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Title details for The Cat Saw Murder by Dolores Hitchens - Wait list

The Cat Saw Murder

#1 in series

by Dolores Hitchens
Janet Metzger
Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 6 weeks
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 6 weeks
When Rachel Murdock and her sister Jennifer receive a call for help from their favorite niece, Lilly, in Breakers Beach, California, they quickly hop a train from Los Angeles to see her-but not before collecting their prized cat Samantha in a picnic basket and bringing her along for the ride. Samatha, it turns out, is an heiress, the inheritor of a fortune left by a wealthy relative, and so the attempt at the cat's life, made right after they arrive, comes as a shock. The cat survives, but unfortunately, Lilly, murdered soon thereafter, is not so lucky. By the time the police arrive, the clues are already falling into place. The source of Lilly's trouble is revealed to be a gambling debt incurred during an attempt to cheat at bridge, and the suspects in her slaying quickly pile up. But then another corpse is discovered, buried in the nearby sand, and it becomes clear that the killing spree concerns more than just the young lady's personal money trouble. With the authorities distracted by lurid details, it's up to Rachel and her furry friend to uncover the subtleties containing the solution to the puzzle. A prototypical early "cat mystery," written before the subgenre became a staple of cozy mystery fiction, The Cat Saw Murder is an entertaining and endlessly surprising whodunit.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Rachel Murdock Mystery

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 26, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781696614788
      • File size: 238827 KB
      • Duration: 08:17:33

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 19, 2021
      Fans of astute amateur elderly sleuths will be delighted by this suspenseful mystery from Hitchens (1907–1973), first published in 1939. Seventy-year-old Rachel Murdock travels to Breakers Beach, Calif., at the request of her 40-ish niece-by-marriage, Lily Sticklemann, to help with some unspecified trouble. Upon Rachel’s arrival, Lily reveals she’s deeply in debt. Initially unforthcoming about how she got into this predicament, Lily eventually admits that she lost money gambling at cards. Then someone spikes Rachel’s medicine with morphine and takes advantage of her incapacity to beat in Lily’s head. Rachel aids the official police, and Lily’s pet cat plays a vital role by providing a clue to the identity of the killer, who claims another victim before the dramatic reveal. Hitchens’s use of foreshadowing elevates this above similar whodunits. That the observant Rachel is an appealing Jessica Fletcher antecedent makes the prospect of her further exploits in the American Mystery Classics series welcome.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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