A note about The Cuddlywumps Chronicles

This blog is written and maintained by Miss Cuddlywumps, a fluffy-tailed calico cat who is both classically educated and familiar with mysteries. She receives creative input from the Real Cats and clerical assistance from She of Little Talent (old SoLT, a.k.a. Roby Sweet). Comments or complaints should be addressed to Miss C rather than to old SoLt (Ms. Sweet). Ms. Sweet accepts no responsibility for Miss C's opinions.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year's Regret: A Cautionary Tale, Dramatized by Kittens

Wordless Wednesday

Happy New Year!


Three kittens party like it’s New Year’s Eve.
Hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives, New York, ca. 1871.
Via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.


The fun-loving kittens suffer the consequences of overindulgence.
Hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives, New York, ca. 1871.
Via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Top 7 Cat Cozy Mysteries of 2014 (According to Miss Cuddlywumps)



2014 was a particularly good year for cat cozies. She of Little Talent and I read and reviewed quite a few of them. We read about cats in cat shows, cats in libraries and shops of various sorts, cats and witches, cats and ghosts, cats who are friends with dogs (fiction, obviously), and cats who are detectives.

That’s a lot of stories about cats, and we couldn’t even get to many, many more stories that are just waiting to be read. (Old SoLT said something about “needing her beauty sleep,” but I’ve seen her in the mornings and, believe me, that sleep thing is not doing her any good.)

Anyway, I had quite a hard time picking the best books of the year. My planned title for this list was “Top 5 Cat Cozy Mysteries of 2014,” but I just couldn’t whittle it down to only five titles. As for choosing an absolute, #1 favorite book of the year—forget it. So, in no particular order, here are my favorite cat cozy mysteries of the year:

 

Catwalk by Sheila Webster Boneham

Professional photographer Janet McPhail becomes an investigator—and suspect—in the murder of an all-around despicable man. When things get rough, she takes comfort in her dog (whatever) and cat, a spunky fellow named Leo.




Hamlet the black cat goes to a cat show, gets catnapped, and helps solve a murder. All in a day’s work for a true celebricat.





Lee Barrett moves back home to Salem, Massachusetts, and lands a late-night TV job as a call-in psychic, but only after discovering the murdered body of the previous psychic—and tripping over said psychic’s cat.





Glasgow’s finest cat sleuth commutes into the city to prove that his person is not a crook.





A reincarnated cat and an ectoplasmic dog team up to solve a murder and protect an animal cemetery.




 

Eddie the bookmobile cat rides along as librarian Minnie Hamilton first helps a stroke patient and then tries to prove that said patient is not a murderer—or is he?




Cat lover Jillian Hart cares for a big orange tabby named Clyde and helps solve not one but two murders.