Probable Claws

February 2, 2009
Music journalist Theda Krakow once again proves a feisty and determined sleuth in Simon's lively fourth cat-themed mystery (after 2007's Cries and Whiskers
). Theda alternates between the cat world, dominated by her pet, Musetta, and the Boston area music scene, about which she writes for local magazines and newspapers. When her retired policeman boyfriend, Bill, buys into a successful club that's a cop hangout, Theda can't help feeling a little jealous, though she admits she also has a problem with Bill's attitude—he's too patronizing. Meanwhile, contaminated cat kibble at the animal shelter run by her friend Violet may be the work of a poisoner. When Theda, guided by blood on Musetta's paw, discovers Rachel, a shelter vet, lying on the treatment-room floor with a fatal stab wound, she gets arrested for Rachel's murder. Well-drawn characters, a plot with many strings to unravel and plenty of appealing cats make this another winner for Simon.

November 15, 2008
The only eyewitness to a murder is a blood-spattered cat.

Theda Krakow is having a bad week. She 's on the outs with her boyfriend Bill, who 's too busy running his new jazz club to coddle her. Her pals Violet and Caro, who own the Helmhold House for Wayward Cats, have received a donation of poisoned kibble. And her darling Musetta has tuna breath and badly needs her teeth cleaned. Unfortunately, when Theda stops by the city shelter to pick up her kitty after the procedure, Rachel the vet, gouged with a scalpel, barely has time to gasp out an unintelligible word before she expires, leaving the traumatized Musetta covered with blood. Fastidious as any feline, Musetta licks off the blood, leaving no trace of evidence. Theda, pet and scalpel in hand, is deemed the most likely suspect. But getting fired from her freelance job at the Morning Mail leaves her plenty of time to snoop around. Scrutinizing hate mail sent to the city shelter and the cat haven, she begins to suspect a reforming junkie chum, the vet 's secret boyfriend, even Violet. Meanwhile, Musetta naps on an afghan, naps on a window ledge, curls up in Theda 's lap, plays with a toy and meows for the attention Theda gives her in between contemplating euthanasia proponents, club hangers-on and rival vets.

Journalist Simon (Cries and Whiskers, 2007) adores cats. This book is for the similarly inclined.

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2009
Freelance writer Theda Krakow ("Cries and Whiskers") gets caught up a case involving the poisoning of cats and the murder of her veterinarian friend. For cozy and feline fans.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2009
Music critic Theda Krakow and her now hefty kitty, Musetta, are back in the fourth entry of the cozy cat series. In the running for a staff reporter job, Theda is pressured into investigating the poisoning of several of the cats at a no-kill shelter, which is how she ends up in the back rooms of the city shelter covered in blood, with a scalpel in her hands, and standing next to the body of the shelter vet. An otherwise solid mystery is made somewhat unbelievable when Theda is immediately arrested and charged with murder but has no contact with the cops after shes out on bail. As usual, Theda uses her investigative-journalist skills to save herself and help the cats of Cambridge, all while keeping in touch with the rock-music scene and negotiating an increasingly serious relationship with boyfriend Bill. With lots of the story framed around Thedas friends from previous books, this isnt a great choice for newcomers, but it will please fans of the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)