The talking feline detectives of Molena Point catch a cold case.
Feline shamus Joe Grey’s housemate Clyde is wedding longtime love Ryan Flannery. The nuptials proceed on schedule, but the discovery of two skeletons in two states leads back to an unsolved case involving Ryan’s father Mike and his sweetie Lindsey Wolf, who suspects the body found in Oregon is that of her fiancé, vanished from a hiking trip just before they were to wed years ago. Meantime, Charlie Harper labors to interest her police chief husband Max in another body that the talking cats have discovered on the deserted Pamillon estate. The clowder of cats who live in the area have already gone through an upheaval when their fearsome leader is killed in an uprising after severely injuring Sage, the childhood friend of town-dwelling cat Kit. When Charlie takes Sage to the local vet, she discovers that the vet knows about the talking cats but has been keeping their secret. As the police try to identify the bodies, Joe and his friends search for clues that will prove Lindsey innocent of the death of her fiancé and the wife of his partner, who disappeared at the same time.
Murphy’s feline-loving fans will enjoy the latest in her long-running series (Cat Deck the Halls, 2007, etc.). Newcomers and ailurophobes may find the story confusing, with too much sentiment and too little suspense.
