Cats and Catnapping by Julia Koty

Cats and Catnapping is the first book in Julia Koty’s Mira Michaels Cozy Mystery series.

Mira Michaels had enough of it! Her ex-boyfriend’s cheating and her ‘psychic’ sister’s controlling! She packs her bags and decides to move to Pleasant Pond, Pennsylvania. She has her cat Arnold with her. Mira’s sister tries to stop her, saying Mira will face a lot of hurdles if she moves away. But Mira refuses to believe her. She wants to move out. For good.

Mira recently realized she might also be a psychic – after all, she can hear her cat speak. The duo (Mira and Arnold) banter until Mira reaches a gas station where she meets a sleazy guy. She avoids him and at the next stop, she finds him stealing a cat. Or rather, replacing a cat carrier with that of another. A competition for Russian Blue cats is held at Pennsylvania and the owner of the ‘stolen’ cat is one of the contenders. When Mira raises an alarm over the cat carrier mix-up, the owner claims her cat is safe. (As the replaced carrier looks same as the original, she refuses to believe.)

Arnold had picked up a chat with the ‘catnapped’ cat minutes before. He’s fallen in “love” with the feline Oksana. When he learns of the ‘catnapping’, he wants to put on his superhero um, fur? and save the feline in distress. Well, as you all know, a cat cannot possibly rescue its ‘girlfriend’ from the clutches of a bad man, Mira decides to ‘help’ Arnold.

At 82 pages short, Cats and Catnapping was a sweet and enjoyable read. I am a cat person. As I was reading through, I reminisced the wonderful moments I spent with kitty. (She passed on last November). Pet owners talk to their pets – we feel they are a part of us; we do not see them as an animal but as one of us. So it is not a big deal when Mira is found talking to her cat. But the thing is, Mira can actually hear what her cat wants to say – “I want to use the litterbox“, “Feed me treats” and “I have to rescue Oksana.”

There’s very little information on Mira’s background. Just a few sentences on how her ex-boyfriend stole all her hard earned money and did a runner and how the controlling ‘psychic’ sister interferes in her life. But this didn’t stop me from liking the story. The next book is longer than this one so I am hoping to know more of Mira’s past. Maybe, her psychic sister will continue to ‘pester’ her…

I loved the mystery behind the ‘catnapping’. Mira and Arnold go to any extent to save the feline in distress. I really loved the ending. Sweet and simply perfect. If you are looking for a short, light and entertaining read, do give Cats and Catnapping by Julia Koty a try.

---

Follow The Book Decoder on:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Goodreads