A Cat In The Manger [Unabridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Lydia Adamson (Author), Anna Fields (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A New York City avant-garde actor and occasional cat-sitter turns amateur sleuth in this flimsy tale, the first in a series by the pseudonymous Adamson. Alice Nestleton usually watches Harry and Jo Starobin's Himalayans at their farm for three days each Christmas. This year the plans are changed, however, when Jo arrives to find Harry murdered. Nothing of value is missing--only a few barn cats--so there seems to be no motive for the crime until Jo discovers $381,000 in cash stashed in a safe deposit box. Convinced that her husband's death is connected to this money, Jo hires Alice the cat-sitter to help sort Harry's papers and solve the puzzle. But when a neighbor who tends broken-down racehorses is murdered and Jo's former stable hand vanishes, Alice takes a closer look at thoroughbred racing. What she learns is that Harry's specially bred barn cats were, inexplicably, capable of altering a horse's career more effectively than any trainer. Mystery pk fans will have no problem fingering the mastermind of this cat caper; he's so obvious he might as well wear a beanie labeled "villain."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From AudioFile

Alice Nestleton thought she was going to cat-sit. Instead she finds two corpses and faces a deadly situation involving racehorses, cats, and high stakes. Anna Fields's relaxed reading style and moderately deep vocal tones seem suited for Alice but don't readily adjust for the other characters. She produces an acceptable older woman's voice for Joe, but the male voices are strained, and the other female voices are inconsequential. Fields keeps the pace steady, matching the emotional quality of the text to the narrative, and manages to convey the building tension to the end. The story's main lure is the enigma of the plot while Fields serves as its communicator. P.A.J. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Books on Tape, Inc.; Unabridged edition (December 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736635564
• ISBN-13: 978-0736635561
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,509,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Theater combined with cat-sitting? Absolutely!, June 22, 2003

By 

Karina A. Suarez "Karina A. Fogliani-Ahmed" (Walt Disney World, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Cat in the Manger (An Alice Nestleton Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Do you love cats? Do you dream of cold winter days lying cozily on your chaise, a cup of hot cocoa beside you? Do you love cozy mysteries If you answered yes to all of the above, then the new Alice Nestleton series by Lydia Adamson are the right stuff for you. This is a light but highly inventive mystery and I can tell it will be a successful series. In this first installment, we are introduced to a courageous sleuth by the name of Alice Nestleton. She is an off-off-Broadway actress, who is trying to move away from the classical Shakespeare plays and into the new avant-garde theatre. In the meantime, she supplements her vocation with cat-sitting around New York. As befitting a cat-lover, Alice has two cats: a Maine Coon named Bushy, and a frightened, domestic gray shorthair she rescued from the ASPCA by the name of Pancho. It's Christmas time and Alice is preparing for her annual cat-sitting job in a run-down horse-farm near the Hamptons, taking care of eight Himalayans for Harry and Jo Starobin; he a famous ex-cat judge and champion animal lover, she his faithful wife. When Harry fails to pick her up at the local train station as previously arranged, Alice is intrigued. She finds her own way to the farm via a taxi. Upon arrival, Alice finds things eerily normal, but it is only when she starts to get settled into her cottage that she finds Harry's corpse hanging from the back of the door. When a second murder happens to one of Harry's friends who lived just down the road, Alice puts her powers of deduction to work. She will have to deal with a pestering detective, Starobin's grieving widow and his young lover who surreptitiously disappears along with a calico barn cat and all her kittens. A connection? Maybe. Alice decides the case is worth investigating when Jo Starobin shows her a very large sum of money her husband left without explanation of how he got it. In order to solve the case, Alice will put her own life at risk, entering into high-stakes involving horse-racing and special cat genetics, geared toward producing miraculous mascots in the shape of calico cats.

"A cat in the manger" has the perfect mix of cat lore and sleuthing. I especially enjoyed the way the cats are very much at the center of the story, but they do not possess special powers. This leaves a good balance for the main character - the sleuth - to play her role naturally. Ms. Adamson obviously knows her craft very well, which involves not only the world of cats, but how to develop a good story thanks to what I sense is a background in the theatre industry.

4.0 out of 5 stars My Review, August 15, 2009

By 

katmom (Overland Park, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Cat in the Manger (An Alice Nestleton Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

The book was as described and arrived very quickly!Excellent mystery series if you are a cat lover, and maybe even if you are not, altho' most of the books are "cat" based.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Primer on how-to not write a mystery, May 12, 2004

By 

Peter LaPrade (worcester ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Cat in the Manger (An Alice Nestleton Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Cat in the Manger" is a ridicious mystery authored by a hack. Our heroine, Alice Nestleton is a off-off Boradway actress, and tries to discover why her old friend was brutally murdered. Soon, she discovers it's connected to horse racing. The exact reason why the man was killed has got to be the worst idea in the history of writing. The conclusion to this over-the-top saga is mind-numbling dumb(and yes, it has a cat connection).