Chasing Your Tail

Two chefs get a second chance at love in McMurray’s sweet but slight third Whitman Street Cat Café romance (after What the Cat Dragged In). Pastry chef Brad Marks wants the opportunity to create his own menu and run his own kitchen. A job at the Brooklyn café that gives the series its name will allow him just that—but the café’s manager is best friends with Lindsay Somers, the ex-girlfriend he can’t get out of his mind. Lindsay caught Brad cheating five years before the start of the book—though Brad swears it was a misunderstanding—and the pair haven’t spoken since. In the interim, Lindsay’s lost her passion for cooking and has refocused on food writing. She’s far from thrilled when her boss asks her to profile the “hunky new baker” at the Cat Café, but the assignment provides an opportunity for the pair to process their shared past—and maybe even plan for a future. McMurray has a talent for conveying the closeness between friends and lovers, but the plot itself is flimsy: the only conflict keeping the couple apart is Lindsay’s dithering over whether she can trust Brad again, which drags on for far too long. Still, this uncomplicated romance has plenty of charm. Agent: Moe Ferrara, Bookends (Dec.)