Mischief and Merlot: Mysteries of Meri (Familiar Kitten Mysteries)

Mischief and Merlot: Mysteries of Meri (Familiar Kitten Mysteries)

Kinsley Wilson has enough on her plate: a donut shop to run, two daughters to raise, and magical powers she can barely control. (The exploding toaster incident was THREE WEEKS ago, thank you very much.) Plus, she's got Meri—a black cat familiar whose sarcasm could curdle milk—and Bonkers, an orange furball who considers reorganizing the pantry by "chromatic aromatic system" to be his sacred duty. Between Meri's cutting commentary and Bonkers' catastrophic enthusiasm, Kinsley's magical household barely needs actual spells to create chaos. So when her mother drags her to a wine tasting at Elderwood Family Vineyard, Kinsley is just hoping to enjoy some fermented grape juice without accidentally levitating the glassware. Instead, she gets murder. When a notoriously harsh wine critic is found dead in the barrel room, Kinsley's empathic abilities sense something beyond ordinary malice at play. The vineyard itself seems to pulse with secrets—ancient magical lineages, mysterious soil, and a hidden project someone would kill to protect. Now Kinsley must work alongside her sheriff husband to solve the case before the killer uncorks another deadly vintage—all while keeping Bonkers from declaring himself "OFFICIAL DETECTIVE FAMILIAR" and Meri from solving the case through the sheer power of withering disdain. Some wines improve with age. Some secrets ferment into murder. Some familiars should never be left unsupervised.