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The Wizard of 4th Street #7.5
The Nine Lives of Catseye Gomez
When an ambitious young television journalist is killed by a car bomb, Gomez the feline detective pursues all the clues, as well as the victim's sexy calico cat
216 pages, Paperback
First published October 29, 1992
About the author
Simon Hawke
90 books239 followersAlso published as J.D. Masters.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 25, 2020
Catseye Gomez isn’t your average cat, at least not by today’s standards.
The time is after the Collapse ; the period where Earth went into a modern dark age. People had used and abused the world to a point where economically and politically civilization imploded. Resources had been depleted and corruption was rampant. After time, people figured out how to come back to where civilization had been and a bit beyond.
This time, magic was a big part of the recovery and Catseye is a product of it. He is a thaumagenetic engineered creature; a product of magic and science. He is also a big fan of Mickey Spillane and that era. Appearance-wise, he is rough around the edges, a chewed up alley cat, with a turquoise stone in place of a missing eye. A stone that has magical powers.
Gomez, as he prefers to be called, finds himself in new digs in Denver, Colorado. It’s a big change from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Denver is big city, Santa Fe is laid back and open.
His previous roommate has passed away and asked a friend to give Gomez a home. The friend turns out to be the police commissioner of Denver.
When Susan James, a well-known TV reporter, dies in a car explosion outside the modern and exclusive high-rise apartment building where Gomez now lives, Gomez finds himself involved in an unusual case and working with some unusual people.
I’d say this is a combination sci-fi and fantasy mystery. Gomez’s speech is “tough PI” a la Spillane. Sometimes he gets a little long and philosophical, but it was still a fun read. Something different.
I have found that this is the only book of this character. It was based on a short story written by the author. I had hoped there would be more, and the ending gave a little of that feeling. Sigh…
The time is after the Collapse ; the period where Earth went into a modern dark age. People had used and abused the world to a point where economically and politically civilization imploded. Resources had been depleted and corruption was rampant. After time, people figured out how to come back to where civilization had been and a bit beyond.
This time, magic was a big part of the recovery and Catseye is a product of it. He is a thaumagenetic engineered creature; a product of magic and science. He is also a big fan of Mickey Spillane and that era. Appearance-wise, he is rough around the edges, a chewed up alley cat, with a turquoise stone in place of a missing eye. A stone that has magical powers.
Gomez, as he prefers to be called, finds himself in new digs in Denver, Colorado. It’s a big change from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Denver is big city, Santa Fe is laid back and open.
His previous roommate has passed away and asked a friend to give Gomez a home. The friend turns out to be the police commissioner of Denver.
When Susan James, a well-known TV reporter, dies in a car explosion outside the modern and exclusive high-rise apartment building where Gomez now lives, Gomez finds himself involved in an unusual case and working with some unusual people.
I’d say this is a combination sci-fi and fantasy mystery. Gomez’s speech is “tough PI” a la Spillane. Sometimes he gets a little long and philosophical, but it was still a fun read. Something different.
I have found that this is the only book of this character. It was based on a short story written by the author. I had hoped there would be more, and the ending gave a little of that feeling. Sigh…
February 23, 2025
I’ve had this in a shelf twice (one copy lost to a fire in 2013) and have never been able to get far into it despite liking the Wizard of 4th Street series. So this try worked. I’ve read some Spillane, Gardner, and others and “hard-boiled” is the term often used to describe their protagonists. This one is in the same vein, a side trip from the Wizard series and Hawke gets a little rougher in the dialogue as a result, imbuing his narrator Gomez with the edges that Gomez read in Spillane books that survived the Collapse. Interesting his ranting about Christian Fundamentalists (his capitalization) in a fantasy novel of 1992, and more interesting that the rant is even more appropriate 33 years later.
“There were still a few of them around, and they didn’t seem like happy people.”
“Unfortunately, there have always been those whose hearts and minds were closed, and these people made up the Fundamentalist sects of the world’s faiths. Often, these were people whose souls were small and shriveled things, who found meaning not in celebration of the world around them, but who sought significance in demeaning all those who did not see things their way.”
I guess the sub-theme probably didn’t sit well with readers and maybe the book didn’t sell well, but we only get to see this little expansion of Gomez (from The Wizard of Santa Fe) and no more adventures.
“There were still a few of them around, and they didn’t seem like happy people.”
“Unfortunately, there have always been those whose hearts and minds were closed, and these people made up the Fundamentalist sects of the world’s faiths. Often, these were people whose souls were small and shriveled things, who found meaning not in celebration of the world around them, but who sought significance in demeaning all those who did not see things their way.”
I guess the sub-theme probably didn’t sit well with readers and maybe the book didn’t sell well, but we only get to see this little expansion of Gomez (from The Wizard of Santa Fe) and no more adventures.
March 4, 2021
A fantasy take on detective noir starring a cat. In short, right up my alley. Catseye Gomez, a magically sentient cat, loses his best (human) friend and ends up moving to Denver to meet a mutual friend, and soon gets caught up in a murder mystery. There's some talk about animal rights (specifically sentient ones) but mostly it's pretty light fare. A fun, quick read.
January 11, 2019
An entertaining book in an alternate reality of Earth. Magic, genetic modification and a mystery all made for an excellent read.
May 1, 2021
I read this book as a child, and I still remember it incredibly fondly.
January 2, 2026
all along as I read, I kept thinking 'this is whodunnit', even though there was no evidence. I was right , but mainly because I'd read it before, about thirty years ago. still it's a very good read and as part of a series, well worth reading again.
January 21, 2013
I've had this in my TBR pile for ages and finally had a chance to get around to reading it. While I appreciated the Mickey Spillane stylings, and felt the worldbuilding was very well done, the book kind of fell flat for me. It felt a bit dated. I'd love to see a current treatment - I think it would be a much leaner story with a quicker pace. As is, it got a little bogged down in Catseye's data dumps on the current state of thaumaturgy and social norms. All very interesting stuff, but I would have rather seen it play out organically in the story or be cut. I can empathize with an author wanting to show off his shiny new creation, but if it doesn't directly serve the story, it has to go.
November 8, 2007
Been a while since I read this. I remember it being one of the first "adult" science fiction books I ever read. My copy is...somewhere around here, and I still have it. I read it over...and over...and over again. For old time's sake, I may give it another go.
November 4, 2012
This one is good mainly because of the characters, sadly the mystery seemed to be a prop for them. But very enjoyable reading nonetheless and I enjoyed the environmental sensibilities the worldbuilding was based on.
June 4, 2014
A cat little ... I mean... A CUTE little mystery in a modern fantasy setting (even if it is set in the future). I never read any of the Wizard of Fourth Street novels, so I am missing much of the bigger picture, perhaps, but it wasn't very exciting... it was almost a "Cozy."
July 5, 2015
This is the book that clued me into Micky Spillane and had me skulking about the suburbs in my beloved trench coat and fedora as an outcast teen with penchant for long walks in the rain... To the book store of course!
March 31, 2011
interesting future fantasy with hardboiled cat detective
November 5, 2013
LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!I like the wisecracking attitude of Gomez, and how Leventhal doesn't do things the way everyone else does!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews