Cat Laughing Last

By: Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Narrated by: Susan Boyce

Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

Even felines with such amazing talents as Joe Grey and his partner, Dulcie, need some down time. Using their amazing abilities to talk and read, they’ve helped their unwitting humans put bad guys away. But these clever four-footed detectives can’t possibly enjoy a little catnap, not when their lovely seaside village is in an uproar.

It’s bad enough that Molena Point has been invaded by a famous writer and his suspiciously rude wife. Then the local yard sales set off a host of puzzling thefts. Whiskers twitching and tails up, Joe Grey and Dulcie can’t resist pouncing on the case. Helped by their beloved companion, an inquisitive young tortoiseshell Kit, Joe Grey and Dulcie soon discover that certain collectibles at those sales hold a secret treasure someone will kill to possess. But before the fur can fly this talented trio will unmask a murderer - and unearth a few other surprises along the way.

©2013 Shirley Rousseau Murphy (P)2013 AudioGO

Charming and cozy

As Joe Grey and Dulcie stroll the streets and rooftops of Molena Point, California, they are privy to information no human is aware of. For you see, they are cats. Even among their own furry kind, they are unique and extraordinary, for they can speak just like human beings. Very few humans are aware of their amazing talents, as the felines strive to hide their intellectual ability. However confidential their speaking and reading abilities may be, Joe and Dulcie are key informants to Captain Max Harper of the Molena Point Police Department.

In Joe Grey’s seventh adventure, the five ladies of the Senior Survival Club are working hard to raise money to put toward their goal – a communal home to provide mutual security and comfort as they grow older. They scout the yard and estate sales and offer their treasures on the Internet. Someone else must think they have something of great value when Susan Brittain finds her home broken into and their purchases ransacked and damaged. Later the same day, when Cora Lee French scouts a small engraved chest, the local antiques dealer rips it from her hands.

These acts may have to do with the supposedly true story upon which author Elliott Traynor has based a play to be enacted by the little theatre in Molena Point. Traynor and his much younger wife Vivi have come to town to supervise the first performance of his play about two doomed lovers who secretly wrote each other love letters while Elliott works on his latest novel. Elliott is far overdue on his deadline, and the pages that Joe and Dulcie read printed out in his study are woefully lacking his former capacity for writing. Elliott and Vivi veto the local director’s superior choice of Cora Lee for lead in the play in favor of Fern Barth, assistant to the antiques dealer. Then Fern’s body is found in the display window of the local consignment shop with the three small chests once on display missing or smashed. It is revealed that chests such as these may have held the secret love letters from the true characters in Elliott Traynor’s play. But do these particular chests hold any such letters? It is time for Joe and Dulcie to take matters into their own paws.

A work of fiction requires a certain suspension of disbelief, and it takes skilled writing to achieve this goal. Shirley Rousseau Murphy makes the speaking and thinking abilities of the cats somehow within the scope of reality so the reader believes it could happen. I knew I was charmed by the results when I began to look twice at my own furry pets and wonder just how much they understood what I was saying.

This ingenious idea, besides being pure feline delight to the reader, actually offers a way for us to become aware of key clues. No human being would stroll from roof to roof and enter a home via the attic window. Through their own sleuthing skills and posing as innocent bystanders, the cats are able to gather information not available any other way and then pass that sensitive information on to police detectives.

Charming and cozy. Warm and fuzzy. Delightfully sneaky. All thoughts I was left with at the end of this captivating tail, oops, tale. Will the Senior Survival Club find a new home suitable for all five ladies? Will anyone find out that Joe and Dulcie can speak? I can’t wait to read their next adventure, sure it will bring purrs of delight.

Best Yet!

I've enjoyed every book in this series. Each one seems to be either excellent, or better than the one before, if that is possible. The author has researched many topics in great depth, adding to the descriptions and the color of the narrative. The geographic area sounds like such a lovely tourist attraction & an even better place to live. As a feline rescuer, I am quite enchanted by the concept of talking cats! All the cats who have lived with me have distinctly different personalities. I've had a very smart, affectionate grey like Joe & my husband has had a tortoise shell who loved (only) him completely. Our tabby is 20!