Curiosity Didn't Kill the Cat

A great and interesting find. Its an old vintage mystery set in Oregan cira 1970’s or 80's in a small costal town. The first in a series featuring a male sleuth, a bookstore owner named Conan Joseph Flagg. Hes half Native American and half white/Irish and a former military man and secret agent who now runs a bookstore and has a license to track down rare books. A man mysteriously drowns and his widow comes to Conan to look into her husbands death, believing it more then just a death, but murder. There was a cast of interesting and entertaining characters. It has a great example of a mystery plot, with suspects, false leads, twists, suspense, humor, romance, and intrigue

CUROSITY DIDN'T KILL THE CAT by M.K. Wren is a fine introduction to Conan Flagg, Conan is ex-CIA operative who was sent home from Berlin with a bullet in his lung. He makes a new home on the coast of Oregon near the ranch his father built and followed his desires to the world of books. Conan has a love of books, a Rolodex file of experts in many fields, a native American mother and Irish father, a love of classical music, a cat named Meg who loves bits of paper more than catnip toys, a host of small town friends, and above all his assistant Miss Dobie. When Captain Harold Jeffries, U.S.N., Ret. ends up drowned in the surf below Conan's house it looks more like murder than an accident. When the book Captian Jeffries had checked out of the rental library ends up back on the shelf the next morning then Conan knows someone is using his shop for business other than selling books. This story is dated, but strong enough that I've ordered the others in the series. A good book remains a good book no matter when it was written. Nash Black, author of QUALIFYING LAPS.

It's true the cat in the book has almost nothing to do with the main plot, it's not about the cat. It's about people in a small, sheltered town and their reactions to what's going on. Not to mention Conan's past, and the how gossip becomes a favorite pasttime. Who doesn't want to be Miss Dobie?! After I read this first novel of a series, I had to get the others!