I am a cat lady, so I am truly enjoying this series. I love it how Jillian's cats *help* her solve mysteries.
Jillian is asked to go to the home of a very rich lady, Ritaestelle Longworth, to report to her that she has Ritaestelle's cat. When she arrives, she is told that Ms. Longworth is not seeing anyone. There is a commotion upstairs and Jillian being just a tad nosy goes up the stairs to see what the commotion was all about. She briefly sees Ms. Longworth but is hurriedly ushered out the door.
In the middle of the night Ritaestelle finds Jillian and comes knocking on her door. That same evening a body is found by the lake by Jillian's house. Ritaestelle is found nearby and she is soon # suspect, but Jillian can not believe that this older lady could commit this murder.
It took Jillian, Tom (Jillian's close friend) and her cop friend Candace to figure out the real murderer and to save Ritaestelle's life ( )

Jillian Hart is at it again! There is a cat in trouble and she must help out. A gorgeous stray cat has been found by the local animal shelter and Jillian has agreed to help track down the owner, who happens to be none other than Ritaestelle Longworth, the fabulously wealthy owner of a large estate in a neighboring town. Rumor has it that there is something wrong with Ritaestelle and her family claims she's been stealing form stores around town. Ritaestelle claims someone has been drugging her and spreading lies. Before Jillian can get to the bottom of things a body turns up in the lake behind Jillian's house with none other than Ritaestelle standing nearby.

The Cat, the Lady and the Liar is the third in Leann Sweeney's Cat's in Trouble series. I am absolutely loving these cozy mysteries. The characters have grown on me to the point I feel like I'm visiting old friends. Jillian is back along with her best friend Deputy Candice Carson, step daughter Kara and new boyfriend/PI Tom Stewart. We are also introduced to the Longworth family and in the next town over. What a group of characters! It is unfortunate and completely believable that a group of people would behave so badly to towards their benefactor. Leann Sweeney knows her cats! Jillian's cats contributed greatly to the story, helping to provide clues without being overly obvious.

The mystery is well done, lots of clues and small town gossip, with nice little twists and a misdirection that kept me guessing almost to the end. It was a satisfying read. ( )

Jillian has to gather all her wits about her and use her feline intuition to know whom to believe in this tale. A wealthy aristocrat is said to be losing her mind, or maybe, her relatives are just making it seem that way. Did she really throw her beloved cat outdoors to fend for herself and then claim she didn’t? Is that wild talk indicative of her condition or is she really being drugged? It’s up to Jillian to sort it all out and protect both cat and owner from harm. You’ll want to cuddle up to this cat cozy and not miss a word of this intriguing mystery. ( )

Once again, Jillian Hart is dealing with a dead body, a cat, and a handful of interesting characters. This time, the dead body is in her backyard, but she's not a suspect. Instead, the main suspect is staying as a guest in her house while she solves this mystery.

The new characters are much more interesting than in the previous book -- Ritaestella Longworth is so precious! Several of the other characters are very well written to the point I would to slap them! The cat involvement is also better, although there could be more.

My biggest complaint (other than needing more cat scenes) is that I did figure out who the killer was about half way through the book. The characters were entertaining enough and I wanted to be sure I was right, so I had no problem finishing the book. I just like my mysteries to be mysteries until the very end.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and am looking forward to the fourth in this series. While this book will never win a literary prize, it is a good read for a light mystery with cats. ( )

A fun read, not quite as good as CiT #2, but still better than many out there.As always I liked spending time with Jillian and her friends, and appreciated the update on her life since the previous book, [b:The Cat, the Professor and the Poison|7195212|The Cat, the Professor and the Poison (Cats in Trouble Mysteries)|Leann Sweeney|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31LQUN-Er5L._SL75_.jpg|7806691]. This book made it within my plausibility parameters for cozy mysteries, but not by much (and I allow quite a bit of leeway for them!). Still, I really wanted to believe that the grand matriarch of a small town would take one look at Jillian, and know she was the one that could help her, and I equally wanted to believe the Jillian would take on her cause (and her cat) without any further thought; offering her spare bedroom and her sleuthing skills to solving her problems.The characters did hit the right balance on the quirkiness scale-- just odd enough to be interesting and unique, but still within those plausibility parameters I mentioned above. At least, the humans were. I love the cats in these books, but they did push one of my buttons by producing the vital clue at just the right momentOverall, the mystery was fine, particularly by cozy standards. It primarily served as an excuse to get to know this group of characters, which works for me in a cozy. There weren't any glaring inconsistencies, and it did keep me wondering about the motivations of several people.I'd suggest starting this series at the first or second book if you enjoy quiet, fun, character driven cozy mysteries. ( )