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After spending several months banged up in Sunny Banks rescue center, Aubrey, a large tabby cat, has finally found his forever home with Molly and Jeremy Goodman and life is looking good.

However, all that changes when a serial killer begins to target elderly victims in the neighborhood. Aubrey wasn’t particularly upset by the death of some of the previous victims, including Miss Jenkins whom Aubrey recalls as a vinegar-lipped bitch of an old woman who enjoyed throwing stones at cats, but Mr. Telling was different. Mr. Telling was a mate…

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

It was the kind of smell that hung on the air and wrapped itself around you, an evil little hobgoblin of a stink that poked its slimy, skinny fingers up your nose and down the back of your throat, and kissed your skin with soft, wet lips so that even if you washed a thousand times you would still catch its foul breath.

 

It looked as out of place as a maiden aunt at a drugs bust. Never beautiful at the best of times, it stood dank and foreboding; a great, gothic pterodactyl of a building, the bare branches of the surrounding trees reaching blackly up into the sky like witches’ fingers.

 

He didn’t know what it was, but the stuff that Carlos had put on a saucer for him was the absolute business.

 

In Aubrey’s experience, cooking was usually done by girls, like Molly, unless you were big, hairy, sweaty, and frightening, like the bloke who cooked at the local steakhouse and who had fed Aubrey on the odd occasion that he’d passed by in his homeless days. He would have passed by more often, but there was something slightly unnerving about a bloke who habitually had a meat cleaver in his hand.

 

“She can’t help it. She thinks that she’s doing the right thing,” said Molly. “So did Hitler,” replied Jeremy.

 

My Review:

 

Shrewd insights, happenstance sleuthing, and wry humor weave an intriguing and vastly entertaining tale of murder, all through the wizened eye of a watchful tabby cat named Aubrey. But who better to observe the odd goings-on in his community?   However, this wasn’t just any old tomcat, this feline was tapped into a unique neighborhood-watch type network of house cats and an associated gang of free-roaming street cats. Aubrey was also respectfully acquainted with the nefarious racket running Siamese twins – feline Siamese, not the conjoined variety ~ snort. Someone was knocking off the elderly and the police hadn’t seemed to notice, but Aubrey was putting it together and his pals had a few additional thoughts to contribute as well.

 

Cunningly crafted and cleverly written, this was a fun and engaging story, and I derived great pleasure and enjoyment from Ms. O’Leary’s colorful descriptions and crisp writing style. And I was shocked right out of my favorite pair of red crocs to realize this deftly written and wily tale was a debut publication. Although it wasn’t a totally warm and toasty yarn that was only told with chortle producing or smirk-worthy levity, as the murders were a bit grim and as in reality, not all humans were kind to animals or each other.

 

I scored heavily for my Brit Word List with the new additions of milk float – which is milk delivery van; skip – a large outdoor waste receptacle; round the twist – crazy; and jobsworth – a rule-bound, lazy, or uncooperative worker who are unwilling or too petty to assist.

I was born in London and spent my teenage years in Hertfordshire where I spent large amounts of time reading Agatha Christie novels and avoiding school. Failing to gain any qualifications in Science whatsoever, the dream of being a forensic scientist crashed and burned when a careers teacher suggested that I might like to work in a shop. Later studying Law, I decided to teach rather than go into practice and have spent many years working as a college lecturer teaching mainly Criminal Law to adults and young people.

I live on the south coast with my husband John and cat Archie. When not writing I enjoy crosswords, walking by the sea and drinking wine. Not necessarily in that order.

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