Cat in the Dark

I'm a cat," said Dulcie. "Of course I worry, Joe. What is the cops catch one of us opening a skylight and masterminding a robbery? The tabloids will love it. Every nut in the country will read about the trained burglar-cat...Or, heaven forbid the talking cat..."

Dulcie is right it be worried, for the precious peace of sleepy little Molena Point is threatened as never before.

There's a new cat in town: Azreal, a renegade tom with a penchant for voodoo, a scorn for his fellow felines, and a nasty hatred of humans. And he's quickly escalating toward murder most foul.

Dulcie and Joe Grey both knew the score--they have seen Azreal in action. His nocturnal depredations threaten the very fabric of their lives. Dulcie could lose her spot as library cat. Even the evening handout for Jolly's Deli is at risk.

But how can they expose the criminal without letting millions of ordinary, untrustworthy humans in on the secret that certain select cats can think and talk?

Cat in the Dark is the newest foray into the human-haunted world of Joe Gray and Dulcie, whose uncanny abilities. and extraordinary intuitions are helping to make small town crime a losing proposition. So far.

Joe Gray, P.I.

It was not until the next morning that Joe, brushing past Clyde's bare feet, leaping to the kitchen table and pawing open the morning Gazette, learned more about the burglary at Medder's Antiques. He read the article as Clyde stood at the stove frying eggs. Two over easy for Clyde, one sunny-side up with sardines for Joe. It had taken a bit of doing to get Clyde trained, but the effort has been worth it.

"What are you reading?" Clyde picked Joe up as if he were a bag of flour, so he could see the paper.

Joe dangled impatiently, twitching his tail, as Clyde read.

Clyde sat down at the table and dumped pepper on his eggs. "So this is why you've been scowling and snarling all morning, this burglary."

I haven't been scowling and snarling," Joe slurped up a sardine, dipping it in egg yoke. "Why would I bother with a simple break and enter? The police can handle the simple stuff."

Clyde raised an eyebrow.

"So there's a new cat in the village. So are you satisfied? It's nothing to worry you, nothing to fret over."

Clyde was silent a moment, watching him. "I take it this is a tomcat. What did he do, come onto Dulcie?"

Joe glared at him. The stupid humans could be all too perceptive at the wrong times.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy is the author of twenty mysteries in the Joe Grey series, for which she has won the Cat Writers’ Association Muse Medallion nine years running, and has received ten national Cat Writers’ Association Awards for best novel of the year. She is also a noted children’s book author, and has received five Council of Authors and Journalists Awards. She lives in Carmel, California, where she serves as full-time household help to two demanding feline ladies.