Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Whole Cat and Caboodle
    The Whole Cat and Caboodle
    The Whole Cat and Caboodle
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Whole Cat and Caboodle

    Written by Sofie Ryan

    Narrated by Marguerite Gavin

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Sarah Grayson is the happy proprietor of Second Chance, a charming shop in the oceanfront town of North Harbor, Maine. At the shop, she sells used items that she has lovingly refurbished and repurposed. But her favorite pet project so far has been adopting a stray cat she names Elvis. The big black cat with a scar across his nose turned up at a local bar when the band was playing the King of Rock and Roll's music and hopped in Sarah's truck. Since then, he's been her constant companion and the furry favorite of everyone who comes into the store.

    But when Sarah's elderly friend Maddie is found with the body of a dead man in her garden, the kindly old lady becomes the prime suspect in the murder. Even Sarah's old high school flame, investigator Nick Elliot, seems convinced that Maddie was up to no good. So it's up to Sarah and Elvis to clear her friend's name and make sure that the real murderer doesn't get a second chance.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 5, 2016
    ISBN9781515970804
    The Whole Cat and Caboodle

    More audiobooks from Sofie Ryan

    Related authors

    Related to The Whole Cat and Caboodle

    Titles in the series (10)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2022

      First prize 10 and under Tang Li, age 9 Palmetto Bay, FL My name is Anisa. I was in Hawaii on vacation. I enjoyed sipping refreshing drinks, overlooking the turquoise ocean, and dancing with others, before I overheard that the priceless Fire Ring wa

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Stay and Fight

      Jul 9, 2019

      Stay and Fight
      16 min read

    • Article

      WINNERS APRIL 2023 STORY CONTEST Pet

      Sep 1, 2023

      Danah Jang, age 10Westlake, OH Finn, the Goat Picasso I had a tawny-colored goat named Finn. I raised him after finding him in the fields. He was in poor condition, calling out with miserable, piercing wails. The heart-melting scene convinced me to

      9 min read

    • Article

      Little House

      Jun 5, 2023

      On Monday nights our mother made popcorn and served it to us in mugs with milk poured over. My younger sister and I carried our mugs into the family room and ate the popcorn with spoons, like cereal. We were five and seven. Until we were allowed to s

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Queen Signal

      May 31, 2018

      The Queen Signal
      14 min read

    • Article

      Neighbourhood WATCH

      Aug 26, 2021

      Neighbourhood WATCH
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Money Box

      Jun 10, 2022

      This is not a morality tale. It’s simply a story. It began innocently enough, over a lunch of beef pho in the Financial District, when my friend Paolo first mentioned the Money Box. Paolo was a pupa of industry then, waiting to emerge as a titan. He

      19 min read

    • Article

      Season Of Goodwill? (You Might Need It)

      Nov 8, 2023

      CHRISTMAS is on the way and those of us with parrots have a lot extra to decide in the way of activities, extra food, presents, guests and so on. My first two parrots, the African greys Artha and Casper, taught me far more than I taught them. Althoug

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    • Article

      A Kitchen, A Sunroom, And A Thousand Days

      Aug 5, 2019

      I was young, maybe 8 or 9. My mother was going through a time: The couple she cleaned for and whom we lived with had broken up and left us lingering in their abandoned home. She had cancer, my mother, so her head was where it was, but sometimes she w

      3 min read

    • Article

      My First Pet

      Feb 2, 2020

      My First Pet
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Education of Mrs. R.

      Sep 6, 2022

      An adolescent shriek woke her. Cockerels, she thought, cockerels, with a wry twist to the word. She lay in the dark listening. There was no use in covering her head; the screaming still came through. The soloist was suddenly submerged in the chorus.

      13 min read

    • Article

      Speedboat

      Mar 24, 2022

      Nobody died that year. Nobody prospered. There were no births or marriages. Seventeen reverent satires were written – disrupting a cliché and, presumably, creating a genre. That was a dream, of course, but many of the most important things, I fi nd,

      14 min read

    • Article

      The Coming Of The Tempest

      Sep 22, 2022

      The Coming Of The Tempest
      9 min read

    • Article

      Summer Beach Reads

      Jan 10, 2021

      Summer Beach Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      Echoes Of The Bunny Man

      May 18, 2023

      Echoes Of The Bunny Man
      5 min read

    • Article

      Home Bound

      May 18, 2020

      Home Bound
      6 min read

    • Article

      Tuskers

      Jul 1, 2018

      Tuskers
      9 min read

    • Article

      Intelligent Creatures

      Jul 6, 2023

      Intelligent Creatures
      19 min read

    • Article

      Notes on Etiquette

      Mar 1, 2019

      Notes on Etiquette
      10 min read

    • Article

      Ann Beattie

      Sep 15, 2017

      I’d started to visit Olivia more often because it was obvious she was lonely. The ALS lady who’d been moved to Hopkins had been Aunt Olivia’s closest friend, leaving aside Merton Hillstead, who actually went home. Even the friendly paperboy who somet

      23 min read

    • Article

      The Almadraba

      Sep 1, 2018

      The Almadraba
      14 min read

    • Article

      “Really?”

      Jun 2, 2022

      “Really?”
      6 min read

    • Article

      Come with Me

      Dec 1, 2022

      Come with Me
      12 min read

    • Article

      Ineffectual Tribute to Len

      Mar 15, 2019

      After graduate school I hung around another year and drove a cab for Iowa City Yellow Cab. The cab was a boat, a Chevrolet Caprice wagon. I could have put a mattress in the back and lived in it. I didn’t hate the job. I’d sit in the Kroger parking lo

      24 min read

    • Article

      The Boy Who Cried Wolf

      Jun 9, 2020

      Josh Turner from Austin, Texas The egg landed with a splat on the truck window. ‘Bullseye,’ grinned my buddy Dave*. Hiding in the shadows, as the car drove past, we could see the driver gesticulating furiously. It was 31 October 1990 – Halloween – a

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Whole Cat and Caboodle

    4/5

    83 ratings14 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this opening story of a new mystery series, A Second Chance Cat Mystery, by Sofie Ryan, one of the pseudonym names of author Darlene Ryan. Some fans may recognize her name as Sofie Kelly, author of The Magical Cats Mystery series. This was my first read of any of this author's books and it was a fun, cozy mystery from cover-to-cover. I definitely am in love with Elvis, the big black cat with a scar across his nose from the description of how he rides in Sarah's truck to his purrs. Charlotte, Liz, Rose and Maddie are friends of Sarah's grandmother and thus of Sarah and remind me of the three wonderful fairy godmothers to Cinderella but in this case there are four. Each brings a special quality to Sarah's life interactions and hopefully will continue to play active roles in each mystery in the series.

      The only thing that surprised me was why the reader was seemingly introduced to Mac in two (2) different locations in the novel. Mac, "the store's resident jack-of-all-trades" is first introduced in Chapter 1 and the reader is advised that Mac had "been a high-powered life to financial planner but had ditched his high-powered life to come to Maine and sail. In his free time he crewed for pretty much anyone who asked. There were right windjammer schooners based in North Harbor, along with dozens of other sailing vessels. Mac was looking for space where he could build his own boat. He worked for me (Sarah Grayson, owner of the Second Chance shop) because he said he liked fixing things."

      Then in Chapter 8, Sarah thanks Mac for joining Sarah and some others at supper and the author again shares "When Mac wasn't working he was generally crewing for someone or hanging around the boatyard, learning everything he could about wooden boats so he could eventually build his own."

      I can understand reminding the reader in another title in the series, but I didn't forget Mac's intro between Chapter 1 and Chapter 8. It almost made me feel like the author forgot about the earlier intro or edited the chapters on different days and other 'first readers' did not share or inquire as to the dynamics of the repeat.

      I definitely think there seems to be some chemistry between characters Sarah and Mac and hopefully that will be further explored in a future novel in the series. ;)

      There are a few minor copy edits in the book that will hopefully be addressed in any upcoming printed editions.
      An Obsidian Mystery - Published by the Penguin Group. First Printing, April 2014.
      Chapter 15, p.217 - "He kissed me on the cheek and wish me well."
      Perhaps it was meant to say, "He kissed me on the cheek and wished me well."
      Chapter 15, p. 218 - "I hope things work out for you friend," she said.
      Perhaps it was meant to say, "I hope things work out for your friend," she said.


      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Can I just tell you how much I loved the cast of characters in this book? I also loved that it did not fit the formula exactly. This may have just become one of my favorite series. I can't wait to listen to the next one for more Elvis!
    • 3/5
      Book # 1 in the Second Chance Cat Mystery series, featuring Sarah Grayson, proprietor of Second Chance, a consignment shop in North Harbor, Maine, and her rescue cat, Elvis. When Sarah’s elderly friend, Maddie, is accused of murdering her special friend (who was NOT a nice man), Sarah and her “crew” of elderly detectives are convinced they can solve the crime and exonerate their friend!This is a cute cozy mystery with a decent premise and a wonderful cast of colorful supporting characters. I love that the crew of senior sleuths is christened “Charlie’s Angels” … with a nod to the movie, NOT the original TV series! There are plenty of suspects, a sprinkling of red herrings, and some creative scenes of sleuthing. The final reveal is satisfying and somewhat surprising. I’ll keep reading this series.
    • 5/5
      This was the cozy I had been jonsing for. Little old lady detective caper, a dash of found family, and a great
    • 5/5
      In this first novel of a new series, Sarah has come back to her grandmother’s hometown and opened a repurposed shop, where she and her staff refurbish items she finds hither and yon. She also found Elvis, a cat, who, by the looks of his battle-scarred face, has lost at least one of his nine lives. He now also has a second chance in life. When an elderly friend is accused of murder, not only does Sarah get involved, but also her other elderly friends. Going by the collective moniker Charlotte’s Angels, they are in for the long haul, and just might have a second chance at a new career. This is a great beginning for an interesting series. With a variety of characters, this time it’s the old folks who have the inroads - and the abilities - to fix the problem.
    • 2/5
      When Sarah Grayson returned home after her radio show was cancelled she decided to open a second-hand shop, and seems to be doing pretty well. On one morning she's giving a class at the local retirement home, and her friend Maddie doesn't show up - which isn't like her. So after the class Sarah and her elderly friend Charlotte go to Maddie's home and find her sitting in her backyard alongside her boyfriend Arthur Fenety...who happens to be dead. When the police suspect Maddie of the murder, none of the women can believe it. Since the three elderly friends - Charlotte, Rose, and Liz - are determined to find the killer, all Sarah can do is stick by them and hope for the best...First off, I'm going to say that I absolutely love cats. I have several of my own, and they are indeed quirky characters with a mind of their own. However, since my cats aren't magical, and Sarah's cat Elvis isn't either, I have to wonder why he watches Jeopardy. Cats aren't big on television. They'd rather eat, sleep, and play. They aren't too fond of being unable to move, so I can't imagine that any cat would take kindly to being carried around in a duffel bag tied up to their neck with only their head poking out. There would be a fight about that one. So no, I didn't get the feeling that Elvis was "real."Then, I am honestly really, really, tired of protagonists proclaiming they can't cook. It's not that hard to make basic food and no one has to be a gourmet cook, but it's pretty easy to make a hamburger, chicken breast, or even salmon. Personally, I think Sarah is just lazy and would rather eat out. Making scrambled eggs isn't even worth cleaning the pan. If you're setting off fire alarms, you're not paying attention, which brings me to another another thing: (and proves Sarah just doesn't want to learn to cook). Mac remarks that Sarah pays more attention to detail than he does. No, she doesn't, or she'd be able to cook. That statement was just blown out of the water. Also, if he's going to build a boat of his own, shouldn't he be paying attention to details himself and be able to paint those details. Also, why would you paint a beautiful wood table? Varnish it to its original color. I wouldn't buy a wood table from a second hand store that I'd eventually have to strip the paint from to return it to its original glory. Just sayin'I also didn't understand why Sarah spent her time hanging around with three elderly women. Yes, I get they were trying to solve a murder together, but from conversations it's apparent that these ladies are probably most of her social life. Who hangs around with someone who's nearly sixty years older than you are? Yes, be fond of your grandparents by all means; but their friends shouldn't be your social life.Also, the book was more centered on Rose, Liz, and Charlotte, who seemed to blend into each other and they're just not that interesting. If this book had been labeled as being about senior sleuths we would have been forewarned, because honestly, it really is about them in the long run. Sarah's love interest just floats in and out of the book when he's needed to make an appearance, as does her friend Jess. I also didn't get why Sarah would allow the three women to 'create an office' at her place of business.The murder investigation itself didn't really begin until almost half of the book, around page 190, and by then I'd already lost interest in the book. When I did get to the end it felt forced and as if the author just needed to find someone as the murderer. We weren't really given clues so it wasn't pointing toward anyone at all, which was disappointing.The book would have been better, in my opinion, if Sarah actually had a reason to investigate instead of just keeping an eye on the three women (and, I have to wonder, since Maddie was the one suspected of murder, why wasn't she helping find the killer? - after all, it would have been her head in the noose, not her friends'). I also would have liked to have more descriptions of the town and the harbor, which were practically non-existent here. This one, unfortunately, was a letdown, but I will perhaps try the second in the series as many times the author hones the characters and the books. Hopefully this will be the case in this series.
    • 4/5
      Sarah Grayson runs Second Chance - a shop in the oceanfront town of North Harbor, Maine, where she sells items that have been lovingly repurposed and refurbished. Elvis, the stray cat that has chosen Sarah as his companion, charms all the customers that come into the store. And when Sarah's elderly friend Maddie is found with the body of a dead man in her garden, it's up to Elvis and Sarah to clear the old lady's name and to make sure the real murderer doesn't get a second chance to kill again.I have to mention Elvis first.. I love him. He has cattitude, but he's so charming and smart and you can't help but fall in love with him. At first I did have trouble keeping names straight since there are a few old women who hang out together in this story. But I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked the characters, the setting, the second hand store aptly named Second Chance, the mystery. I especially enjoyed the main character's reluctance to get involved with finding out who the murderer is - that was very refreshing! I feel like I have to mention that there were a lot of errors in chapter 15 and it was distracting. With that being said I still can't wait to read more in this series!
    • 4/5
      My mom got this book for free from a lady who'd brought a bunch of them to the library's exchange area. She also got the second book in this series and I can't wait to read it.I liked the idea of a second chance shop where items are repurposed. I wish more of the story had been set there or involved items in the shop. Elvis (the cat) is a hoot. I enjoyed the feeling of family that developed between the characters. I'm glad Sarah and Michelle resolved their friendship difficulties.
    • 3/5
      This is a cute cozy mystery. The main character returns home after losing her job, to find a new start. One of her grandmother's friends ends up in the middle of a murder. She spends her time trying to keep the rest in her grandmother's clique out of trouble while they try to find the real murderer. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      In Ryan’s mystery novel, Sarah Grayson owns the Second Chance shop in North Harbor, Maine. There she sells used items that she has refurbished. To top it off, she has an adopted cat named Elvis. Elvis adopted Sarah as well and is her constant furry companion.But when one day Sarah’s elderly friend Maddie is found with the body of a dead man in her garden, her friend becomes the prime suspect in the murder. Everybody in town seems to think Maddie is guilty so it’s up to Sarah and Elvis to clear her good name before the real murder comes knocking again.The A Second Chance Cat Mystery series is a sure winner!
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this opening story of a new mystery series, A Second Chance Cat Mystery, by Sofie Ryan, one of the pseudonym names of author Darlene Ryan. Some fans may recognize her name as Sofie Kelly, author of The Magical Cats Mystery series. This was my first read of any of this author's books and it was a fun, cozy mystery from cover-to-cover. I definitely am in love with Elvis, the big black cat with a scar across his nose from the description of how he rides in Sarah's truck to his purrs. Charlotte, Liz, Rose and Maddie are friends of Sarah's grandmother and thus of Sarah and remind me of the three wonderful fairy godmothers to Cinderella but in this case there are four. Each brings a special quality to Sarah's life interactions and hopefully will continue to play active roles in each mystery in the series.

      The only thing that surprised me was why the reader was seemingly introduced to Mac in two (2) different locations in the novel. Mac, "the store's resident jack-of-all-trades" is first introduced in Chapter 1 and the reader is advised that Mac had "been a high-powered life to financial planner but had ditched his high-powered life to come to Maine and sail. In his free time he crewed for pretty much anyone who asked. There were right windjammer schooners based in North Harbor, along with dozens of other sailing vessels. Mac was looking for space where he could build his own boat. He worked for me (Sarah Grayson, owner of the Second Chance shop) because he said he liked fixing things."

      Then in Chapter 8, Sarah thanks Mac for joining Sarah and some others at supper and the author again shares "When Mac wasn't working he was generally crewing for someone or hanging around the boatyard, learning everything he could about wooden boats so he could eventually build his own."

      I can understand reminding the reader in another title in the series, but I didn't forget Mac's intro between Chapter 1 and Chapter 8. It almost made me feel like the author forgot about the earlier intro or edited the chapters on different days and other 'first readers' did not share or inquire as to the dynamics of the repeat.

      I definitely think there seems to be some chemistry between characters Sarah and Mac and hopefully that will be further explored in a future novel in the series. ;)

      There are a few minor copy edits in the book that will hopefully be addressed in any upcoming printed editions.
      An Obsidian Mystery - Published by the Penguin Group. First Printing, April 2014.
      Chapter 15, p.217 - "He kissed me on the cheek and wish me well."
      Perhaps it was meant to say, "He kissed me on the cheek and wished me well."
      Chapter 15, p. 218 - "I hope things work out for you friend," she said.
      Perhaps it was meant to say, "I hope things work out for your friend," she said.


    • 5/5
      This is how cozy writing should be done. Title to the contrary... ;) Synopsis from book back (edited for brevity):Sarah Grayson is the proprietor of Second Chance, a shop in North Harbor, Maine. At the shop, she sells used items that she has refurbished and repurposed. But her favorite pet project so far has been adopting a stray cat she names Elvis. ... The big black cat with a scar across his nose turned up at a local bar ... and hopped in Sarah’s truck. Since then, he’s been her constant companion and the furry favorite of everyone who comes into the store.When Sarah’s elderly friend Maddie is found with the body of a dead man in her garden, the kindly old lady becomes the prime suspect in the murder. So it’s up to Sarah and Elvis to clear her friend’s name and make sure the real murderer doesn’t get a second chance. I love this book. The characters are all incredibly likeable and the circle of friends spans at least three generations, including, for once, a teenager that is neither sullen nor maladjusted, and a senior citizen with mad tech skills. Extra points to the author for busting out of stereotypes. The author doesn't shoe-horn drama where it shouldn't be either. Conflicts are handled reasonable and rationally. I kept waiting for forced angst and was delighted every time I didn't find any. These characters are all very three-dimensional and fully formed; we don't learn every single thing about their backstories. We learn enough to be getting on with and there's enough left unknown to keep further books rich and interesting. Lord, I almost forgot to mention Elvis. What can I say? This cat is a bucket of awesome. Non-cat-lovers will scoff at his almost preternatural intelligence but those of us that are owned by cats know better. And he is not without a mysterious past of his own. All by himself, he brings one star of goodness to the book. Sarah finds herself riding herd on her grandmother's friends as they investigate the murder. I was dreading several things about this story line, but all for naught. I expected this "investigation" to drown in it's own silliness, but everything was done rationally - there weren't any mad interrogations; information came as an outcome of natural conversations. The story started with scorn towards the police and their ability to solve the mystery so I resigned myself to subterfuge and competition. Wrong again. Nothing but cooperation. There was a third thing, but I can't actually remember what it was - I just know it didn't happen. Most of the setting backdrop is Sarah's Second Chance Shop and Sam's bar. Each of these are described beautifully but sparingly. I didn't get a massive info dump, but I could picture each clearly. I loved the details about what Sarah sold in the shop as well - just enough to add colour, I thought, without getting off-track or bogged down in tangents. The murder plot was done adequately. If that sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, I'm not. I'm not going to rave about how twisty, clever, or complicated it is, because it's none of those things. But it was a good, well thought out puzzle, with a lot of solid suspects. Clues aren't dropped haphazardly for the reader to guess early; I learned information as the characters did and every single character was intelligent and tuned in. I've read so many cozies where the clues are there in blazing, flashing neon and the author makes the MC so freaking stupid or stubborn, it drives me insane. None of that going on here. I deducted 1/2 star for two reasons: while there isn't a love triangle in this book, nor even a hint of one, there are two very good looking, strong male characters that anyone would love bringing home to keep for themselves. I've not yet seen an author do this and not turn it into a love triangle. But mostly, someone at Penguin should be slapped upside the head for the number of editing errors in this book. Not story editing errors - the story had zero continuity errors that I could find - but I was tripping over a plethora of wrong, missing, or transposed words. Chapter 15, in particular, was ripe with them. This is the kind of thing that ought to show up on someone's performance review. At the very least, someone at Penguin should be red with embarrassment over it. I've been reading a lot of very average cozies lately - some good ones too, but a lot of average ones. New entries like this restore my faith that I'll not run out of high quality, light, and entertaining mystery reads any time soon.
    • 5/5
      What a fun book. Can't wait for more.
    • 4/5
      THE WHOLE CAT AND CABOODLE is a fun start to Sofie Ryan’s new cozy mystery series with a gregarious feline called Elvis taking center stage. Elvis’ person is Sarah Grayson, and she runs a nifty shop selling vintage and refurbished items in North Harbor, Maine.Sarah gets dragged into a murder mystery when her grandmother’s friend Maddie is arrested for murdering her boyfriend. Well, Sarah actually gets involved in the case because she wants to keep a group of dear elderly friends out of trouble. They are a stubborn and determined bunch wanting to find the real murderer on their own, and Sarah promises investigators that she’ll keep them out of of trouble. Or at least try to!The mystery was good and the plot moved quickly, but what I loved most was the cast of characters. Elvis the cat was an intriguing little fellow, savvy about what’s going on and able to give the humans a push in the right direction. Cat cozy mystery fans will love him. Sarah was likable and easy to connect with. I enjoyed her back story, and her complicated relationship with her childhood friend Michelle Andrews and old flame Nick Elliott. Sarah’s group of elderly friends were a lot of fun and provided several good laughs along the way. Looking forward to the next book in the series!Source: Review copy from the publisher