Cat Bearing Gifts (Joe Grey Series #18)

by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Overview

A car crash, stolen treasure, a dead thief, and a blonde divorcée have a feline P.I. and his four-legged cohorts clawing for justice in this cozy mystery.

On the twisting road home from San Francisco, tortoiseshell Kit and her elderly housemates, Lucinda and Pedric Greenlaw, are hurt in a terrible car crash. The accident is terrifying enough, but then two dangerous men steal the Greenlaw’s town car, making off with a hoard of jewels and gold carefully hidden in the car. As paramedics rush the Greenlaws to the emergency room, a badly shaken Kit hides from hungry coyotes, waiting for Joe and their human friends to rescue her.

Back home in Molena Point, Joe Grey and his tabby lady prowl an abandoned stone cottage where they’ve discovered two rough-looking men hiding. Determined to help the Greenlaws, Kit follows the two housebreakers: one badly injured, the other eager to end his partner’s misery in order to make off with more wealth than he realizes. But the cat’s investigation is in trouble as they claw their way to the truth, hoping that tomcat Misto and his unfailing memory might provide some answers to their questions.

Praise for Cat Bearing Gifts

“Talking cat fans will welcome Murphy’s exciting 18th mystery featuring feline Joe Grey. . . . Anyone unfamiliar with this cozy series will be quickly drawn in by the complete believability of Murphy’s crime-solving felines and their helpful human companions.” —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062200310
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/18/2023
Series:	Joe Grey Series , #18
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	385
Sales rank:	205,983
File size:	891 KB

About the Author

Shirley Rousseau Murphy is the author of twenty mysteries in the Joe Grey series, for which she has won the Cat Writers’ Association Muse Medallion nine years running, and has received ten national Cat Writers’ Association Awards for best novel of the year. She is also a noted children’s book author, and has received five Council of Authors and Journalists Awards. She lives in Carmel, California, where she serves as full-time household help to two demanding feline ladies.

Editorial Reviews

Talking cat fans will welcome Murphy’s exciting 18th mystery featuring feline Joe Grey (after 2011’s Cat Telling Tales), in which Joe’s tortoiseshell friend, Kit, plays a lead role. After a multicar accident on a dangerous mountain road near Molena Point, Calif., Vic Amson, a violent no-gooder whose old pickup was wrecked, steals the Lincoln Town Car of Kit’s elderly human friends, Pedric and Lucinda Greenlaw. Only later do Vic and his injured partner in crime, Birely, who have begun a successful search for bundles of cash hidden on the property once owned by Birely’s sister, realize that their stolen vehicle hides an even greater treasure. Evil and greed lead to murder, and it’s up to the cats to see justice served. Anyone unfamiliar with this cozy series will be quickly drawn in by the complete believability of Murphy’s crime-solving felines and their helpful human companions. Agent: Martha Millard, Martha Millard Literary. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

California's favorite kitty sleuth, Joe Grey, works with his feline and human friends on a case overflowing with desperation and greed. Murphy brings in number 18 (after Cat Telling Tales) just in time for the holidays.

Library Journal

Molena Point's ever-growing cadre of talking cats is on the job when vagabonds threaten the felines' human companions. Joe Grey (Cat Coming Home, 2010, etc.), the original speaking cat, now has lots of company. Old yellow tom Misto survived his long journey from the north. Misto's son Pan soon joined his father, keeping watch over forlorn Tessa Kraft, whose mother leaves her alone in the house to go shoplifting. Dulcie, obsessed with computers, writes poems while her human housemates sleep. That leaves the work of detecting to Kit, who's with Pedric and Lucinda Greenlaw when their Lincoln Town Car is stolen by homeless Vic Amson and Birely Miller, who'd been holed up on the property Birely's sister Sammie left to Emmylou Warren. Birely insisted that Sammie had hidden lots of loot on the property, all given to her by their bank-bandit grandpa. What Vic and Birely don't know is that the Lincoln, which they grab from the Greenlaws after a landslide pushes the elderly couple off the road, is also chock-full of treasure. Not only do the trunk and back seat hold priceless antiques the couple bought in San Francisco, but inside the door panels are caches of jewels their friend Kate Osborne brought back from the Netherworld. With the help of Clyde and Ryan Damen, Kit sneaks into the hospital to visit the injured Pedric and Lucinda. But it's her ability to creep across Molena Point's rooftops that gives Kit the advantage she needs to crack the case. Despite their gift of gab, Murphy's sleuths continue to be decidedly feline in her 18th saga of Molena Point.

Kirkus Reviews