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Purrfect Crimes

A Cat on Stage Left
Lydia Adamson

When professional cat-sitter Alice is asked to board a cat for $2500, she just can’t pass up the opportunity. She is shocked, however, when upon arrival her client is murdered in front of her and the cat in question turns out to be a toy.

Baseball Cat
Garrison Allen

When the hated owner of Empty Creek’s minor league baseball team is murdered, Penelope Warren and her cat, Big Mike, try to find the killer.

Cat Crimes
Martin H. Greenberg and Ed Gorman, editors

17 short stories featuring cats by some of the great writers of mystery:
Ginger's Waterloo / Peter Lovesey -- Bedeviled: A  Nameless detective story / Bill Pronzini -- A Weekend at Lookout Lodge / Joan E. Hess -- Tea and 'biscuit / Jon L. Breen -- Horation ruminates / Dorothy B. Hughes -- Scat / Barbara Paul -- Blindsided / William J. Reynolds -- The Last temptation of Tony the C. / Christopher Fahy -- Buster / Bill Crider -- Catnap / David H. Everson -- Last kiss / Douglas Borton -- Little cat feet / Les Roberts -- Finicky / John Lutz -- The Duel / J. A. Jance -- Archimedes and the doughnuts / Gene DeWeese and Barbara Paul -- The Lower wacker Hilton / Barbara D-Amato -- A Proper burial / Barbara Collins

Cat in a Midnight Choir
Carole Nelson Douglas
While Temple Barr investigates a group of mysterious magicians, called the Synth, her cat, Midnight Louie does some investigating of his own. One of a series.
Cat Laughing Last
Shirley Rousseau Murphy
When a murder is committed in their human friend Susan’s house, cat detectives Joe Grey and Dulcie try to solve the crime.
Crushing Crystal
Evan Marshall
When her sister's gossipy, meddling nanny is crushed under thousands of pounds of books at the Shady Hill Public Library after the shelves were purposely rigged, Jane knows the strange events are all part of the same puzzle--and she can't resist searching for the missing pieces.
Danger in D.C.: Cat Crimes in the Nation's Capital
Martin H. Greenberg and Ed Gorman, editors

Cats travel to the nation’s capital in these 19 mystery short stories:
The president's cat is missing / John Lutz -- Sax and the single cat / Carole Nelson Douglas -- That damn cat / Barbara Collins -- Close, but no cigar / Barbara Paul -- Rachel and the bookstore cat / Jon L. Breen -- A capital cat crime / Richard Chizmar -- The black hawthorn / Carolyn Wheat -- Catcage / Max Allan Collins -- Photo opportunity / Larry Segriff -- A tast for the good life / Dan Brauner -- The cat's-paw affair / Gary Braunbeck -- Cat and the canary / William J. Reynolds -- Enduring as dust / Bruce Holland Rogers -- Code red: Terror on the mall! / Bill Crider -- Indiscreet / Wendi Lee -- Dumb animals / Petet Crowther -- Talk shows just kill me / Billie Sue Mosiman -- Freedom of the press / Barbara D'Amato -- Strays / Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Scratch the Surface
Susan Conant
Author Felicity is facing a real mystery when she finds a cat--and a corpse--on her doorstep. Who was he? Who killed him? And what publicity value could it all have for her newest novel? The answers may lie with an avid pet-hater; a highbrow professor who's read every cat mystery ever written; or perhaps with Felicity's own number-one rival in the field, a reclusive, bestselling author. With a burly, kilt-wearing detective on her side, Felicity must sort out a case more puzzling than any she's ever plotted on paper.
The Cat Next Door
Marian Babson
Returning home to England from New York, Margot finds her family in chaos. Her cousin Chloe is in prison awaiting trial for murdering her twin sister Claudia, their mother has withdrawn into the imaginary world of her romance novels, Claudia's 14-year-old daughter has regressed to early childhood and refuses to leave her bed, and to top it all off, the family cat has decided to live with the neighbors. As Chloe's trial approaches, the atmosphere in the house becomes increasingly fraught and Margot begins to wonder whether someone else is responsible for Claudia's death. Is Chloe taking the blame for the family's sake? It's not until a second murder that the pieces begin to fall into place and the cat agrees to come home.
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards
Lilian Jackson Braun

The first appearance in hardcover of the first installment of the author's ever-popular series features the unusual detective team of award-winning reporter Jim Qwilleran and Koko, his brilliant Siamese cat, who penetrate the world of modern art to solve a mystery.

Wish You Were Here
Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown

"Curiosity just might be the death of Mrs. Murphy--and her human companion, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen. Small towns are like families. Everyone lives very close together. . .and everyone keeps secrets. Crozet, Virginia, is a typical small town--until its secrets explode into murder. Crozet's thirty-something post-mistress, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, has a tiger cat (Mrs. Murphy) and a Welsh Corgi (Tucker), a pending divorce, and a bad habit of reading postcards not addressed to her.

"When Crozet's citizens start turning up murdered, Harry remembers that each received a card with a tombstone on the front and the message 'Wish you were here' on the back. Intent on protecting their human friend, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker begin to scent out clues. Meanwhile, Harry is conducting her own investigation, unaware her pets are one step ahead of her. If only Mrs. Murphy could alert her somehow, Harry could uncover the culprit before the murder occurs--and before Harry finds herself on the killer's mailing list."