Title: Street Cat Blues
Author: Alison O’Leary
Published on: 25 July 2018
Genre: Mystery
What a charming story about a cat who ends up solving a murder mystery! A murder mystery!!! Should I call Aubrey a catective (cat + detective)?
So, this is how the story starts. Mr.Telling is found dead in his house. Maria, the cleaning lady is talking to the police, making animated gestures. Aubrey is silently sitting below a car and watching her. A crowd’s now formed around Maria and everybody is listening to her. As the last person leaves, Aubrey comes out from beneath the car. End of chapter one.
As chapter one ended, I was thinking, why one earth was Aubrey hiding below a car? Did I read it wrong? Was it in the car and not below? And in the second chapter, it is revealed that Aubrey is a cat!! These cats I tell you, they are very intelligent. They have groups and group meetings and whatnot! Aubsie boy, as Vincent(another cat) fondly calls him, has had a tough life. From abandoned kitten to Raj’s pet to abandoned again to Molly and Jeremy’s cat, Aubsie has seen it all.
There is news around the cat world (yes!!) that something sinister is going around in town. The killings do not appear to be random. Aubrey is curious to find out more and as you all know cats are a curious lot.
Aubrey’s buddies: Vincent, Moses, Rupert and Roger (twins), Carstairs, Duffy
I loved the concept of a cat sleuth. A CAT SLEUTH!!!! How exciting is that?! I loved the story. The story is written as seen through a cat’s eyes. The story is hilarious and exciting. And of course, there are instances mentioned when Aubsie remembers his previous owner or how the group managed to tackle another group of cats – a cat fight!!
Being a cat lover, this book was extra special to me. Sometimes I felt that Aubrey was a human being and not a cat. Kudos to the author for writing such a brilliant and marvelous story. Did I like it? I LOVED it!! Absolutely did! The storytelling was superb, the writing was simple, easy to understand and makes you laugh. The concept(of a cat as a sleuth) was unique and wonderful. What else does one need in a story?
The ending was very good! I was really curious to know how the cats would help in solving the mystery and… I was not disappointed! I also got to learn a few things about the cat world and how cats perceive things. Here’s a thing or two that every cat lover (or not) must know:
- Doors come in different sizes and shapes, and generally, they are classified (by cats) as those which they can open and those that they cannot.
- Cats do not need a watch because 1) they cannot tell the time 2) they didn’t need to tell the time. Why do you want to know what time it is when people tell you what to do!!
If you want to have a good laugh ( who doesn’t!), do check out Street Cat Blues by Alison O’Leary. And if you are a cat lover, then you must read this book! I am looking forward to reading more of cat sleuth stories from O’Leary.
Meanwhile, in the real world: I think I must put a GPS tracker on kitty’s collar so that I know if she’s a cat sleuth too. You never know. She’s very curious, opens cupboards and doors, stuff… Oops! That makes her a thief, not a sleuth, right??
Thank you, Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this blog tour.
The Book Decoder 