Book Review: Claws for Alarm

Miss C looks into the latest Nick & Nora mystery by T. C. LoTempio

We have been eagerly anticipating T. C. LoTempio’s next installment in the adventures of Nora Charles and Nick the tuxedo cat, and Claws for Alarm does not disappoint.

Nick is one of our favorite feline characters. First of all, he’s got that tuxedo thing going on, and who doesn’t love a guy in a tux? Then there’s that thing he does with Scrabble tiles, picking out the letters Nora needs to spell out a clue. So smart! He obviously benefited from the time he spent with his previous owner, private investigator Nick Atkins (whom I shall hereafter refer to as Atkins, to avoid confusion). Nick (the cat) is one cool, brainy feline.

In Claws for Alarm, Nick and Nora are called upon to solve the murder of a rather unpleasant artist, collector, and teacher named Thaddeus C. Pitt. Unable to create his own art anymore, Pitt collects rare paintings and sculptures and teaches in a way that is…well, let’s say he’s not really into constructive criticism. “Scathing” is a better word for his brand of instruction. Maybe that’s why he ends up with a knife through his heart.

Pitt’s murder would rather obviously be a matter for the police, and an arrest comes quickly. Hey, how hard is it to solve a case when you find someone standing over the body holding the murder weapon? Oh, and when that person earlier threatened to kill the victim in front of about thirty people? It doesn’t get more open and shut than that, at least for the prosecutor, who doesn’t waste time moving the case toward trial.

But of course there is a problem, and the problem is that the accused happens to be Nora’s sister, Lacey, who was one of Pitt’s students. This is where Nick and Nora come in, trying to prove Lacey’s innocence before her trial starts. Soon Nora (former reporter, now owner of a sandwich shop) is venturing undercover and into the murky world of art and money, where people won’t stick at murder if someone gets in their way.

LoTempio has created a plot that is nicely complex, as Nick and Nora have much more on their minds than Lacey’s case. They’re also wondering what actually happened to Atkins, who seemed to vanish off the face of the earth (is he dead, or just in hiding?). And then there’s the guy Atkins was investigating when he disappeared: Bronson A. Pichard. Nick keeps digging out bits of paper related to Pichard, but surely Nora should focus on one case at a time, shouldn’t she? And let’s not forget Daniel Corleone of the FBI, whom Nora has been “getting to know” on a sort of casual basis. And what’s up with Leroy Samms, the detective in charge of the case and a blast from the past for Nora? Just how well did they know each other?

And let’s not forget the sandwiches from Nora’s shop, Hot Bread. We recommend that you don’t read this book while you are hungry, especially if you are, say, lying in bed at night and feeling just a bit peckish, because the sandwich recipes might send you into the kitchen for a rather large snack. Not that this actually happened to us.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed this book’s twists and turns, we love Nick, and it’s hard not to love Nora and the way she gets herself into situations we’re not so sure she’s going to get out of. Plus, who doesn’t love a good tuna melt?

Highly recommended!

Also by T. C. LoTempio:

 Meow if It's Murder

Glasgow’s Finest Cat Sleuth Commutes to His Latest Case

Miss Cuddlywumps reviews Leger’s City, the latest cat mystery from Lacey Dearie

“Handsome… Daring. Cunning. Intuitive. A talented artist.” These are words that describe Glasgow’s finest cat sleuth, a black fellow named Leger. One word that should be added to that description is resourceful, and all of Leger’s resourcefulness is on display in his latest adventure, Leger’s City.

You humans probably think that we cats live simple, uncomplicated lives, but this is often not the case. Take Leger’s situation at the beginning of this story: His beloved person, Annabella, has been accused of robbing a post office, and the CCTV footage provides damning evidence against her. His lovely lady friend, Ginger, is about to give birth to kittens, and Leger, stand-up cat that he is, wants to be there for her (plus he doesn’t want Ginger to be angry at him for not being there). One of his usual helpers, a seagull, is off on another mission. And then there’s Nigel, Leger’s pet mouse, who might not be as trustworthy as one would hope (but then, mice are notoriously untrustworthy).

Sounds stressful, right? And so it is, but Leger takes care of it all, managing to hop a train into the heart of the city, where he goes to work locating the evidence that can prove Annabella’s innocence. Along the way he gets some help from birds, as well as a homeless man and his dog who might just be the key to everything.

Leger’s City is another entertaining tale from Lacey Dearie. We found it be a good evening’s read, well-written and with characters who seem real to us, even though we know cats don’t really take public transport to travel around and solve their latest cases (or do they?).

Leger is one of the best cat characters we know of. He has a job, a hobby (sculpting), a girlfriend, and a pet—now that is a well-rounded cat. The interplay between Dearie’s characters is always a joy to read, and her plots draw us right in. We always love the moment in her stories when we think, How on earth is Leger going to handle this? But, like a true hero, he always comes through.

We’re sad to learn that the Leger series is winding down, though Dearie says she is planning a Leger novel, which we look forward to.

Until then, I’m happy to give Leger’s City

Lucy Lockett: Author Ngaio Marsh’s Great Cat of Mystery

A literary review by Miss Cuddlywumps

Black as He’s Painted, first published in 1973, is one of Ngaio Marsh’s later Inspector Roderick Alleyn novels. The story takes place in London and concerns Alleyn’s investigation into the assassination of an African ambassador at said ambassador’s own embassy. Characters include a larger-than-life dictator who happens to be Alleyn’s old school chum, a pair of perpetually drunk ex-colonists, servants with secrets, a shady neighbor, and a disturbing brother-and-sister duo who make and sell pottery pigs, of all things. The tale is twisted and involves treachery, racism, and revenge.

All that is very interesting and would make for a nice weekend read (except for the disturbing element of racism and some unfortunate remarks about the obese brother and sister). But the thing that makes the book is (of course) the cat.

This particular cat is, in my opinion, one of the Great Cats of Mystery. Her name is Lucy Lockett. She is a black cat with a white-tipped tail, and we first meet her when she has just been hit by a delivery van. Lucy survives and eventually insinuates herself into the life of one Mr. Whipplestone, recently retired from the Foreign Office and moved into a lovely home (the location of which just happens to place him smack in the middle of the mystery). This cat is no slouch: After no inconsiderable effort, she deposits a pivotal clue at her person’s feet, with Alleyn there as witness. Could the case be solved without Lucy’s contribution? Doubtful.

I admire Lucy Lockett not only for her fortitude and ingenuity, but also for the beautiful way in which her character is written. (I, Miss Cuddlywumps, endure the indignity of being written by She of Little Talent, who is barely able to string two words together in a way that makes sense. You see how I must suffer.)

Under Mr. Whipplestone’s care, Lucy submits to a veterinary exam “with utter detachment, but when at liberty, leapt into her protector’s embrace and performed her now familiar act of jamming her head under his jacket and lying next his heart.”

Lucy sits on the top step of their home with a “proprietary air.” She washes herself “with the zeal of an occupational therapist.” She mews and makes “ambiguous remarks.” (For the record, I have never made an ambiguous remark in my life.)

We see Mr. Whipplestone enjoying Lucy’s “nice ways,” which

“consisted of keeping a close watch on him, of greeting him on his reappearance after an hour’s absence as if he had returned from the North Pole, of tearing about the house with her tail up, affecting astonishment when she encountered him and of sudden onsets of attachment when she would grip his arm in her forelegs, kick it with her hind legs, pretend to bite him and then fall into a little frenzy of purrs and licks.”

Clearly, Ms. Ngaio Marsh knew a thing or two about cats. If only she had written a whole series of Lucy Lockett books…