Cathi Stoler Archives — Mostly Mystery Reviews

02/28/202202/26/2022

Last Call by Cathi Stoler

Last Call by Cathi Stoler Who can you trust, if not your friends, drinking buddies, and regular customers? That’s the question stumping Jude Dillane and Thomas “Sully” Sullivan, her landlord and friend. The dumpster behind The Corner Lounge, Jude’s bar/restaurant hides a body. Turns out, it’s the recently arrived brother of one of Jude’s regular customers, Art Bevins. Who would want him dead, and why? Who among the “10th Street Irregulars,” Sully among them, would have the guts to do such a thing? Last Call by Cathi Stoler keeps the reader guessing.

When Elaine Garlinger, an FBI agent, takes charge of the case, she starts talking about a serial killer. Because of the murder weapon and the physical appearance of the victim, Garlinger connects the current crime to the New Year’s Eve Killer. And things really heat up for Jude. The killer begins leaving her threatening notes, both at The Corner Lounge and slid under her apartment door. How does he know where she lives? And how does he get into the building, anyway? Why is he so interested in Jude? Does the killer think she’s seen him or knows his identity in some way?

Believable Characters Attract

Believable, likeable characters entice the reader in Last Call by Cathi Stoler. The reader meets characters first seen in Bar None, such as Dean Mason, Jude’s hunky bartender; Sully Sullivan; Tony Napoli (who is this guy anyway?!); and Pete, Jude’s chef and co-owner of The Corner Lounge. Eric, Jude’s new boyfriend, earns a larger part in this second book of Stoler’s Murder on the Rocks series.

I’ve read three of the four books in the Murder on the Rocks series. All of them held my interest based on characterization and, to a lesser extent, plot. I want to read further in this series and look forward to the next installments. See my reviews of Bar None and Straight Up.

I received a free copy of this book from booksirens.com in exchange for an honest review.

Last Call
By Cathi Stoler
© 2020
Level Best Books

02/14/202202/08/2022

Bar None

We meet Jude Dillane in Bar None, the first installment in Cathie Stoler‘s Murder on the Rocks series. Jude is co-owner of The Corner Lounge, She’s the smart and savvy narrator of this cozy mystery.

Stoler creates likeable characters who have all-too-human flaws and blind spots. Jude is a bright 34-year-old up-and-coming entrepreneur who can’t see that Roger, her current boyfriend is a predator. Sully, an ex-marine is tough and smart except for his choice of the women for whom he falls. Dean, The Corner Lounge’s premier bartender, is handsome and good at his job, but wants to be an actor. So, who knows how long he’ll work at The Corner Lounge. And Peter, the chef/co-owner of The Corner Lounge, creates all kinds of off-beat entrees for the restaurant. All of these characters are memorable and work well together.

When Ed, who works at the Big City Coop with Sully, indicates to him that things aren’t financially correct at the co-op, Sully and Jude begin to nose around. Especially when Ed was killed in Sully’s apartment. When George, another worker at the co-op, has a fatal car crash, things really heat up for Sully and Jude. Who shot Ed? Who pushed George’s car off the road? In fact, who smashed the front window of The Corner Lounge?

Stoler’s meticulous prose keeps the action going at a steady pace and the tension high. But there are three places where the prose is not at its best. For example, when Jude finds Ed-dead in Sully’s apartment, Stoler described the scene as: “Ed was there all right, and he was as dead as the empties from the bar at last call.” Really?

Another miss is when Jade depicts the view from a window in her apartment: “…gazing at the midnight blue sky dotted with stars. They were as bright and unfathomable as the ones that often filled my head.” How many stars can you see from the middle of a large city? Not that many, I think. Too much ambient light.

A third instance was Jude’s description of the traffic sounds she could hear from her apartment. “Like a long and lonely spiral of some long forgotten soulful jazz melody that no longer existed, it wafted up and into my mind.” This is a bit clichéd.

As a whole, I was pleased with, and entertained by, this initial offering in Stoler’s Murder on the Rocks series. Characters are believable and the plot moves along at an even pace.

I look forward to reading the second book in this series. For my review of Straight Up by Cathi Stoler, click here.

I received a free copy of Bar None from booksirens.com in exchange for an honest review.

01/31/202201/24/2022

Straight Up

Money helps. “It makes everything better.” That’s how Cathi Stoler begins Straight Up. This third novel in Stoler’s On the Rocks series continues the story of Jude Dillane co-owner of The Corner Lounge. Narration switches between Jude and Dolores Castel, a shady female on the prowl for a rich third husband.

Tension arises when Dolores sets her sights on Thomas “Sully” Sullivan as her next catch. But she has to deal with Jude, who’s Sully’s best friend as well as his tenant. Tension also heats up Jude’s world when Art Bevins, a serial killer previously known to Jude, comes hunting for her again. Not to mention that Jude’s boyfriend, Eric, has left her. So, Jude and her crew have to stick together. Not to mention help from some FBI agents assigned to protect Jude until the killer is found. Stoler maintains and heightens the edginess and suspense by alternating narrators at key, strategic points in the plot. Stolen successfully keeps the reader on edge until the end.

Stoler’s well-defined prose helps keep Straight Up moving at a quick, even, pace. well-rounded characters with human quirks and failings as well as likeable qualities populate this novel. Dillane and Sully, Peter and Dean, Ari Maguire and Elaine Garlinger, even Dolores Castel and Art Bevins, are people you’d love or love to hate.

This is the first work by Cathi Stoler that I’ve read. Straight Up can be read as a stand-alone work but does make references to plot points from the previous two works in this series. Those references did not hinder my enjoyment of the book or understanding the plot. My enjoyment of this work will lead me to read other books by Stoler. I’ll especially read the first two installments in the On the Rocks series, Bar None and Last Call.

I received a free copy of this work from booksirens.com in exchange for my voluntary, honest review.