The Ice Maid's Tail

This series is becoming a favorite and I started this ARC as soon as I downloaded it.
I also ended it as fast as I could.
It's a great mix of cozy mystery, humour and gothic story. The plot is well crafted and keeps you hooked till the last page, the mystery is complex and well thought, the cast of characters as lovely as usual.
I love this world of cat and the names of the cats are a strike of genius.
I can't wait to read the next instalment.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Farrago and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Morton’s land of cats returns with a chilling tale fit for winter. Hettie Bagshot and her partner Tillie are snuggled up in their room behind the Butter sisters’ bakery when a call from Fluff Wither-Fork sends them out into a blizzard. Three female kittens have gone missing from an orphan school run by a pair of zealous missionaries installed in the Folly if Wither-Fork Hall.

With frigid temps this outside and mysterious happenings inside, the No. 2 Feline Detective Agency have their hands full.

Morton imbues her world of cats with the good and evil of humans, and throws in a grim folk tale to boot. It’s a mystery to delight any reader, filled with wry humor and sly references. Captivating ~

cats, fantasy, friendship, detective, cozy-mystery, situational-humor, verbal-humor

What a cute story! Populated entirely by cats, the mystery is about the disappearances of kittens from an orphanage amidst other problems created by a nasty blizzard. Lots of laughs! Fascinating characters who truly are.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Duckworth Books/Farrago via NetGalley.

Title: The Ice Maid's Tail



Author: Mandy Morton



Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Cats, Series, Fantasy.



Plot: Blizzard after freezing blizzard buries the tiny feline town in feet of cold frozen snow. Food becomes scarce in some households and a deep chill settles into the bones of the furry residents. Hettie Bagshot and Tilly Jenkins eventually emerge from their tiny home to scout out the neighbors and perform several rescue attempts for snowed-in friends. When they are out delivering food with Bruiser and Poppa, they get word from their friend Fluff that kittens have gone missing in the snow,



Knowing the odds of finding the poor frozen kittens alive are slim, Hettie and Tilly get down to business immediately and make the acquiescence of the snowed in residents of the Wither-Fork Woods estate - including the odd couple fostering orphan kittens. Have the kittens simply run away or is something more sinister afoot?



Likes/Dislikes: This book caught my eye because it appeared to be a mystery where everything is normal except for the teeny tiny fact that everyone is a cat and, to my delight, this is true! All of the characters are cats and they act like civilized humanoid cats, complete with wearing clothes, talking and living in big houses. I loved it!! The mystery itself was very interesting and certainly unique. This is the 8th book in the series and I haven't read any of the other books but it stood up very nicely on its own. I look forward to more adventures with Hettie and Tilly!



Rating: PG-15 and up, mainly for content (hints of witchcraft, ghosts, bloody deaths, etc. but nothing graphic)



Date Reviewed: January 22nd, 2020



I received a copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

I didn't expect to like this book that much but it grew on me. I liked the 4 smart and brave 'detectives' from No 2 Feline Detective Agency, the humorous tone and well spun story.
I will probably try another book in the series whenever I feel like reading a well-written cozy mystery.

What a fun series a series inhabited by cats.Its a cozy gothic combination off genres .Well written even the cats names are amusing,.A series I will be following and recommending to friends I. know will enjoy this series.#netgalley#duckworth books

My thanks to Duckworth Books/Farrago for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Ice Maid’s Tail’ by Mandy Morton in exchange for an honest review. It was published on 20 February and I subsequently decided to purchase its ebook and audiobook editions.

This is the 8th in her No2 Feline Detective Agency series featuring anthropomorphic cats that live human-like lives. I was intrigued by the cover with the cats dressed in very recognisable red and white Handmaids’ outfits.

During a severe blizzard Hettie Bagshot and her sidekick, Tilly Jenkins, are keeping close to their fireside. Yet they spring into action when they are called in to investigate the disappearance of a number of kittens from the kitten orphanage set up by Fluff Wither-Fork, their aristocratic friend.

Running the orphanage for Fluff are Anthea and Preston Munch, two missionaries recently returned from Africa. (Hetty delightfully refers to them as “a pair of born-again crisp packets” and cites their surname as proof that the term is appropriate.)

Then there is the ‘Ice Maid’s Tail’, a local legend associated with Wither-Fork woods, featuring a powerful Ice Queen. The relevance of the legend is that “on cold winter nights, when the snow is thick on the ground, they do say that the Ice Queen haunts the woods and snatches kittens to turn them into Ice Maids, docking their tails and imprisoning them in the Halls of Glass, never to see the sun again.” Of course, the very down-to-earth Hetty considers it “utter tosh”. Yet is it?

Then there is the old witch cat, Bombazine Bright, who also lives in Wither-Fork woods guarding the Magic Tree. News of her existence excites Tilly and has Hettie holding her head in her paws.

While I tend to prefer cats to be cats rather than wearing clothes, eating human food (seemingly continuously), and travelling about on motorbikes, I was rather won over by the quirky charm of Hettie, Tillie and their friends.

Mandy Morton applies the tropes of the cosy mystery sub genre to her feline detectives with a knowing tip of the hat. Hettie’s analysis of the Miss Marble mysteries by Agatha Crispy had me in stitches.

So yes, I was delighted as this proved to be a great deal of whimsical fun. I now plan to read/listen to the entire series.

Highly recommended for lovers of cats and cosy mysteries.

The Ice Maid’s Tail is the latest in the No. 2 Feline Detective Agency series. This is #8, a wonderful achievement.

Hettie Bagshot and Tilly Jenkins are our private detectives of record. Never mind that they’re cats. You know that if you’ve read the other books in the series, and you should have, of course (well, the cover, the title and the book description are all clues of a sort, but who’s counting? Let’s not be clever clogs here). Otherwise, they walk, they talk and they solve mysteries like humans do, and they’ve got a doozy on their paws here.

It’s a dire winter in their little village, and everybody’s hunkered down, trying to survive as best they can. A lot of the local folk have been put up at Wither-Fork Hall, a large baronial mansion. Word comes that some orphaned kittens are missing, kittens that have been kept in the Folly on the mansion grounds. Now, Tilly senses things, and the Folly at the manse doesn’t feel “right” to her. She knows about these things. And the reader will, too, as the story goes along.

The kittens may have run away rather than be exposed any longer to the strict religious training of the orphanage’s leaders. If they have, they’ve probably frozen to death. It’s a gruesome beginning to our story.
And there’s a precedent to our tale, and where the title of the book comes from – a horror story told to impressionable young kittens, the stuff of young feline nightmares, as the resident gypsy cat calls it. I don’t make this stuff up, folks. Our author, Mandy Morton does, and a good thing, too. It’s fun, and entertaining, and as much in keeping with the tenor of the series as the other books.

There’s a mysterious fire to contend with. Are the little kits really dead? The house has its secrets -- what’s behind it all? It all comes to a head in the caves underneath Wither-Fork Hall. Evil and cruelty come in many forms, feline as well as human. And we learn that feline justice is final, and without remorse. Tilly and Hettie and their friends and co-workers have it all well in hand.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a copy of this book, in exchange for this review.

What a purrrfectly lovely story! I had a blast reading this book. The cats with their biscuits and tea. You have made them seem so human like. I can’t wait to read the next ventures of the feline fellows! Thank you for such a great book!

Oh my meow! What an amazing and absolutely entertaining cozy mystery featuring cats as detectives! Hettie and Tilly, along with Bruiser and Poppa make quite a detective team. Adorable characters (the whole story is about cats living in a cat-town, how cool is that!)
The story also features a fairy 'tail' - The Ice Maid's Tail - my, my, this surely bought shivers down my spine. A fairy tale that is filled with horrendous details - brr!
Mandy Morton is a brilliant author. I am in awe of her storytelling. It goes without saying that she's a true cat lover.
I highly recommend The Ice Maid's Tail and all the other books in this series. No 2 Feline Detective Agency series is a delight for cat lovers like me. Can't wait to see what's next in store for our darling feline detectives, Hettie and Tilly.

Description
The town is gripped by a big freeze, and blizzard after blizzard has engulfed the feline community, leaving shops and businesses snowbound.

Hettie Bagshot and her sidekick, Tilly Jenkins, have found sanctuary by their fireside but soon they are bucketed into a terrifying nightmare, called to investigate the disappearance of the town’s kittens as – one by one – they are taken in the snow.

Who are the strange cats living in Wither-Fork Woods? Will the ancient prophecy of the Ice Maid’s Tail become a reality? And can Hettie and Tilly defrost the fish fingers in time for tea?

My Review
The Ice Maid’s Tail starts off in the middle of winter as the 8th book in the No. 2 Feline Detective Agency series. What a delightful and quirky novel. Thoroughly enjoyed reading about Hettie and the gang.

A laugh out loud, hilarious novel that is sure you make you smile.

It's a little slow and meandering, BUT this book has a tremendous amount of charm and warmth to it. I had no idea I would enjoy a novel with cats as characters, but I really did. I recommend this book to all those looking for a comfort read.

The sole reason I’m reading this is that all the character are cats. Yes, cats. Walking on two hind legs, tea-sipping, pastry obsessed cats (cat lovers rejoice!). The last time I read anything with animal characters (discounting children’s picture books that I read to my girls, of course) are Narnia Chronicles, Inheritance series (Eragon #1-3) and before these the cacophony of children’s books that I read when my age was in single digits.

So, I’m diving into The Ice Maid’s Tail hoping it’ll be a light and fun read. Since the genre is a cosy mystery, it’s pretty much guaranteed. I wasn’t disappointed; Almost Every scene is punctuated with an overabundance of warm, satisfying, comfort food oozing cosy atmosphere for readers. The author’s writing makes me grab a hot milky drink every time I sit down to read this one.

The premise that our missing kittens are somehow connected to a scary story for kids told through generations is intriguing. Mandy Morton presents one of those mysteries that are like puzzles. The clues are pieces of puzzles that don’t make sense on their own because the key pieces are missing and the author’s holding tightly on to them till the very end. It was quite well done in my opinion. Truly a well crafted (cosy) puzzle.

One little thing; This is not a spoiler but simply part of the scary story told quite early in the book. I was fascinated by the fact that some pretty horrible torture enacted upon kittens is described in this book, considering it’s a cosy. I think by making the characters cartoon-like removes some level of empathy from readers. I say it’s fascinating because I’m not nearly as appalled as I should be, especially considering it involves the harming of young living beings.

Thanks to Duckworth Books for providing me with a copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own and are based on the advanced digital review copy.

This book is so cute! It's just purrfect in many ways. The characters have such cute and punny or funny names. I enjoyed every page of this novel. It's a series, but I haven't read the others. This book stands on its own though. These cats are just my style. They are cats who are mirroring humans. If you want a fun mystery read, with lots of laughs and purrfect cuteness, this is it.

My copy came from Net Galley. This review is my own, left of my own choice. Thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Ice Maid's Tails is the 8th book in Mandy Morton's 'No. 2 Feline Detective Agency' series. This book sees Hettie, Tilly and the usual band of friends trying to solve the mystery of missing kittens. Hampered by a sudden cold snap which brings deep snow, Hettie and Tilly are faced with some disturbing fairy tales, prickly religious types and trying to find the missing kittens before they succumb to the cold.
The Ice Maid's Tale has all the usual humour and cosy mystery elements that you expect from this series but this book felt a little darker and, at times, more grisly than previous offerings. I enjoyed it more for being that little bit darker and look forward to reading more!

I adore this series! As an owner of livestock and birds ranging from alpacas to zebra finches, with such things as llamas, turkeys, goats and many more in-between, I’m not usually one for anthropomorphic literature at all, being far too matter-of-fact about animals, but these cats are just too cool.
Like the earlier books in this series, we have a feline version of a cosy mystery. Whilst the various characters reflect largely human characteristics, there are subtle, clever feline nuances that creep through. Any cat owner will recognise them! So the use of cats as ‘people’ is not just a gimmick in this author’s hands. Or do I mean paws…
There’s humour, tension, suspense, menace, charm, courage – all the emotions and attributes we expect and love to find in our cosy mysteries. The plot is well constructed and interesting, and the author has a lively, witty, eminently readable style.
Wonderfully enjoyable escapism 

This book was not what I expected it to be. I am very glad NetGalley send it to me or else I probably never would have read it. I found the story fun to read and having cats as the main characters very entertaining.