When the claws come out, it's a matter of life or death.

Dr. Aris Thorne and his sharp-witted assistant, Mia Rodriguez, have just solved their first murder, but their lives are about to get complicated. The annual Whiskers & Winks Cat Show has come to town, and their clinic is swamped with high-strung show cats and their even higher-strung owners. But the main event is a disaster when the notoriously cruel judge, Bartholomew Finch, collapses and dies during the final round. The police chalk it up to a heart attack, but Mia’s instincts scream foul play, especially when the judge’s prize-winning sphinx cat, Cleopatra, goes missing.

Aris and Mia find themselves plunged into the cutthroat world of competitive cat shows, where bitter rivalries run deep and everyone has a motive. There's a vengeful rival breeder, a young contestant who was publicly humiliated, and a long-suffering assistant who stood to inherit a fortune. The only thing they have to go on is Cleopatra’s disappearance and the silent clues left behind by the other felines.

With Aris's deep understanding of animal behavior and Mia's tenacious detective work, they must uncover a web of deceit and blackmail to find Cleopatra and catch the killer before the cat show closes its curtains for good.