Cat Striking Back

CAT STRIKING BACK: A JOE GREY MYSTERY
Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Avon
Harper Collins
December 2010
Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-06-112400-6
340 pages
Mystery

Do you really know your neighbors? They appear agreeable and helpful but are they honest or are they
Just waiting for the moment when they can rob you?

What would you do if you had a spat with your spouse and the person fell, killing them self? O.K., you
might have pushed them a little, but you had no intentions for their being hurt in any way. After all,
your mate started the argument, so it was their own fault. Will the police view it that way? If you go to
the police, will they discover that you are really a thief, or will they accuse you of murder, or both?

Ed and Francis Becker fit in well to their California community. They babysit the neighbor’s children and
join the other neighbors for the occasion meal or barbecue. What they do not realize is the influence of
the cats in the area. They are extremely astute and seem to be communicating and assisting adults.
Isn’t that strange?

How does all this fit together? That’s the puzzle to solve in Cat Striking Back.

It has to be difficult for any experienced author to continue a successful series of books. The author has
to respect their loyal followers who do not want too much review in reestablishing characters but then
they also need to encourage new readers to their series and need to somehow allow the character
development to continue while allowing the reader to envision the action.

That was my concern about Cat Striking Back. I had not read any of Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s
previous books so the beginning attachment to the characters was a little slow for me, especially the
cats. However, once the characters were embedded in my brain, the book flowed.

The cat community was fun and delightful to read about their daily challenges and triumphs. The book
was well-balanced between the human and the cat lives and discoveries. Both were interesting,
especially when they overlapped.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy has won numerous National Cat Writers’ Association Awards for the Best
Novel of the Year, naturally featuring cats. She also has written many children’s novels and resides in
California.

I look forward to reading her next cat adventure.