Catspaw / Woodruff -- SuSu and the 8:30 ghost / Braun -- The caller / Cave -- The Alexandrian cat / Saylor -- Miss Paisley's cat / Vickers -- Arnold / Hamlin -- Call to writers / Schachterle -- The sin of Madame Phloi / Braun -- The Nile cat / Hoch -- Cat's-paw / Reed -- Cat of dreams / Lockridge -- The abominable house guest / Sturgeon -- Phut Phat concentrates / Braun -- The faithful cat / Moyes -- A case of catnapping / Carr -- Who killed Wee Winky? / Owens -- The witch's cat / Wellman -- The cat in the bag / Peterson -- The cat and the fiddle murders / Hoch -- Professor Kreller's secret / Meyer -- A feline felony / Littke -- The lady wore black / Cave -- Helix the cat / Sturgeon -- Death at the Excelsior / Wodehouse -- Miss Phipps and the Siamese cat / Bentley -- Little miracles / Rusch -- The black cat / Somerville -- Cat burglar / DeWeese -- The theft of the Mafia cat / Hoch -- Spectre in blue doubleknit / Bethke -- The old gray cat / Harrington -- Animals / Howard -- The searching cats / Lockridge -- The highwayman's hostage / De La Torre -- Ming's biggest prey / Highsmith -- The black cat / Poe -- Chocolate / Meier -- A visitor to Mombasa / Holding -- Between a cat and a hard place / Vines -- The empty birdhouse / Highsmith -- The trinity cat / Peters -- Mrrrar! / Pangborn -- Long live the queen / Rendell.
I picked up this book expecting a light anthology. I stopped a third of the way through because I found some of the stories too disturbing. Fiction or not, I am unable to enjoy any story about dead cats.
Catspaw / Sandra Woodruff SuSu and the 8:30 ghost / Lilian Jackson Braun --2 *The caller / Hugh B. Cave The Alexandrian cat / Steven Saylor Miss Paisley's cat / Roy Vickers --3 Arnold / Fred Hamlin Call to witness / Nancy Schachterle The sin of Madame Phloi / Lilian Jackson Braun--2 *The Nile cat / Edward D. Hoch Cat's-paw / Mary Reed *Cat of dreams / the Lockridges The abominable house guest / Theodore Sturgeon Phut Phat concentrates / Lilian Jackson Braun--2 The faithful cat / Patricia Moyes--3 A case of catnapping / AZH Carr --3 Who killed Wee Winky? / Barbara Owens *The witch's cat / Manly Wade Wellman The cat in the bag / Charles Peterson The cat and the fiddle murders / Edward D. Hoch Professor Kreller's secret / Ingram Meyer *A feline felony / Lael J. Littke *The lady wore black / Hugh B. Cave Helix the cat / Theodore Sturgeon Death at the Excelsior / PG Wodehouse --2 Miss Phipps and the Siamese cat / Phyllis Bentley --2 Little miracles / Kristine Kathryn Rusch The black cat / Lee Somerville Cat burglar / Gene DeWeese The theft of the Mafia cat / Edward D. Hoch *Spectre in blue doubleknit / Bruce Bethke The old gray cat / Joyce Harrington --2 *Animals / Clark Howard The searching cats / the Lockridges --3 The highwayman's hostage / Lillian De La Torre Ming's biggest prey / Patricia Highsmith --3 The black cat / Poe --4 Chocolate / Leslie Meier A visitor to Mombasa / James Holding --3 Between a cat and a hard place / Jimmy Vines The empty birdhouse / Patricia Highsmith --2 The trinity cat / Ellis Peters --3 *Mrrrar! / Edgar Pangborn *Long live the queen / Ruth Rendell
An intriguing anthology of short stories with felines as the central figure. This is a pretty typical anthology - various styles, themes and societal norms are represented.
Only a few really fantastic ones. A few that I just couldn't engage in and abandoned, even tho the stories are mostly quite short. One or two very disappointing resolutions.
One made me cry (anger and sadness!) - written during the 1980's - I am betting you can guess it once you read it.
I enjoy anthologies because I often 'meet' new writers that I want to read more of.
I picked this up at the library mostly out of amused curiosity. I assumed this would be a collection of silly whodunnits where happy fluffy cats solve the mysteries (kind of like the stupid Sneaky Pie Brown series). I was pleasantly surprised to discover these stories are of very high quality and (mostly) not silly at all. I liked how most of the stories were intelligent and psychological short stories, involving themes of crime and cats.
This was always one of my favorite short story collections. There are several gems involving mystery, humor, and, of course, cats. You should love cats to read this book but it's not required. Some stories are duds but that's inevitable in a collection this big. Most are good and a few a great. I loved it when I was younger and still do now.