Cat and Mouse (Inspector Chucky #1) by Christianna Brand (Oct/Nov 25)

[Susan]

Welcome to our Oct/Nov 25 buddy read of Cat and Mouse: A mystery in Wales recently republished by British Library Publishing. This is the first Inspector Chucky novel, first published in 1950 (written and published in-between 2 Inspector Cockrill novels - Death of Jezebel in 1949 and the fantastic London Particular in 1952. She would not revisit Chucky until 1977 with A Ring of Roses, written under a pseudonym.

Katinka Jones, the agony aunt for Girls Together magazine, is at a loose end in Swansea and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine’s regular correspondents, who goes by “Amista”. Arriving at a strange house perched atop a mountain, everything matches the descriptions in the letters; same cat, same views, same dashing widower, Carlyon. But there is a problem – nobody here has ever heard of the mysterious “Amista”.

As more weird mysteries emerge and the shadow of murder looms over the mountain, the feisty Inspector Chucky joins Katinka in the search for the truth in this lurid love letter to Gothic melodrama – an experimental thriller in which Brand flexes her talent for delivering twist after delicious twist.

Brand is one of my favourite GA authors, so I am delighted we are reading some of her novels as buddy reads.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.