Cat Deck the Halls-Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Cat Deck the Halls
Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Morrow, Nov. 2007, $16.95
ISBN 9780061123955

In the garden of a plaza in Molena Point, California, the assailant kills the man by the Christmas tree while a little girl clings to the victim. After the culprit fled the crime scene, Kit prowling the rooftop of one of the buildings in the plaza smells the blood and cordite. She traces the odor to the dead human and sees the frightened five or six year old (hard to judge specific age in humans as they all look the same) clinging to the dead man.

By the time the cops arrive, the killer hid the corpse and Kit and her feline pals concealed the child to insure that the culprit did not come after the only witness. While his cat pals hide the little girl, ace detective Joe Grey investigates. Meanwhile the killer and perhaps some allies seek the child so they break into Kit's home and the studio of a famous artist at the Home for Orphan Children. However, these dangerous humans have never dealt with felines as clever as Joe Grey, Kit and the rest of their meowing carol singers.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy proves that cats have at least fourteen lives as Joe Grey works his later caper while his partners keep the human girl safe. The whodunit is cleverly designed to keep the audience, the cops and the cats off balance until the final paw step. Fans of the series will appreciate this fun personification holiday mystery as the felines of Molena Point deck the halls with an entertaining mystery

Harriet Klausner