I had high hopes for Nine Lives and Alibis. The title was pretty fetching. But the cat(s) played little or no part in the narrative except for a few cameos.

Nine Lives and Alibis is the 7th installment in the Cat Cafe Mystery series. And while I have read a number of series' novels as standalones, I had some difficulty with this one. I felt as though I missed a lot of the finer points of the characters and perhaps even their backstories. So, I was at a disadvantage as to knowing the history of the cat cafe, and all of the characters.

For me, Nine Lives was a little boring. Nothing exciting happened until a little past 37%. By that time, I was ready to throw in the towel But something happened that drew me back in, only to be disappointed, again. So by 51%, I was done.

I think I would have enjoyed the novel a lot more if the crime(s) were committed earlier, then followed by the amateur investigations, and sleuthing.

Author Cate Conte is a new to me author. So I'm not going to rule out future novels from her. Though I probably won't step in mid stream on an existing series. One unfortunate DNF star.

I received a DRC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.