Cat Striking Back: A Joe Grey Mystery (Joe Grey Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Shirley Rousseau Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Joe Grey Mysteries | Publication Date: October 27, 2009

Beware of the cat striking back . . .

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 houses whose owners are on vacation, they discover that more murder has been planned for the small, close-knit neighborhood. They uncover evidence of conflict among the residents and multiple signs of breaking-and-entering, although nothing valuable seems to be missing.

With the help of two local ferals, the cats find the victim's hidden grave and learn of the violence that is yet to come. As they set out to alert the law, they discover the perfect way to thwart the killer—through that person's unnatural but powerful fear of cats.

Thus unfolds the next installment in Shirley Rousseau Murphy's beguiling series about the gray tomcat P.I., his feline friends, and human companions, as, skirting danger, they unravel events shaped by human frailty and by the darkest feline imaginings from the killer's past.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 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.)
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Review

“Joe continues to be one of the most entrancing (and effective) detectives in modern cozy mysteries.” (Booklist )

“[The] premise, a mystery that withholds the identities of both the victim and the perp, is intriguing.” (Kirkus Reviews )

“Magical.” (Publishers Weekly )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061123994
• ISBN-13: 978-0061123993
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #777,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shirley Rousseau Murphy grew up in southern California, riding and showing the horses her father trained. She attended the San Francisco Art institute. Shortly after graduation, she married and worked as an interior designer while her husband attended USC. "When Pat finished school, I promptly quit my job and began to exhibit paintings and welded metal sculpture in the West Coast juried shows," Murphy explains. Her work could be seen in many traveling shows in the western States and Mexico. She continues, "But when we moved to Panama for a four-year tour, in Pat's position with the U.S. Courts, I put away the paints and welding torches, and began to write."

She has published sixteen children's books, a young adult fantasy quintet, the Dragonbards fantasy trilogy, and The Catswold Portal. "It was while working on this adult fantasy that I knew I wanted to explore further the fascinating world of sentient cats. I began to see the gray tomcat, whom I knew well in real life, as a feline detective with a brash attitude--and the die was cast. I launched into the Joe Grey mystery series. I like discovering anew with each book how the three cats interact with their close-knit world of human friends--Joe Grey in-your-face abrasive, Dulcie of a gentler nature, and Kit wildly imaginative."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE FUR REALLY FLIES IN THIS FELINE FREE-FOR-ALL, October 29, 2009

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cat Striking Back: A Joe Grey Mystery (Joe Grey Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Granted, considering the number sold it's doubtful that there are many first-time readers of Rousseau's Joe Grey series, but just in case there are a few things that should be accepted for prime enjoyment of this fun, part fantasy, all mystery story. First, decide that it's ok for cats to talk, to one another and to their human friends. Second, accept the fact that Joe is a cat and a full-time detective who will dare almost anything until the crime in question is solved. There, now that's settled prepare for the 15th installment of his sleuthing shenanigans.

Joe is padding through Molena Point toting a four course meal for a nursing mother cat when his sharp senses detect a smell that stopped him, " smell that made his fur bristle." It was the awful odor of blood and human death. He follows this to an abandoned property and an empty swimming pool. The pool's bottom is covered in muddy slime but it's also clear that something, something large has been dragged across one end of the pool. Joe is able to follow a trail that leads to where what he believes to be a body is dragged, tire marks indicate the body was put in a car and taken away.

He calls the police, and then after taking food to the hungry mother cat returns to the scene only to find that in such a brief period someone has hosed down the area removing the evidence he had seen. Who and why?

No sooner had Joe made his report and hardly had time to ponder the strange goings-on when houses in the neighborhood are broken into. Strange robberies if that is what they are as nothing seems have been taken. Four houses that have been entered are vacant as the owners are on vacation. Joe, his lady, Dulcie, and friend Kit begin going house to house trying to put a few pieces of this strange puzzle together. These are really odd break-ins and Joe knows there's been a murder but there is no body. What can the crime busting kitties do next?

A couple of feral cats join them while continuing to marvel at the strange ways of humans. Joe and his two-footed friends certainly have their work cut out for them and readers have one more Joe Grey mystery to enjoy.

- Gail Cooke

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, November 10, 2009

By 

Abby (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Cat Striking Back: A Joe Grey Mystery (Joe Grey Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Murphy is one of my favorite mystery authors, but this new edition to the Joe Grey series almost feels like filler, something to keep you updated on how characters are doing until the next book comes out. A lot of the text is about what people or cats are thinking, rather than dialogue between characters. It's nice to see Kit as an adult, instead of the hare-brained kitten she's been for so long, but the story is about the crime, and in the end the victims never get a good resolution.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cat Striking Back, January 18, 2010

By 

Isabelle Jolly (El Segundo, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cat Striking Back: A Joe Grey Mystery (Joe Grey Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is the latest in a series about cats who can talk and read, and owners who know it! Joe Grey is one of them and he calls the police when he sees a crime.

He's taking some live mice to a mother cat who can't go hunting and who needs MEAT while she's nursing, according to Dulcie, Joe's companion. As he's carrying the mice he smells blood and sees evidence of a body being dragged in the bottom of an abandoned pool. He delivers the mice, calls the police, returns to the scene, and finds that it has been cleaned up. Someone has returned and hosed down around the pool and in the pool to smooth up the dirt in it. However, the policewoman who comes notices that the hose is dripping, the walk is only partly wet, and looks for evidence. She finds blood spots!

Through the book you follow the murderer as he disposes of the body, (a wild talking cat, Sage, sees him burying it in a drain that is going to be concreted in) and thinks he's safe. He leaves and robs four houses whose owners are in vacation. You learn that he and his wife, the dead woman, make a practice of moving into a nice neighborhood for a couple of years, befriend all the neighbors, exchange house keys to feed pets, wait until the neighbors are on vacation, rob them and their own house of valuables, and leave on a trip they've told everyone about. He is an asthmatic and has left his inhaler somewhere. When he goes back looking for it he sees the cat who watched him bury his wife, panics, and throws a hammer through the window at Sage.

Sage, the wild cat, had talked to one of the 'city' cats and told her what he had seen. It gets reported to Ryan, the contractor who is doing the remodeling, and she digs up the concrete which has just been poured, calls the police before they dig for the body and find it.

The cats, Joe, Dulcie, and Kit, follow through on everything. Their prowess doesn't fail them.

The book is fun to read, and the mystery of who got killed and who did the killing is kept a secret until late in the book. I'm always waiting for the next book in this series.