat, whip smart nosy characters, and plenty of laughs during a relaxing weekend after the hectic holiday season. This short mystery series is a great introduction to several authors’ current mystery book series to new readers, such as myself. I love this idea and look forward to another Year-Round Trouble, Volume Two in the future. I was given an ARC for an honest book review.
Year-Round Trouble is a wonderful collection of stories in the Familiar Legacy series. I love this series and love Trouble!
This multi-author collection is fun to read and each story is an interesting adventure with Trouble. I like the different perspectives and styles that each author bring to the series.
Eggpectation of Trouble by Susan Boles is a interesting Easter egg hunt mystery. It could not have been solved without the help of Trouble.
I have only read part of the book am really enjoying it
This is my first introduction to Trouble the Cat. I loved following his adventures from author to author. I’ve now found some new authors to read.
Year-Round Trouble is my first encounter with Trouble the wonderful black cat. I am so enchanted by him that I want to find every book he is in! If, like me, you haven’t read of him, I cannot encourage you enough to get this book. If you read his adventures than you are probably already planning to get it.
This book, written by various authors, is centered around a year of American holidays, (and yes, Cinco de Mayo, the way it is celebrated, is an American holiday. My ex-husbands as from D.F. and had no idea what we were doing. It took a couple of years for him to get over us making a huge fiesta over it.). I loved that smaller holidays were included, including my son’s favorite, Veteran’s Day. I know and love several of the authors included in this anthology. Many of them, though, I had not read before or had only read in other anthologies. I was blown away by how well this came together! You have 14 different authors with 14 different main characters who wrote in 14 worlds yet kept the book flowing flawlessly! That is a major feat. Kudos to all the authors! You are all tremendously talented and dedicated to be able to blend the stories so they stayed true and separated yet connected around Trouble.
As I stated all the stories have their own main character. Some of them are familiar to many cozy mystery readers. For me, I looked forward most to seeing who Ritter Ames was going to write about, (Mia on a train ride you don’t want to miss reading about); catching up with Lily Gayle from Susan Boles; and Cherry Tucker, (why can’t I just say Cherry? It’s always Cherry Tucker for me, as if there are tons of women named Cherry.), from Larissa Reinhart. I looked forward to reading some authors I have on my TBR and keep promising myself I will read them and to reading completely new to me authors. I am so happy to say I was not disappointed. Every author wrote fun stories that made me want more of them. Do you know what surprised me the most though? All these different styles of writing and Trouble stayed consistent throughout the book! I was prepared to have his personality or speech slightly changed because of all the different authors. That did not happen. No matter who was writing the story, Trouble was Trouble. I marvel at that. It was amazing!
Yes, I am recommending you get this book. You can read it all at once. Or you can read each story around the holiday it celebrates. If you are doing a cozy mystery travel challenge, this book will help you knock off a few states. Whichever way you decide to read it, I’m sure you will be as surprised and delighted as I was.
What could be better than 14 short stories featuring our slinky black cat Sherlock Holmes? What a fun romp to follow Trouble and his antics with new friends, both two and four-footed, as each holiday unwinds. This book is a real hoot!
Be prepared to be hooked quickly! Trouble pushes his way into so many new adventures while Tammy is off on the sidelines. As usual he manages to convince the humans he meets that he has a real knack for solving puzzles. And mending broken hearts.
My favorite episode features an animal food fight, a real free-for-all. Laugh-out-loud funny! I love the premise of the book, pitching Trouble into holiday turmoil, much of which he causes, by the way. 14 new interpretations of this Cumberbatch cat. A terrific read!
I usually love these books but this one was disappointing