Annabel Hinchly-Smith lives on the edge of high society, ferreting out scraps of gossip to sell to newspaper columnists. She meets Arthur, a rich but reclusive target at a party and takes on a job to be his interior decorator, although she has no experience in the field.

Little does she know that she will get a bigger story than she bargained for when her client is found mysteriously deceased. Only she seems to believe he was murdered; his relatives are only interested in the fortune he left behind.

The members of the household clearly dislike his beloved pet cat and several overtly wish it harm now that its owner is dead. Annabel scoops up his cat to take home with her to keep it safe until a new home can be found for it.

When it turns out Arthur’s huge fortune has been left to the cat, the family scrambles first to find the cat and then, failing that, to find a look-alike cat and each claim the fortune.

The author definitely knows her cats and there were some really funny bits. There’s nothing surprising or complicated in the plot, but I liked this light and Fluffy (excuse the pun) mystery enough to pick up another by this author if one crosses my path. ( )

The writing in this book is not as smooth or as engaging as I would have wished, but the story is more creative than many crime mystery novels I've read lately. ( )

August 15, 1999
In the Company of Cats
Marian Babson

Really enjoyed this book, and would like to read more by this author. I think all her mysteries carry the cat theme.
Annabel is an older woman – probably middle-aged, though they never say – who has two dead husbands in her past. The story is set in England – in London – and Annabel lives in a “flat”. Normally, she “gets her living” (a very British phrase!) by supplying gossip magazines with celebrity scandals, and I guess she does this by making the rounds of parties, so she’s a society dame or something. At one of these parties a mysterious man mistakes her for an interior decorator (she was having a conversation about the subject and must have sounded knowledgeable), and hires her to re-do his flat. His “flat” turns out to be a huge, several-floored affair, and he’s a multi-millionaire. Also living there his rude, snotty secretary, whom Annabel refers to as The Broomstick, and several equally obnoxious family members. When he turns up dead, and the family learns that he’s left the bulk of his fortune to his beloved tabby cat, Sally, all hell breaks loose. Everyone’s out for Sally’s poor neck, and Annabel spirits her away, along with a few imposters. Happy ending, good kitty anecdotes, great sense of humor. A++! ( )