This murderously entertaining collection assembles 16 purr-fect tales of crime and cats by some of today's best mystery writers: Lilian Jackson Braun, Ruth Rendell, Patricia Highsmith, Patricia Moyes, Edgar Allen Poe, Hugh B. Cave, Fred Hamlin, and others.


Bought at the Salvation Army store.

I really enjoyed this anthology of cat mystery stories. Some of them were really good! There was a wide variety of mysteries with cats as a central figure. Some of my favorite stories were:

Susu and the 8:30 Ghost by Lillian Jackson Braun
I've always loved Braun's books, this short story was a mixture of ghost story and mystery. Susu, a siamese cat, forms a strong bond with one of her neighbors. The cat is central in solving the mystery in the story.

The Abominable House Guest by Theodore Sturgeon

In this story, the cat takes a dislike to his master and her houseguest. The results are murderous! I usually don't like story where the cat can talk, but it just added layers to it.

The Lady Wore Black by Hugh B. Cave

When a cat's mistress is murdered, the cat exacts revenge on her murderer. A really great suspenseful story told from the murderer's point of view.

The Theft of Mafia Cat by Edward D. Hoch

A thief is hired to steal a local Mafia don's very recognizable cat. His method is great! Very ingeunious how he gets the cat out of the house undected!

Arrived today - thanks!

Great collection of cat stories from Sturgeon's "The Abominable House Guest" to Highsmith's "Ming's Biggest Prey."

I enjoyed this set of feline mysteries. Favorite stories included "The Lady Wore Black" by Hugh B. Cave and "The Theft of the Mafia Cat" by Edward D. Hoch.

Finished August 20, 2013

Releasing at the BC-in-DC Meetup!

I didn't intend to pick up any books at meet-up today, but Furball brought me some cat-themed mysteries. After that, how could I pass up this one?

An interesting and amusing collection of cat stories with cats serving as victims, murderers, murder weapons, detectives, and witnesses. I think I had read one or two of them before in other collections, but they made for a nice break from packing up to move.

"A book is a mysterious object, I said, and once it floats out into the world, anything can happen. All kinds of mischief can be caused, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. For better or worse, it's completely out of your control." -- Paul Auster

Krin511 let me know that she had promised this book to LameLemon in a book exchange. I was happy to put it in the mail to Romania for her.

Safe with me, thank you very much! So kind of you both to share this book with me :)

I think I made the most out of this book: short stories to keep me focused for a few minutes, while commuting or in between household tasks. That being said, the stories were nowhere near what I expected. There's no feline private eye with a magnifying glass in a front paw - cats are objects or most often victims of various crimes, they are most of the time just plot devices. A lot of the stories are cruel, I'd file the book under animal abuse more often than I'd be putting it on my mystery shelf. Some are predictable, each has a twist, most of them aim to serve justice or at least a reveal. Easy to read and almost enjoyable. I'm glad I read it, although it broke my heart a couple of times.

Thank you so much for sharing. I'm trying to find a new home for this book via the European Mystery VBB.

Brought for the book buffet at the Bordeaux Convention. Happy reading!

Oops, I thought I'd already journalled this book, but apparently not!

Picked it up from the book buffet in Bordeaux (or rather, Lytteltonwitch picked it up and added it to the pile of books I was rapidly accumulating, because she thought for some reason it looked like my kind of book ;-) )

A real mixture of stories, from the amusing to the disturbing. A couple I'd read before, but I didn't mind revisiting them.

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