Publishers Weekly
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At the start of Murphy's bland 21st Joe Grey mystery (after 2017's Cat Shining Bright), feline detective Joe Grey saves the life of a badly beaten woman who was left for dead on a beach in Molena Point, Calif. Meanwhile, the town's friendly residents, including Joe's humans, Ryan and Clive, face trouble living near the rowdy Luther family, whose members may be connected to robberies in the area. As Joe tries to determine a connection among these crimes, his beloved adolescent calico daughter, Courtney, is kidnapped by an antique shop owner who wants to use the cat to make money by performing tricks. Alongside his partner, Dulcie, and other feline friends, Joe weaves in and out of several police investigations, leaving anonymous tips by phone to assist the authorities and creating diversions to thwart criminals. Unfortunately, the meandering, repetitive plot will frustrate some readers. This one's strictly for devoted series fans, who will enjoy revisiting the compassionate cats. Agent: Martha Millard, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Talking cats once again run rings around their human detective counterparts in this latest return to Molina Point, California.As if he'd just been waiting for his cancer-stricken mother to die, Nevin Luther has followed his brothers, Varney and DeWayne, in abandoning his father, recently widowed farmer Zebulon Luther. His son is no great loss, Zeb reflects ruefully; the heartbreak is that Nevin and his wife, Thelma, have taken their 12-year-old daughter, Mindy, who really loved the old man and wanted to stay with him. No one can feel the depth of Zeb's loss like sleuthing tomcat Joe Grey, whose own daughter, Courtney, is kidnapped (catnapped?) from a street a few blocks away from the spot where Joe had found an unidentified woman beaten and half-buried. After Joe, taking advantage of his speaking and dialing abilities, phones in his discovery to 911, Police Chief Max Harper and his force assume that both Maurita, the victim of the beach attack, and a suspiciously gloved library patron Joe Grey alertly spotted are connected to a daring rash of robberies whose most recent victim is restaurateur Jon Jaarel. But how long will they take to realize that Nevin Luther's bank balance has reached over $1 million? And how can they possibly find time in the middle of such a crime wave to search for Courtney? Never fear: As usual in this venerable series (Cat Shining Bright, 2017, etc.), the well-meaning human professionals are utterly outclassed by Joe Grey and his feline cohort, the most activist and competent among the current bevy of fictional detecting cats.The ambitious serial-robbery scheme is mainly a pretext for an endless series of chases involving cats, people, or cats and people, climaxing in some teary-eyed reflections on the power of love involvingwell, you know who. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.