Charming Tale of Kitties Helping Solve a Mystery
By Shirley Rousseau Murphy
William Morrow, $19.99, 304 pages
The 18th book in the Joe Grey mysteries series tells a story of five felines and their human house mates who are victimized by a couple of crooks. The tale begins when Kate Osborne returns home to the California coast from an enigmatic journey, laden with riches. She lavishes her elderly friends with jewels, and after a major shopping spree, they and their tortoiseshell cat, Kit, head home in their town car, along the dark, winding coast highway. An out-of-control truck hits a pickup and rams into the cliff causing a landslide, which barely misses the town car. One of the crooks proceeds to assault the elderly couple, and loading his injured friend, steals the town car, unaware of the jewels hidden inside. The five felines starring in this novel are able to communicate with their humans, and do all they can to bring the bad guys to justice.
The author of this series, Shirley Rousseau Murphy, has received ten national Cat Writers’ Association Awards for best novel of the year and is also an award-winning children’s book author.
Cat Bearing Gifts is an enjoyable romp, building on previous books in the series. If you haven’t read any in the series before it, you may find it confusing keeping track of all the different characters, and following references to earlier stories. However, it is a pleasant read, either way.
Reviewed by Fran Byram
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