cover image Gone, Kitty, Gone

Gone, Kitty, Gone

Eileen Watkins. Kensington, $15.95 trade paper (246p) ISBN 978-1-4967-2297-3

In Watkins’s enticing fourth mystery featuring cat groomer Cassie McGlone (after 2018’s Feral Attraction), the 2019 North Jersey Cat Expo is coming to Chadwick, N.J., and Cassie has volunteered to give grooming demonstrations in her new mobile grooming van. The expo’s star attraction will be pop singer Jaki Natal and her Scottish Fold cat, Gordie. Jaki’s manager is unsure about her participating, however, since a stalker has recently been sending her love letters and gifts, but Jaki loves her cat and wants to be a part of the show. On the first day, Gordie is catnapped during a power outage, and a security guard is later found murdered. At Jaki’s request, Cassie, who has a reputation as a sleuth, leaps into the investigation and ends up in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with Gordie’s abductor. A second murder puts everyone on high alert. Distinctive characters, all of whom contribute to the crime solving in one way or another, drive the well-paced plot. Cat cozy lovers will be enchanted. [em]Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (Jan.) [/em]