When several neighbourhood cats are found mutilated and dead, Francis is drawn reluctantly into the role of detective.

Francis is a cat himself of course, and the story is told from his perspective. A friend has loaned me a copy of this book, and although I have only just started to read it, it has made such a favourable impression on me that I couldn't resist buying this one from the charity shop so that I can immediately make it available to someone else.

Oh goody, two takers so far, so this can be a ray! If you want to be added at any stage just PM me and let me know. Current members are:

SwanofKennet
Mastulela
Auglaise
Starry-Starry
Chelseagirl
Glitterlover
Shylock
Tehuti

The book will start its travels on 18 September (to make sure I don't accidentally take it treasure hunting on the 19th!)

Received safely by this morning's post - thank you, WistfulDragon! A positive use will no doubt be found for the accompanying item! ;)

What a lovely, original twist on the crime story! I really enjoyed this. Despite the premise of a cat detective, it was never in danger of spilling over into sentimentality. It's tense and it's absorbing, sometimes it's funny, and it's firmly based on a knowledge of how cats behave.

On its way to mastulela in the morning.

Controlled postal release to Mastulela from Civic Centre PO, Reading

Received with thanks. What a lovely postcard :)

Unusual crime fiction which is very dark despite sections which had me laughing out loud. I note that Piricci has studied cat behaviour and his non-fictional work was to be published in 1994. His detailed knowledge of cats comes through very clearly, even without the additional notes at the end of the book. Thank you for letting me read this

To Auglaise next.

I must say that you really get some comments when you're reading a book that says, in rather large lettering, "The Bestselling Novel of Cats and Murder". But I really enjoyed it! I'm definately going to be looking for more by this author. Thanks for sharing it!

Received this morning, thanks for the postcard Auglaise! I have one other bookring in the house but I should be able to start this one soon, looking forward to it.

This was not at all what I expected. I expected a cosy mystery involving a cat, this was dark and at times left a nasty taste. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it though, I thought it was well-written with a great plot and characters. I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out where it was set though. At first I thought somewhere in England from references to "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine, but then it mentions the United States and finally Switzerland. I don't know if this is a result of the translation or the author intended it to be ambiguous.

There was one particular line that I had to write down I liked it so much:
"Though people who stay in bed may not be the most successful people on earth, you're less likely to meet a genius among the early birds"
Would make a great fridge magnet quote :o)

Thanks for giving me a chance to read it WD, I'll pass it onto Chelseagirl as soon as I have an address.

Arrived safely this morning, thanks Starry-Starry. As a cat fan I'm really looking forward to reading this, though the cat on the cover is a bit spooky-looking! The urgent TBR pile isn't too big at the moment, I seem to be polishing off books at a rate of knots, so I'll get on to this pretty soon.

I'm afraid I've had to do the 50 page test on this, and it's failed.

The first chapter really pulled me in and I had high hopes that I would enjoy this, but I'm just finding it really difficult to get into - I was quite happy about the idea of cats having relationships with each other and looking for clues to a murder, but when it comes to an orgy of cats getting high on amphetamines whilst receiving voluntary electric shock therapy I just had to stop.

Maybe the time is just not right for me to be reading something as unusual as this - having got through half a dozen books in a fortnight, I've found it hard to read as much recently - or maybe it's just not my cup of tea. Sorry
:0(

I'll pass this on to GlitterLover asap. Thanks for organising the ring, WistfulDragon.

Just arrived this morning. Thanks ChelseaGirl. :)

I am sorry to say I am obviously far to sensitive a bunny (or kitten!). I think if I were in a different head space I woudl enjoy it but it is too dark for me - I can't even read it at night (deary me what am I becoming). So thanks for letting me have a go... but will send on now when I have Shylock's addy.
TTFN GlitterLover.

Rec'd safely this morning thanks. Ooooh, pretty spooky looking puss on the cover, can't imagine where this is going to take me...

Can't say it's a pleasant read but certainly an unusual one. I liked the dark bits, but wouldn't want any cats i know reading it. Francis is pretty wry at times,i enjoyed his interactions with other felines & liked the miniature depictions of different cat characters. It was an odd mixture of cat philosophy, religion, science & mystery. And we tin openers were well & truly put in our place!

Amazingly, i came across the 2nd in this series in a charity shop, just as i was about to begin this. I pounced quicker than a hungry farm cat on a mouse!TBR but let me know if you want to read it & i'll ring it:

Felidae on the Road
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2519366

Tehuti has her own copy of Felidae now, so no longer wants this one. I now have wistfuldragon's blessing to organise another ring for this:

coolboxuk
UrbanSpaceman
Jalna
moondreamer <--here
tachyonuk
shylock

received today - many thanks. looking forward to this one...

I'd read this once before and remembered that I'd really liked it, but it was so long ago I could hardly remember what the whole thing was about, so I joined this ray and lo and behold, was not disappointed: I had a brilliant time reading it again.

To sum it up in a nutshell I would call it a philosophical murder mystery set in the world of cats. The book immediately brought two associations: Sherlock Holmes, for the peculiar language and the somewhat arrogant stance of the cat sleuth, and Orwell's Animal Farm, for the portrayal of human characteristics through animal personalities. This, I think, worked extremely well, and although I thought it was great fun to look at things from a cat's point of view and watch their little characters develop, I think with this book one also has to read "between the lines" the author's accusations of the shortcomings of the human race, and particularly with the more weird passages like "cats and religious cult" for example, remember that the cats represent human characters and behavioral traits. The sheer absurdity of some of it in my eyes just serves to make this itention clear...
Besides, I simply like unusual books and I suppose that apart from "mystery" (with many unexpected twists and turns), this one also wants to be classified as "fantasy".

Just had this in the post from coolboxuk. Thanks! Will get on it later in the week.

An unusual book. Initially I found it to be a bit unconvincing - not the premise of intelligent cats itself, but rather the way their world was explained. Although, for me, this problem was never really overcome, I kept reading I got swept up in the story and just accepted it as enjoyable, though dark-tinged, romp of a detective story.

I'll send it on to jalna asap.

It's always fun to receive a book that has had a goodly number of previous readers. This one has had the good fortune to arrive just ahead of a whole flush of Rings and Rays which I am expecting, so I will start it right away.

I did start reading this promptly, but alongside another book and from the start I didn't find it quite as gripping as I'd hoped, which is why it's taken me this long to say that Chelseagirl has written my journal entry for me!

With Mt TBR threatening to engulf me at any moment I was wondering whether I should be reading anything I wasn't really hooked on, then I got to the orgy scene and that finished it for me. It's a shame, really, because there was some excellent observance of cats in there and the concept is original and interesting, but I didn't find the style appealing and then it just got ridiculous.

Off to Moondreamer now.

Received safely today, thank you. What a fascinating mixture of comments so far!

I do have a couple of other books I should read first, but will try to pass this on fairly quickly.