Cat Playing Cupid-Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Cat Playing Cupid
Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Morrow, Feb 2009, $16.95
ISBN: 9780061123979

In Molina Point, California live three special cats: Joe Grey, Dulcie and Kit. Each can talk to humans and understand human speech. The trio seems to get involved in every murder that ahs happened recently in the village. So it is no shocker when they learn from a feral feline that a human body is buried in the ruins of the Pamilion Estate. They delay their usual investigation until Joe’s friend Clyde marries Ryan and is out of the way on his honeymoon.

Another corpse is found in a treehouse in Oregon lying there for years. Lindsey Wolfe returns to Molina Point goes to the cops claiming the victim is her fiancé Carson Chappell. When the cats investigate the grave, they find a book that discuses their unique skills; they want the book destroyed before anyone who finds it reveals their secret. Lindsey’s sister brings anonymously to the police incriminating evidence that point towards her being the killer. Her lover Ray Gibbs, who was Carson’s partner, drops off something incriminating to the steps of the police station. Joe Grey begins an inquiry into them with Dulcie helping him while Kit considers whether she loves injured Sagel enough to go feral with him and leave her two pals behind.

Though on opposite coats, the Molina Point felines will remind readers of The Cat Who tales by the Brown duet. The body found at the estate is linked to the other corpse, but how and why remain a mystery that Joe Grey is determined to solve. The three talking cats are adorable even grumpy acerbic Joe Grey while fans of the series learn more about their backgrounds. Shirley Rousseau Murphy has written a purrfectly delightful anthropomorphism feline whodunit.

Harriet Klausner