REVIEW: To the River (Cattarina Mysteries Prequel)

To the River - The Cattarina Mysteries Prequel
Author: Monica Shaughnessy

Cattarina is a Tortie. That in itself makes her a special cat. But, she is also Edgar Allan Poe's cat, which makes her even more special. The Catterina Mysteries series is about how Edgar's kitty solves some mysteries while acting as her companion's feline muse. To the River is a prequel to the series, telling the tale of Catterina's kittenhood behind a shop and her chance meeting with Poe.

I started reading book one of the Catterina series before I realized there was a prequel. I put book one (The Tell-Tail Heart) on hold for just a bit, in order to read this story.

I am a huge Poe fan. Even after more than 170 years his stories still chill the blood of readers, and his genius is still completely apparent. So far, I really like the Cattarina series. Behind every good and creative man is a great cat, of course (ha ha!), and the idea of his kitty helping him find story ideas is just such a creative premise for a book series.

The stories are told from the cat's point of view. I have read other books that tried this type of point of view and failed, but Monica Shaughnessy pulls it off. Catterina is wise and street savvy, plus she loves her companion....her Eddy.

I'm glad I paused my reading of book one long enough to read this prequel. It gave some insight into the characters, and set the scene a bit more for book one.

The cover art is awesome, featuring a Tortie with bewitching amber eyes below a scene of Old London. Just beautiful!

Any cat lover who also enjoys Poe's writing will like this series! :)