Ninth Life (A Caitlin Reece Mystery) [Paperback]

Lauren Wright Douglas (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cynical, softhearted private detective Caitlin Reece makes her second appearance (after The Always Anonymous Beast ) in this topical, well-paced mystery. The perpetually broke Caitlin is lured to a midnight rendezvous by 10 new $100 bills. A young woman named Shrew shows up, but she is being chased by two men in a car and has time only to toss something into a dumpster, which Caitlin discovers is a blinded and abused cat. After hearing the next morning that Shrew has died in a suspicious accident, Caitlin meets with Alison Bell, Shrew's associate in an animal rights organization called Ninth Life, and learns that the cat was evidence of lab experiments on animals conducted at Living World, a self-proclaimed "cruelty-free" cosmetics company. Caitlin doesn't want the case--Living World obviously plays rough--but she is persuaded by the money and by Alison, to whom she is attracted. Besides cosmetic company thugs, Caitlin comes up against members of CLAW, a splinter group of Ninth Life. The straightforward narrative is occasionally too cute, but overall this is an enjoyable and thought-provoking novel.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Naiad Pr (November 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941483509
• ISBN-13: 978-0941483506
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,291,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caitlin Reece PI,investigates an illegal animal research lab, December 21, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Ninth Life (A Caitlin Reece Mystery) (Paperback)

In this Lambda Award winning first of the Caitlin Reece series, the wisecracking Victoria, British Columbia PI is called on to investigate the death of an operative placed in an illegal research lab by an animal advocacy group named Ninth Life. Feminist Bookstore News said of this book when it appeared in 1988: "A very accomplished first novel, distinguished by an elegant flair for description and an ovbious love of the language. This is a stunning first effort." I have to agree. This novel is head and shoulders above so many of the "women's mysteries" on the market -- it has a terrific heroine, great writing, and an important issue -- animal rights. Her secondary characters are terrific, too: her cats Repo and Jeoffrey, her Vietnamese friend Gray Ng, her mysterious computer hacker friend Francis the Ferrett, and her protege Lester. The Victoria locales are true-to-life: read all the books in her series

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyable reading!, December 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ninth Life (A Caitlin Reece Mystery) (Paperback)

This book fast-paced, well-written, and peopled with interesting characters. A thoroughly enjoyable read for folks who love mysteries, and this one is all the more satisfying because it takes on an important social issue: animal abuse. In addition to having crafted her story skilfully, the author handles language beautifully -- the book is full of delightful turns of phrase and striking imagery-- not what you'd expect in a quick reading mystery novel. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.