Review: If Catfish Had Nine Lives (Gram’s Country Cooking School Mystery #4) by Paige Shelton + Guest Post

If Catfish Had Nine Lives (Gram’s Country Cooking School Mystery #4) by Paige Shelton

Published  August 5th 2014 by Berkley

Paperback, 304 pages

Series: Gram's Country Cooking School Mystery

Genre: Cozy-Mystery
Heat Rating: Kissing

Source:  I got a copy of this book from the publisher  in exchange of an honest review.
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads

Betts Winston has inherited more than her cooking skills from her grandmother—she can also see and talk to ghosts of people that once roamed the streets of Broken Rope, Missouri, in the days of the Old West…

With Gram’s Country Cooking School on spring break, Betts and Gram are taking part in this year’s cowboy poetry convention, offering lessons on frying catfish over an open campfire. But when a staged gunfight ends in real death and her brother Teddy becomes a prime suspect, Betts may be the one to jump from the frying pan into the fire.

After her ghostly guardian Jerome appears to watch her back and a spectral Pony Express rider gallops into town with some unfinished business, Broken Rope starts to seem more like a cowboy ghost convention. With trouble on both sides of this mortal coil, it’s up to Betts to clear her brother, put the spirits to rest, and make sure the true killer doesn’t become the one who got away.

Guest Post 

IF CATFISH HAD NINE LIVES and the Pony Express
By Paige Shelton

I never intend to take on a lot of research, however, when my cooking school mystery series transformed into a haunted cooking school mystery series – haunted by a changing cast of ghosts from the Old West – I knew research was in my future. And, surprisingly, I’ve enjoyed every second of it.

I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about cowboys and criminals, old-fashioned business practices, Lizzie Borden (I based one of my character’s stories on hers), and, most recently, the Pony Express. The main ghost in IF CATFISH HAD NINE LIVES, the fourth book of the series, is the ghost of a Pony Express rider. It seems some letters Joe carried never did get delivered, and the contemporary and living characters of Betts and Gram are tasked to do something about that, even if the end result is worrisome and unknown.

I became completely fascinated by the history of the Pony Express. From the details about the mochilas – the satchels that were placed over the saddles and carried the mail – to the types of men, young and wiry, who were hired to ride the horses at breakneck speeds over unreliable countryside. Speaking of the horses, they were amazing animals, chosen specifically for their speed and intelligence.

The Pony Express was created in 1860 to transport mail across the Western United States in a timelier manner than was previously available. The route began in a stable in St. Joseph, Missouri, and ended in Sacramento, California.

There were stops, stations, every ten miles or so, where the horses and riders could be switched out. For those ten mile stretches, the horses ran like the wind. The stations were small structures that offered simple shelter. There was nothing fancy about them. When I realized that some of the stations had been reproduced at their original locations and that there was one somewhat close to where I live in Utah I knew I had to explore.

The trip to what turned out to be the middle of nowhere was a memorable experience. My husband and I were in a car on a sometimes paved road, and the journey was challenging and primitive. I could only imagine what the riders and horses had gone through, how they had to push themselves over uncivilized terrain and through sometimes wicked weather just to get to the next station, just to get their cargo one more step closer to where it needed to be. When we were at the station we looked around at the faraway mountains and the never ending open space in all directions. There were no cars back then, no cell phones, no AAA to help with breakdowns. These people, from the creators of the Pony Express all the way to the stable men who cared for the horses and the riders, were brave adventurers who not only saw a task that needed to be done but were able to see past what must have been enormous challenges and obstacles to accomplish it. They were made of some strong stuff, inside and out. I admire them all much more than I could have ever predicted.

The advent of the telegraph and the continuing growth of the railroad brought a quick end to the Pony Express in October of 1861, only eighteen months after the first horse and rider left St. Joseph. Though the adventure had been real, when all was said and done the business had not fared well financially. However, the bit of history the Pony Express gave us is invaluable.

IF CATFISH HAD NINE LIVES was not only interesting to write but turned out to be eye-opening too. As it progressed I became honored to bring a small part of the history of the Pony Express to its pages. It would be impossible to do true justice to the many individuals who were part that amazing time, but it is my hope that my readers enjoy the ride as much as I did. 

Oh my goodness, I really adored this book. I don't really know where to start with my review. It's been such a long time since I wrote a review, mostly due to health reasons but it was nice to finally kick back, relax and finish a book or two. Something that I haven't been able to do in a while. If Catfish Had Nine Lives helped me get back slowly into the swing of things. It had mystery, ghosts, enjoyable characters, with a western type of feel to it.

Betts Winston has a gift. Like her grams, she can see and talk to ghosts and when the night sets it, even actually touch them. So when one of her ghostly guardian's appears at the same time as one of the skit actor Norman dies, Jerome seems to think he was sent there because Betts is the one in trouble. Meanwhile, Bett's brother Teddy ends up in his own line of trouble, and a woman comes asking about her family history when gram's ghost Joe makes his presence known.

I loved this. The book was really hard to put down. I enjoyed how there was the murder mystery, but there was also other mysteries among it. Like Betts and gram's trying to help the two ghosts solve the reason they are both there, so they can fore fill whatever it is they were sent there to do.It takes us back on a disappearance mystery that happened around a time of Pony Express and what may have happened to one of the riders.

The characters were enjoyable, the plot was really fun. Paige Shelton really knows how to weave a story that hooks you in and keeps you on the line until the very last splash.