Rabid Reader's Reviews

Publication Date: March 24, 2014

In To Catch a Creeper by Ellie Campbell, Cathy and crew are back with a new mystery. Cathy is settling well into her job at a prestigious London ad agency when she takes on a new mystery — The Crouch End Creeper. Cathy’s group of moms, the Wednesday Once Weeklies, are ready and eager to assist track down the culprit but with Cathy how can things not go spiraling out of control?

Sister team Pam Burks and Lorraine Campbell have done it again. To Catch a Creeper is the best of British comedy. For the reader’s information, the authors gifted this novel to me. I liked the novel so much that immediately after reading, I bought a copy as a gift for a friend. For readers wondering how the authors would progress with the same characters from the wonderfully wacky Looking for La La, they do so keeping Cathy in her element while expanding her world.

For those of us who think we know Cathy, To Catch a Creeper adds a new dimension. Touted as a woman put together in the wake of the notoriety from her last case, we know Cathy is far from a woman who has all of the boxes of her life ticked. She may not seem to the reader as a woman to whom a person should turn for help, but she inspires confidence in her friends and simply cannot say no when they embroil her in their complicated lives.To Catch a Creeper isn’t all slapstick and I Love Lucy tears. It is a story with depth and human struggle. Cathy and her husband, Declan, are not the perfect people and when she loses her job and he quits his at the same time there will be a struggle. Parenting is not always a walk in a sunny park. Pimple the house cleaner is back and giving her unique take on the happy home.

As with Looking for La La, To Catch a Creeper is written with consistency and flow not indicative of a writing team. The main thrusts of the story have to do with the pregnancy of Cathy’s friend, Rosa, and the solving of the case of the Crouch End Creeper. This storytelling is delightfully schizophrenic while maintaining the reader’s attention and never leaving us behind. With lines going out everywhere, the exaggerated reality of Cathy’s situation had me laughing from beginning to end. In many cases, Cathy is truly her own worst enemy. To Catch a Creeper is a novel that leaves a smile when you start and finish the novel and that satisfying feeling of having read something truly worthwhile.

While it would be a shame for readers not to enjoy the wonderful Looking for La La before reading To Catch a Creeper, it is certainly not necessary to do so. Cathy’s second misadventures work well as a stand-alone read. I cannot express to my readers the delight of revisiting these wonderfully crafted characters. I loved every minute of this book.

You can read our review of Looking for La La and my interview with Ellie Campbell.

Read an excerpt and pick up To Catch A Creeper by Ellie Campbell on

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