Susan Conant: Scratch the Surface

I have been a Susan Conant fan for a long time. I love all of her books, but this one was the best so far. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. It's a really really good cozy mystery. Perfect reading for a cold rainy day. I hope she writes more "cat" books.

Scratch the Surface

Susan Conant

Berkley, June 2005, $22.95, 288 pp.

ISBN 0425202593

Felicity Pride is a mid-list author who writes mysteries about cats who communicate with their human. The irony is that Felicity doesn't have nor ever had a feline and knows nothing about their care and upkeep except what she reads in books. Although she quits her job as a teacher to write full time she doesn't have to worry about income because she inherited a Mansion in Newton, Massachusetts from her deceased aunt and uncle.

One day when Felicity returns home she finds a dead man in her vestibule; his mouth and nose are duct taped. She later learns the victim received a blow to his head and a plastic bag was placed over his face. A cat is by the body; Felicity takes it home to care for it. She brings it to the vet and learns from the microchip in her ear that the cat is Edith and belongs to Quinlan Coates who has another feline Brigitte which Felicity brings home after the landlord lets her into his apartment. Felicity wants to discover who Coates' killer is because it will give her some great free publicity. What she doesn't expect is that she will come to love the cats and they will be instrumental in saving her life from a deranged killer.

Susan Conant, well known for her Dog Lover's mysteries, has written an exciting animal mystery starring two adorable felines. Learning to love them makes the heroine a more sensitive and caring person and as the book progresses, the character metamorphosis into someone it is easy to care about. SCRATCH THE SURFACE will appeal to readers who enjoy a good cozy and to feline lovers.

Harriet Klausner