Cat Striking Back (Joe Grey Series #15)
"On a lovely moonlit night, Joe Grey is minding his own business, carrying a gift of mice to a litter of kittens, when he stumbles upon a murder scene. Behind an empty house lies a swimming pool, its bottom covered with mud. There is also blood, the smell of human death, and drag marks. But there is no victim. Without a body, it's a crime that will be hard to prove." "With stubborn feline curiosity, Joe Grey sets out to investigate. As he, Dulcie, and Kit follow the killer's trail among four...
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"Why is it, Joe, that you are always the one to find the body?" On a lovely moonlit night, while carrying a gift of mice to a litter of kittens, Joe Grey stumbles upon a murder scene. Behind an empty house, in an empty swimming pool, there's blood, the smell of human death, and drag marks. But there's no victim—and it's hard to prove a crime without a corpse. Driven by stubborn feline curiosity, Joe Grey sets out to investigate. With Dulcie and Kit following him along a killer's trail, Joe discovers evidence of conflict among the residents of this seemingly peaceful neighborhood—multiple signs of breaking-and-entering, with nothing of value stolen. And they find something far worse: hints of violence yet to come ...and more planned murder. With the help of two local ferals, Joe, Kit, and Dulcie must now thwart a killer using the most unorthodox means at their disposal: a criminal's unnatural yet powerful fear of cats.Publishers WeeklyIn Murphy's magical 15th mystery to feature tomcat Joe Grey (after Feb. 2009's Cat Playing Cupid), an anonymous tip leads Det. Juana Davis of the Molina Point, Calif., PD to an empty swimming pool, where she finds trace evidence of a murder but no corpse. When Sage, a feral feline, catches the canny killer in the act of placing the victim in a ditch dug in the garage floor of a house being remodeled, the cat-hating sociopath throws a hammer at Sage. Sage survives to report what he's witnessed to his cat pals who live with humans, including Joe. With so many smart four-footed sleuths on his trail, the killer is doomed. As in recent entries in this popular series, the cat detectives receive more face time than their two-footed cohorts, like Molina Point's often bumbling if well-intentioned police chief, Max Harper, who gets on the stick only late in the game. Mystery fans who prefer people in action will have to look elsewhere. (Nov.)
\ Publishers WeeklyIn Murphy's magical 15th mystery to feature tomcat Joe Grey (after Feb. 2009's Cat Playing Cupid), an anonymous tip leads Det. Juana Davis of the Molina Point, Calif., PD to an empty swimming pool, where she finds trace evidence of a murder but no corpse. When Sage, a feral feline, catches the canny killer in the act of placing the victim in a ditch dug in the garage floor of a house being remodeled, the cat-hating sociopath throws a hammer at Sage. Sage survives to report what he's witnessed to his cat pals who live with humans, including Joe. With so many smart four-footed sleuths on his trail, the killer is doomed. As in recent entries in this popular series, the cat detectives receive more face time than their two-footed cohorts, like Molina Point's often bumbling if well-intentioned police chief, Max Harper, who gets on the stick only late in the game. Mystery fans who prefer people in action will have to look elsewhere. (Nov.)\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsSleuthing feline Joe Grey's back in this find-the-victim mystery. When Detective Juana Davis gets a phone call from an anonymous source tipping her off about a suspected murder, she doesn't ask a lot of questions. She's heard this voice before, and she knows that questions won't get her anywhere. So she trustingly follows the source's tip to a suburban backyard pool, where she finds no body but mysterious traces of blood. So begins the latest adventure of cat detective Joe Grey, her anonymous tipster. Readers may remember Joe (Cat Playing Cupid, 2009, etc.) as the cat who talks not only with his feline companions but also with a few lucky humans. While Murphy's frequent exposition of the rules of kitty conversation acts as a continuing plague, her premise, a mystery that withholds the identities of both the victim and the perp, is intriguing. Joe knows the pair must be one of four husband/wife sets in the neighborhood, but which is it? He, Dulcie, Kit and their human friends Clyde and Ryan must band together to lead Detective Davis through the clues before the mystery man strikes back at the cat detectives. One thing's for sure: Whatever sinister baddie is behind this homicide hates cats-the most egregious sin Murphy can imagine. Readers new to Murphy's fanciful and highly anthropomorphized mental world of cats might best approach this installment as a dialogue-free zone.\ \ \ Booklist"Joe continues to be one of the most entrancing (and effective) detectives in modern cozy mysteries."\ \
