The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency

The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency

A Hettie Bagshot Mystery

 

Mandy Morton

Minotaur Books, 2014

 

From the dust jacket, “Hettie Bagshot has bitten off more than any cat could chew. As soon as she launches her No. 2 Feline Detective Agency, she’s bucketed into a case: Furcross, a home for slightly older cats, had a nasty spate of bodysnatching, and three of the residents have been stolen from their graves. Hettie and her sidekick, Tilly, set out to reveal the terrible truth. Is Nurse Mogadon involved in a deadly game? Has the haberdashery department of Malkin and Sprinkle become a mortuary? And what flavor will Betty Butter’s pie-of-the-week be?

“In a haze of catnip and pastry, Hettie steers the Furcross case to its conclusion, but will she get there before the body count rises – and the pies sell out?”

When mom got this book from the library for us to read together she had no idea it was actually about cats – cats that walked talked, drive around in cars and wore clothes. And cats that would commit murder! I had no problem with the concept, but mom certainly did! It took her several chapters before she got into the story because she just couldn’t see cats doing all the things humans do. She kept wanting to quit but I said ‘No!’ and when we got to the end she was glad she stuck it out.

This cozy mystery is different in other ways, too – first – there’s no police! How can you solve a crime and punish the criminal when there’s no police? Well, Hettie, despite her inexperience, manages to accidentally solve the crime and punish the culprit! Wow! That was different! And – second – the initial mystery/crime is solved way before the end of the book. When that happened, I thought, ‘what more is there to tell?’. Turns out, there was bunches more to tell and it was all really good! So what mom thought was going to be a bummer book turned out to be a fun, enjoyable and curious mystery to read!

Rating 4 out of 5 paws because we were really surprised that we liked it so much!

 

Reviewer:

BobbieSue