The Company of Cats * Marian Babson

Original title: The Multiple Cat. Mistaken for an interior designer and hired to remodel a wealthy tycoon's run-down London apartment, a fiscally challenged gossip columnist finds herself protecting a high-society tabby cat who happens to be both the sole heir to a massive fortune and the only witness to a brutal murder.

The Story: Written by prominent cozy mystery icon Marian Babson, this celebrated 2000 masterwork delivers a delightful, witty puzzle packed with eccentric characters. The narrative completely steps away from the gritty gore, explicit violence, and clinical forensic tracking typical of dark urban procedurals. Instead, Babson has a charm-heavy layout that prioritizes atmospheric British humor, fast-paced dialogue, and intuitive puzzle-solving.

The plot introduces Annabel Hinchby-Smythe, a sharp-tongued gossip writer quietly struggling to pay her bills in London. Her life takes a sharp turn when eccentric millionaire Arthur Arbuthnot mistakes her for a professional home decorator and offers her a lucrative contract to revamp his tatty flat. Annabel jumps at the financial lifeline, only to be pulled into a domestic nightmare when her client is suddenly murdered. When the reading of the will reveals that Arbuthnot bypassed his greedy human family to leave his vast estate entirely to his beloved pet tabby cat, the mansion descends into an absolute warzone.

Rather than letting the frantic relatives seize the inheritance or silence the animal, Annabel assumes the dangerous, unscheduled duty of feline bodyguard. She discovers that the intelligent tabby possesses a sharp knack for spotting the killer, reacting defensively whenever the true culprit approaches. As a hostile circle of family suspects closes in, Annabel must sort through high-society secrets and financial motives before the killer strikes again. This page-turner keeps the tension at a comforting boil until its final revelation.

Perfect For: Devotees of traditional amateur detective puzzles, classic feline-centric whodunits, and humorous British crime fiction; readers who thoroughly enjoy the whimsical style of authors like Lilian Jackson Braun, Rita Mae Brown, or Agatha Christie; and vintage book collectors checking off definitive entries from the fabled St. Martin's mystery lineup.

First published 1999; this edition 2000 by Minotaur Books.

Cozy Mysteries / Traditional Whodunits / Amateur Sleuth Sagas / British Crime Fiction / Feline Detective Sagas