A Cat on Stage Left: An Alice Nestleton Mystery [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Lydia Adamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

Actress, catsitter and amateur sleuth Alice Nestleton finds her summer doldrums melting away like ice cubes on a sidewalk with a shocking murder that happens right on her doorstep. The victim? Mary Singer, the very woman who hired Alice to catsit. The murderer? The chauffeur of Mary's Rolls Royce, who shoots his employer before Alice's unbelieving eyes. But when Alice opens the cat carrier to check on the now orphaned feline, all she finds is an odd toy cat on wheels. Now why would anyone pay $2,500 for someone to watch a stuffed animal? With Pancho and Bushy, her new friend Sam Tully, and a Bengal cat in tow, Alice has a lot of ground to cover to trap a clever killer.

* This is the third hardcover in this successful series
* Includes 12 line drawings of cats, an extra treat for cat lovers
* Scheduled to coincide with Signet publication of A Cat on a Beach Blanket

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dieting can be murder, as Adamson (A Cat on Jingle Bell Rock, 1997) deftly demonstrates. When Mary Singer begs sometime actress, professional cat-sitter and amateur sleuth Alice Nestleton to board her cat, Alice agrees; the $2500 she's offered for four days of cat care is too good to pass up. But cat-sitting takes a backseat to murder when Mary's Bentley pulls up and her chauffeur calmly shoots her and drives away, leaving Alice with only a large, toy cat with button eyes and wheels for feet. Alice is skeptical when the dead woman's neighbor, Sam Tully, a retired crime fiction writer, suggests that Mary really wanted to hire Alice for her sleuthing skills, but when too many names from her own past seem connected with the dead woman she teams up with Tully. The two gumshoes follow the trail through a steamy New York summer to a shady diet doctor Mary once consulted, to long-forgotten actors and a director from Alice's days in drama school, to a butcher store where Mary transacted large amounts of business, and to a very hostile carpenter. The denouement may be a tad bizarre, but this feisty little mystery has pace and character enough to roll right over such small bumps.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-Alice, part-time actress, amateur sleuth, and professional cat sitter, has a wealthy new client, Mary. However, Alice gets two significant surprises: Mary is murdered as she turns over Dante, who turns out to be a stuffed cat, to Alice for safekeeping. With the help of Sam, Mary's derelict friend, Alice pieces together each clue to figure out who killed the woman and why. An easy-to-follow plot is presented with humor and lots of dialogue. Alice's dry wit and spirited personality should please teens searching for a quick read.
Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 222 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786215593
• ISBN-13: 978-0786215591
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,765,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read, March 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Cat on Stage Left: An Alice Nestleton Mystery (Hardcover)

In Manhattan, Mary Singer hires actress and cat sitter Alice Nestleton to watch her pet feline. When Mary arrives at Alice's apartment house to deliver the pet, she is murdered by her chauffeur. A stunned Alice grabs the pet carrier containing the pet and brings it upstairs with her. To further shock her, a toy cat is inside the carrier. A video of the killing was filmed by a tourist.

The police believe Alice is hiding the identity of the third person inside the killer's car, but she truly did not see the person. Alice meets Mary's friend, a derelict Sam Tully. Together, they investigate the killing and soon uncover a connection to the 1985 off-Broadway production of Marlowe's Edward the Second. However, one of the suspects apparently has threatened Alice to back off or else. Will the intrepid amateur sleuth continue her quest to uncover the culprit or will she wisely back down before she becomes a victim too.

A CAT ON STAGE LEFT, the sixteenth book in the popular Alice Nestleton mystery series, is a cute and fun to read Manhattan based mystery that will be enjoyed by fans of the series, the sub-genre of amateur sleuthing, and cat lovers. Though the novel contains a relatively simple story line, the series remains fresh due to new insight into Alice and her friends (especially Nora) and the addition of Sam, a hard boiled fluffy character.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for cat lover who love a good mystery!!!, July 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Cat on Stage Left: An Alice Nestleton Mystery (Hardcover)

A Cat on Stage Left! Does this sound as though a cat on the left in a play is pertinent to an on stage mystery and is, in actuality, center stage. This idea is supported by the inquisitive stare of a, seemingly very much alive, cat on the book's jacket. Can we judge a book by its cover? Adamson's book captures the reader's curiosity through every paragraph, page, and chapter.

It may be that we characterize the book as a realistic fiction; however, could it be that the event actually did transpire? Is there a real person named Alice Nestleton? After all, Alice herself relates clearly and succinctly every brief chapter of this mystery story.

Suspense invades the life of out-of- work actress and amateur PI, Alice Nestleton with a telephone call from Mary Singer who seeks Alice's service for four days as a cat-sitter at twenty-five hundred dollars cash, up front. Twenty minutes latter, right before Alice's eyes, Mary with the carrier is shoved from the back seat of a Bentley. Then suddenly the chauffeur sends at close range a bullet through the head of Mary. A "Canadian tourist" films the murder and Alice spread on all fours by the impact. The TV plays and replays the scene.

For four hours Alice responds to police interrogations. With the help of Sam Tully, a derelict, Alice trudges through Manhattan in search of clues. Foremost among these: "Edward the Second", a stage play, those who performed in it, and the feline, Dante. Along with these, she recalls the deep wrinkles in Mary's face.

This mystery, the sixteenth of the Alice Nestleton series, is appealing to all fluent readers. It moves quickly and descriptions and characterizations are for the most part gleaned from the conversations and expressed thoughts of Alice. This sleuth adventure is intriguing from beginning to end.