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Leighann Dobbs

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Ghostly Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Leighann Dobbs (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 12,607 ratings

Book 1 of 8: Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series

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*** USA Today Bestseller and First Place Winner Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem Awards ***

Middle age can be murder ... At least that’s how it seems to former crime journalist, Wilhelmina Chance, whose near-fatal accident has given her a strange side effect ... she sees ghosts.

After a messy divorce sends her fleeing back to her hometown of Mystic Notch, nestled in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Willa finds herself haunted by the tenacious ghost of the town librarian who insists Willa solve her murder.

Luckily, she has lots of help, including a quirky cast of small-town characters, the cat she’s inherited from her grandmother, and her best friend, Pepper, who claims her herbal teas can work magic.

But just when Willa thinks she’s discovered who the killer is, she finds out that things are not what they seem in Mystic Notch, and the case takes a strange turn that has Willa adding even some of her long-time friends to her suspect list.

And that's all before she starts to realize that her cat may not be what she seems...

USA Today Bestseller - debuted November 27, 2014 Winner Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem Awards (Animal Mystery Category) 2015

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Leighann Dobbs discovered her passion for writing after a twenty year career as a software engineer. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix Mojo and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty. When she's not reading, gardening, making jewelry or selling antiques, she likes to write cozy mystery and historical romance books.

Her book "Dead Wrong" won the "Best Mystery Romance" award at the 2014 Indie Romance Convention.

Her book "Ghostly Paws" was the 2015 Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem First Place category winner in the Animal Mystery category.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00IZ0ZY9E
Publisher ‏ : ‎ (March 12, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 12, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2108 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 276 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #104,623 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,013 in Witch & Wizard Mysteries
- #1,116 in Ghost Mysteries
- #1,916 in Cozy Animal Mystery

Customer Reviews:
4.3 12,607 ratings

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USA Today bestselling author, Leighann Dobbs, discovered her passion for writing after a twenty year career as a software engineer. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix Mojo and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty. When she's not reading, gardening, making jewelry or selling antiques, she likes to write cozy mystery and historical romance books.

Her book "Dead Wrong" won the "Best Mystery Romance" award at the 2014 Indie Romance Convention.

Her book "Ghostly Paws" was the 2015 Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem First Place category winner in the Animal Mystery category.

Don't miss out on the early buyers discount on Leighann's next cozy mystery - get a TEXT alert straight on your cellphone.

- For Cozy Mystery alerts, just text COZYMYSTERY to 88202

- For Romance alerts text ROMANCE to 88202

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4.3 out of 5

12,607 global ratings

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Constant

Love Cats Love Mysteries

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2023

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If you like cats and you like a good mystery, then "Ghostly Paws" is a book you will enjoy. Lots of cats and characters that are very interesting living in a small town. The main protagonist is a lady of a certain age who finds herself back in her childhood home with a cat to take care of - who actually takes care of who - well it adds interest to this story. A plot that moves well and drops hints as to 'who done it" along the way will keep you interested until the perpetrator is revealed. Well written and well edited so there are no distractions to enjoying this good read.

5 people found this helpful

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RaksGato

Cats, cats, cats!

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2014

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From my Goodreads account:
Ghostly Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery #1)
by Leighann Dobbs

I was attracted to this book by the promise of a little magic, a little mystery, a little romance and some awesome cat participation. And it delivered in spades.

I've long been a fan of "cat" mystery series. First, I was devoted to the Lilian Jackson Braun "Cat Who" series which Braun wrote until her death a few years back. Then there was a series by Lydia Adamson, which seemingly petered out several years ago, but which I see is now being re-issued in paperback. Those led me to Midnight Louie (Carol Nelson Douglas) and the gang at the Crystal Ritz, and to Joe and Dulcie and Kit of the Joe Grey mysteries (Shirley Rousseau Murphy), Mrs Murphy, et al (Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown), and, most recently, to the Magical Cat mysteries (Sofie Kelly), the Black Cat Bookshop mysteries (Ali Brandon), and the Cat in the Stacks mysteries (Amanda James). Some, like Braun, Brandon, James and Adamson's series, featured your regular everyday cat. Others featured animals that could communicate with each other, but not with humans -- like the Brown and Kelly series. Midnight Louie communicates with humans only as one of the narrators of his stories; in the novels he cannot communicate with humans and is seen by them as just a regular cat. However, Murphy takes the communicating cat to a new level in her books about cats of an ancient race who can speak and think and reason just like humans, although they must be very careful which humans with which to share these talents. Dobbs marries almost all of these traits into her Mystic Notch cats, who come from an ancient race and, if the human is properly attuned to them, the cats can communicate not just with each other, but with their humans.

Mystic Notch, the heroine, Wilhelmina Chance's hometown, has more going on than your typical New Hampshire village. A popular resort area, it also is home to some very interesting humans and cats. While this first book in the series deals more with introducing the characters who will populate this series, those introductions were laced with just the right touches of intrigue, magic, romance, and the supernatural.

In this first book, Willa has recently returned to Mystic Notch after living for several years in the South. Her marriage has collapsed and she is still recovering from an auto accident which left her with a damaged leg and an occasional limp, and also a new ability -- she can see and speak with ghosts. Her Grandmother passed away, leaving Willa her house and bookstore in Mystic Notch. Willa returns and is re-kindling relationships with friends and family, such as her lifelong friend, Pepper, and her sister, Augustus (who also just happens to be Mystic Notch's sheriff). There are, of course, the two ghosts -- Franklin Pierce (yes, the former POTUS) and Robert Frost (yes, THAT Robert Frost) who are permanent residents of her bookstore. The mystery surrounds the suspicious death of Lavinia, the local Librarian. Willa discovers her body at the bottom of the library's staircase early one morning. Of course, Lavinia's ghost wants Willa, who worked in the south as a crime reporter of some repute, to find her killer.

Also featured is Pandora, Willa's cat, also inherited from her Grandmother, who is one of several cats in the area who seem to be able to communicate with humans, when said humans have the right abilities.

Dobbs does a good job of delivering a straight up mystery that also combines a satisfying helping of fantasy, a big dollop of action, and a promise of romance to come. And yes, I went straight to Amazon and purchased the second book in the series.

This was a quick fun read. I started it about 11 pm on a Sunday night, read for about an hour and a half, and then finished it in about an hour and a half the following morning.

11 people found this helpful

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E. Grimm

A great new series!

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2014

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I enjoy reading Leighann Dobbs' books, so when she started a new series, I was thrilled. I read a lot of cozy mysteries, and several things struck me about this one. Firstly, this book is engaging. The characters are introduced in a way that doesn't interfere with the plot but leaves you wanting to know just a little more. I love being drawn into a town and a family in this way. The characters are realistic, believable, and varied. The dialogue is smartly written and reveals more about the characters over time. There is a good mix of humor, information, and intrigue that comes through.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is that I was positive I had figured out who the killer was, was certain the main character was chasing the wrong suspect, and was quite surprised at the twist at the end. In fact, there were a couple of twists at the end that I thoroughly enjoyed.

By the time I got to The End, I was cheering the author for a job well done and didn't want the story to be over yet. I can't wait for the next installment of Mystic Notch. I enjoyed the paranormal elements of this story and felt that they gave an aura of magic and mystery that will be slowly added to over time in the series. I especially loved the unusual "regulars" who visit the book store on occasion as well as the supremely intelligent cats who could almost steal the show.

I only wish that Ms. Dobbs could write as fast as I read.

222 people found this helpful

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Melody Hewson

Cute little Mystery

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2020

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So this story was indeed rather cute for what it was, a bit of light reading. Nothing too gory or genuinely terrifying.

It's supposed to be book 1 of a series but it felt as if there were books prior to this and I was supposed to already know details that were brought up like reminders. "I've been out of town a long time, remember?" No. "Remember all the great times I used to have with Grandma?" No. "My leg that I keep bringing up every few seconds and smearing cream on? Oh that's an old war story. I told you about that didn't I?" No. "Oh, well nevermind."

There are a lot of "reminders" of things I don't have any way of knowing about. That was annoying because I kept feeling like I was in the middle of a story instead of at its beginning.

This is a small issue, but irksome all the same. I HATE when a chapter ends arbitrarily. To me, a chapter break is for time skips or subject changes. It should NOT come right in the middle of an action scene just to pick right back up where you left off simply because you need to build tension in the few seconds it takes to turn to the next page and continue reading. As I said, minor issue, but still annoys me to end.

Otherwise, this was a cute little magical mystery ride and I liked the involvement of the cats. They didn't do a whole lot considering how much "screen time" they were given but I liked them anyway. No doubt they star in further novels of the series. Not to my tastes enough to invest in another book, but worth a read for those who find this sort of thing appealing.

4 people found this helpful

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Jean Lawson

Entertaining Light Reading

Reviewed in Australia on December 16, 2023

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Excellent characterisation with pithy descriptions. The storyline flows well and there’s a great balance of assistance from cats with sleuthing by Willa, who barks up a few wrong trees before the great revelation of the killer. I liked that the author keeps one guessing added a hint of romance and a lot of feline interaction and intervention.

MaryPat Rushton

This book is jut Purr-fect; very well written and very had to put down. A cozy mystery with lots of twists, turns and surprises

Reviewed in Canada on March 25, 2017

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I am a cat lover and an avid lover of mystery books -- this one was just Purr-fect. This was the first of Leighann's books that I have read, and I'll be back for more! Willa Chance, has returned to her childhood home of Mystic Notch. She has inherited her grandmother's house, book store, and her cat - Pandora. Pandora is instrumental in helping Willa to discover the newly deceased body of Mystic Notch's Librarian. ... But "why was Lavinia in the library tins early .... " ??? A mystery to be solved ... with lots of twists, turns and surprises along the way ... This very well written book was very hard for me to put down. I would highly recommend you read it. I'm off to get book 2 in the series, as I want to meet more of the interesting ,nice & not so nice people of Mystic Notch.

One person found this helpful

Barbara

Avid reader

Reviewed in Italy on March 4, 2017

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A cost mystery is always (almost) a good read and a great way to pass an afternoon in front of the fire hen outside it's stormy weather.

felina

A lovely cozy mystery with a clever cat! What ...

Reviewed in India on April 5, 2017

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A lovely cozy mystery with a clever cat! What more can one ask for? Enjoyable reading. Especially for all you cat lovers.

Suziq

Blackmore Sisters and Mystic Notch Series. Great fun read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2014

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I know it maybe cheating a little but I'm writing the same review for all the Blackmoore Sisters and Ghostly Paws series to date because whilst I believe each book should be addressed on its own merit, I've enjoyed all these books equally and am now a fan of these two series by Leighann Dobbs and await the next ones. That and I'm fairly new to online reviewing

I'm an avid reader and have studied Literature as my major but am in no way a book snob as I read broadly and believe that every Genre has it's place as long as they're well written.

These are well written and well realised novels that are a light, easy and entertaining read. Good plots and likeable characters make them interesting and 'unputdownable'. I'm always on the lookout for lighter reads of a good standard to alternate with heavier reads and the author has joined my list. Ok so there might be the odd mistake, when writing who doesn't make mistakes she says herself to drop her a line so do that. It isn't as if they're riddled with grammatical errors and abysmal writing. In these days of indie authors and epublishing there's bound to be the odd mistake which most of the good writers admit to the possibility of anyway and are open to being corrected.

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