Cat Playing Cupid (Joe Grey Series #14)

Love—and murder—are in the air . . .

It took Joe Grey's human, Clyde Damen, nearly forever to pop the question to his girlfriend, Ryan Flannery, and what more romantic time to tie the knot than on Valentine's Day? But dark secrets from the past soon threaten to destroy everyone's happiness.

First, a body discovered many miles away reopens a ten-year-old cold case involving a man who disappeared days before his own wedding. Then another body is found closer to home on the grounds of a ruined estate, deserted save for a band of unusual feral cats.

Though the police investigate, only Joe Grey suspects that the crimes are related. And when he barely escapes alive from a deadly chase, Joe and his friends, Dulcie and Kit, know they'll need to use their powers of feline perception to bring justice to the small town of Molena Point . . . and save Valentine's Day!

Love—and murder—are in the air . . .

It took Joe Grey's human, Clyde Damen, nearly forever to pop the question to his girlfriend, Ryan Flannery, and what more romantic time to tie the knot than on Valentine's Day? But dark secrets from the past soon threaten to destroy everyone's happiness.

First, a body discovered many miles away reopens a ten-year-old cold case involving a man who disappeared days before his own wedding. Then another body is found closer to home on the grounds of a ruined estate, deserted save for a band of unusual feral cats.

Though the police investigate, only Joe Grey suspects that the crimes are related. And when he barely escapes alive from a deadly chase, Joe and his friends, Dulcie and Kit, know they'll need to use their powers of feline perception to bring justice to the small town of Molena Point . . . and save Valentine's Day!

Publishers Weekly

Murphy's diverting 14th mystery to feature talking feline gumshoe Joe Grey (after 2008's Cat Deck the Halls) finds Joe a little annoyed by all the lovey-dovey stuff run rampant in Molena Point, Calif. A year earlier, Joe endured the explosive wedding of Max Harper, the town's chief of police. Then came the Valentine's Day nuptials of his human housemate, Clyde Damen. Joe welcomes the opportunity to swing into sleuth mode after a female skeleton wearing a bracelet engraved with a cat is uncovered at the ruins of an old estate by Joe's feral feline associates. When another skeleton is identified as that of Molena Point accountant Carson Chappell, who went missing in Oregon before his wedding almost 10 years earlier, Joe really has his work cut out for him. Murphy's gentle blend of fantasy and mystery includes revelations about her unusually verbal cat detectives sure to please series fans. (Feb.)

Shirley Rousseau Murphy has received eight national Cat Writers' Association Awards for best novel of the year, two Cat Writers' President's Awards, the “World's Best Cat Litter-ary Award” in 2006 for the Joe Grey Books, and five Council of Authors and Journalists Awards for previous books. She and her husband live in Carmel, California, where they serve as full-time household help for two demanding feline ladies.