Cat Saw Murder

A wealthy cat inherits a fortune. A murder transforms a tiny room into a red shambles. And only one witness saw it happen: a black cat named Samantha who remains perfectly calm, her fur untouched by the blood that surrounds her. Detective Lieutenant Stephen Mayhew expects a straightforward case. Instead, he finds himself chasing impossible leads: raw meat glistening with poison crystals, a timid fat woman driven to screaming, and a cat whose testimony consists entirely of silky black hairs. The Sticklemann woman's death is only the beginning. As Mayhew digs deeper, the case grows stranger and more dangerous, dragging him into a world where nothing makes sense and everything is connected. Dolores Hitchens writes with the precision of a puzzle maker and the instincts of a thriller writer. This is Golden Age mystery at its most devious, wrapped in a coat of noir atmosphere. The cat at the center of everything is both innocent and deeply suspicious, and the reader will find themselves watching her with the same uneasy attention as the detective. For fans of Dorothy L. Sayers and Patricia Highsmith who want their puzzles darker and their atmosphere thick enough to cut.