I appear to be bouncing between two different ‘issues’ as I go down my somewhat random reading journey. For a while there I kept reading books starring people ten to twenty years younger than me. Let’s see, the book before the last one I read actually starred people roughly 24 years younger than me. I can mostly get past that, though there are things that can pop up that distract enjoyment. Well, I’ve mostly been able to ‘get past’ that issue with this specific series here. But I think I might have enjoyed this story a lot more if I was, say, thirty years or so older.

The fourth book in the Beatrice Young series opens with Beatrice, the 60+ year old owner of a café specializing in coffee and pastries, and general all-around busy-body, driving down the road. And becoming distracted by her howling cats. So much so that she stops. Spots something in front of her, and throws her car into reverse. Speeding down the roadway, fast, in reverse. Suddenly – explosion. It appears that someone tried to blow up Beatrice.

Naturally Beatrice brings her concerns to the Sheriff. Vaguely unnaturally, the sheriff responds with some comment or another indicating that Beatrice should solve the case. This is a change, eh? So, Beatrice and her cats investigate the case of the rather extreme Halloween pranks. Oh, and goes on a date. Can’t forget that part. Not sure if that seemed out of character, or not, but from the little I had learned, it seemed vaguely out of character.

I liked how the black cat, Lucky, got to spend more time front and center. But then, he is a black cat, and it is Halloween time.

It was an interesting enough story. Just found myself, for the first time, forcing myself to continue reading a few times. Not exactly sure what happened there, why that occurred, but it did. Hence my giving this story a lower rating than the previous two stories in this series. ( )