With each new entry in this series, I am getting to know all of the residents of the Pacific coast town of Molena Point, California, since each book has featured a different character or family. I feel like I’m visiting old friends as I read about the familiar faces and places. This is home to Joe Grey, his lady love Dulcie, and their friend Kit. They prefer this small town full of culture and boutiques to the larger San Francisco a couple hours north. Joe Grey, Dulcie, and Kit are all sentient cats, capable of human speech, and excellent at sleuthing where no human can go, using their feline talents to help solve the many mysteries that befall this tiny town.Shirley Rousseau Murphy has a way of making all this so matter of fact yet still special. Three talking cats living in town is a fact hidden from all but six residents. As a lover of cats myself, I find the idea of sentient cats quite charming and not so implausible. I think Murphy’s skill in incorporating them into the story makes it that much more convincing.A mysterious set of burglaries has beset the residents of Molena Point and other towns up and down the California coast. Select items of antiques and jewelry are disappearing including Clyde Damon’s lovingly restored Packard, leaving absolutely no clues as to how the items disappeared. What sort of thief would take the most valuable piece and leave the rest? One out for thrills.A former resident of Molena Point, Kate Osborne is living in San Francisco to track down information on her biological parents. She finds information on her grandfather who was a building contractor and founded and built the San Francisco Cat Museum. When visiting her grandfather’s aging attorney, he gives her twelve pieces of unique jewelry, several featuring cats. The workmanship is centuries old, the gold valuable, but the jewels apparently paste. She wears one of them to her friend Charlie’s gallery opening featuring her paintings and sketches centered on animals, including the three cats. The next morning an evil black tomcat known as Azrael snoops in Kate’s suitcase where he steals her safe deposit box key, intent on finding the jewelry.Returning to San Francisco, Kate tries to shake the strong feeling that she is being followed and looks forward to a visit from Kit’s human family, 80-year-old newlyweds Lucinda and Pedric Greenlaw. They’ll be home soon after traveling in their RV, but tragedy strikes before they arrive. How three sleuthing cats interact with the evil Azrael and all their human companions is the foundation of these mysteries. Events that affect one resident touch yet another so all their lives are intertwined. Seeing just how much one action leads to another and yet another and following the trail of the consequences is fascinating and absorbing. The solution to the many mysteries examined throughout the book is not expected at the outset yet every clue slowly leads up to the ultimate solution. The three cats, with some smart deductions from their human companions, manage to track down the thieves and reveal the murderer. I followed each new twist and turn expectantly and eagerly This is the eighth entry in the Joe Grey series and plenty of information from previous events is woven into the storyline to provide background on the people and their relationships. I eagerly await the next cat tale in Molena Point and hope Joe Grey and company keep the residents safe.
