[Had to select…. Giblet and Belle: The Case of the Vendetta on Goodreads as a viable replacement for Goodreads tracking]

A pre-read for Robert. Mysteries don’t appeal to me. Mysteries with talking cats even less. To Robert’s credit, I could feel his energy and joy coming through the novel. Robert’s writing is long on describing what’s taking place (this happened, then this happened, then this was said…) and short on character development. It wasn’t that there was no character development, but there is a flatness to some of the characters or they shared a similar personality archetype (Robert’s). Robert is clearly fascinated with power dynamics as noted by the story’s inclusion of a cartel, an assassin, a fixer, devious politicians, the FBI, etc. He also applies stereotypes with abandon ( bad guys dressed up in black dumping a body off a boat, Watson & Holmes references, the white unmarked van, etc.). He clearly put a lot of effort put into his story and the crossing over of characters from his other books. There was a logical flow throughout. Law & Order meets Scooby Doo seasoned with the proclivities of a middle-aged man with a strong imagination and a love for cats.