by MANDY MORTON;
An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat©, International Book Reviewer.
If you're unfamiliar with Mandy Morton's works, you're in for a treat. We'll be reviewing the whole series of the No.2 Feline Detective Agency, which features two tabby furred feline detectives, Hettie Bagshot and her colleague and friend, Tilly Jenkins.
Mandy was born in Suffolk, England, and, like Hettie, had a successful music career as a singer-songwriter. She also has 6 records to her name. Later, she joined the BBC as a presenter and producer of arts programs for local and national radio. The book's biography says that "Mandy lives with her partner, who is a fellow crime writer, in Cambridge and Cornwall, where there is always room for a longhaired tabby cat."
That the author is a cat lover and guardian is self-evident from the stories. And whilst the feline characters bring the magic that only cats can, it is the plot, settings, and sheer deftness and pace of the telling that, with our protagonist's natures, win the day. So, without further ado, let's dive right into . . . .
AUTHOR: Mandy Morton
Cover art by: Unknown
Published by: Farrago
First publication date Paperback: 2014
Current edition Paperback ISBN: 978 1788 424 431
UK Cover price for Paperback: £9.99
Kindle UK price: £2.99
Audiobook price: £13 (or one subscription voucher)
Pages: 257
Age range: Adult
Any
cats? Cats and no humans.
SPOILER ALERT
Some as to plot direction and characters.
Thank you to...
I am exceedingly grateful to Mrs H for the utter delight of getting to Read & Review, AND listen to this excellent book. She’s bought the series!
As ever, our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have bought, received as gifts, or received in exchange for an impartial review.
Foremost, the books we review are those we select to read, like, and feel our global readers deserve to know about and that we hope they, their family, friends and students will enjoy.
The plot
Sitting in the Butter sisters’ one-time storeroom, now turned bedsit and office, waiting for the phone to ring, is bringing home the awkward truth to Hettie that a detective agency with nothing to detect wasn’t a good business model. Just as she was wondering where her assistant and co-sharer of the bedsit, Tilly, was, there was a strange sound. Hettie suddenly realises it’s the telephone. More importantly, it’s their first case. Marcia Woolcoat, matron and proprietor of the Furcross Home for Slightly Older Cats, has a job for them. A case of missing cats, dead cats that are now missing, stolen from their graves on the grounds of Furcross! Body snatching is alive and well, pardon the pun, in the town.
Taking the case, Hettie sets about getting evidence. Onetime TV celebrity gardener and novel writer Digger Patch, now down on his luck and very grumpy, attended to the grave duties. Nurse Mogadon arranged and completed the Dignicat final acts for the cats, and Aurelia Claws did the makeup and nail varnish for the deceased. The cook for the home is Marley Toke, a black cat from Jamaica who buoys the residents’ spirits with her excellent Jamaican cooking—most of which has potent catnip in it!
It all seems rather strange, but a case, and more importantly, an advance of their fee, is what matters. By discovering who took the bodies, where they are, and the goods they were buried with, they will earn their daily fee and a small bonus.
But, before they can get started and get into too much planning, three bodies will turn up behind the Malkin and Sprinkles department store. Fearing the loss of her fee, which would help fund their food shopping and mean they can get a new TV, Hettie and old pal and Hettie’s ex-roadie, Poppa, race to the store to collect the bodies. What they discover when they do is that the cats are missing a lot of fur. In fact, the only fur left is on their faces.
As Tilly points out, the case isn’t really solved. So Hettie and Tilly start digging around, metaphorically speaking, and visit Furcross. Whilst there, they find Nurse Mogadon dead with a note saying she has taken the easy way out and is sorry for letting the awful things happen to the three former residents.
Now, things aren’t quite as solved or as easy as they first may seem. This is by far not the end of the case. In fact, it only picks up speed from here on in. Who stole the cats, their fur, and paid Nurse Mogadon to abet them? More importantly, and part of the fun of the plot, what will Beryl and Betty Butter’s pie-of-the-day be, and will there be any left come the end of the case! Oh, and if you are wondering about the TV, well, that plays an important part, too.
I’d dearly love to tell you more, but I am teetering on the brink of revealing too much. Suffice it to say, the goings-on at Furcross have not ended. There is still an awful lot of investigating, chewing over facts, pies, and a few well-earned pipes of catnip tobacco being smoked.
What did we think?
With the plaudits from the likes of P D James and all-round praise from readers, Mrs H and I will do our best to give our own enthusiastic yet balanced review.
When we first listened to this, book one in the series some years ago, we were enthralled by something quite unique. We had already started writing our own adventure series, and Mandy Morton’s book illustrated there was a market for good, feline-centric adventures that extended beyond cats being smart yet dumb sidekicks found in many cosy mysteries. In fact, there are no humans in the series, which instantly focuses the mind.
The recent and highly articulate and clever books by L. T. Shearer, which feature Conrad, a talking and quite independent feline in a human world, provide a refreshing angle and opportunities for the cosy mystery-weary reader. Criminal investigation taken on from literally multiple levels and with characters with distinct skill sets makes for compelling reading.
The same is true of Hettie, Tilly, and their world. Here, you will find an elegant mix of feline traits and human-style interaction in human settings without annoying humans.
Just when you think you have this new world sussed, the characters do something that is wholly feline and out of place, yet on inspection, it is quite delightful, logical and well-placed. One thing you will notice is that there are no police in this book. The cats just get on with life in, so far as I can see, every other way.
It is, however, best not to overthink things but just soak it all in. Cats are, after all, not beings to shy away from licking a plate or having a whisker face or ear groomed after a meal. And boy, do they love their food. All sounds very familiar and fun, too, as Hettie, Tilly, and friends plan meals, sweets and savouries around their investigations, murders and corpses.
We loved Hettie. She is grumpy in the mornings, at least until she’s had the first cup of tea and a cheese triangle on toast for breakfast, and does not suffer fools, though she is not perfect. But she sometimes admits to being at a loss and is ready to give up the detecting game.
But Hettie has a wonderful foil in Tilly, a much smaller, elder, and arguably wiser cat who once lived and almost died from hunger and cold on the streets. Tilly also adds extra humour by sometimes getting the wrong meaning or going off on a tangent.
Hettie is arguably our lead protagonist, but Tilly’s honest willingness to see good in all, her appreciation of being alive with a roof over her head, and her infectious positivity are way beyond what I have read elsewhere. Tilly is no Dr Watson. She has weaknesses. Her bout of cat flu almost killed her and left her susceptible. However, her passion for reading murder mysteries (which gave Hettie the idea for the detective agency) means she has a head start for solving crime, though her eagerness sometimes runs away with her. In our eyes, she is arguably an inseparable and joint lead character.
The first story gradually reveals most of the backstories of all the characters. The location for their home and office, placed in a one-time store room behind Beryl and Betty Butter’s bakery, is just right. It is home, warm and cosy, and when needed, by tidying things away into the sideboard, an instant office. Storing their clothes in a filing cabinet and hiding the telephone in the sideboard struck me as supremely practical, especially if you didn’t wish to take a call.
This first book's plot is original, twisty-turny, and highly entertaining. I know it is wrong to laugh out loud or chuckle at a murder mystery, and I don’t think I have with any other book. But this is one where you carried along, and there is so much to enjoy. There are plenty of such moments. PD James was not wrong in their appraisal.
For an even more pleasing experience, we recommend getting this and the other stories on Audible. Jenny Funnel, the narrator, has set the perfect tone for the characters—so much so that if I heard anyone speak like the characters, I’d probably have a giggle fit. Did I mention the names? I guess I did already, but the book has characters whose names give away their profession, like the librarian Turner Page.
So . . . Crunch time.
With fun, believable characters, chuckle-worthy names of cast and places, and amazing plots well suited to felines, this book is an all-around success on a par with, you guessed it, an 'Agatha Crispie' novel.
Want to buy a copy?
To get a copy, please sail or saunter down to your local independent bookshop. Of course, a feline on the shoulders is optional. There are plenty out there (both book shops and cats), and each shop is just waiting to serve whatever kind of mystery, fun and adventure you desire.
Mandy Morton's short author page at Farrago Books can be found HERE or type this: https://farragobooks.com/fb-author/mandy-morton/
Farrago Book's web page can be found HERE or type this: https://farragobooks.com/
Hettie Bagshot can be found on both Facebook and Twitter.
We are joining the Sunday Selfies, hosted by the wonderful Kitties Blue and their mum, Janet Blue, from the Cat on My Head blog in America. Click this link to see Janet Blue's selfie page.
I shall leave you with a rare mid-March sun puddle on my new old duvet cover, refashioned and upcycled by the PA at the Bionic Basil blog. Do check out their latest stories on the Medium platform!
Till laters!
ERin
