Sunday, August 4, 2019

The Cat, the Devil, the Last Escape

This is apparently one of many cat-based novels by Shirley Rousseau Murphy, including over 20 in the "Joe Grey" cat mystery series featuring a feline P.I., but I had never encountered them. In this sequel to an earlier novel, The Cat, the Devil, and Lee Fontana, also co-authored with her husband, Pat J. J. Murphy, our protagonist is Misto, currently in ghost form, although he has had several lives in physical form. He has attached himself to Lee Fontana, a thief who is cursed by an ancestor's deal with the devil. Lee is dying of emphysema and is currently in jail, where Misto visits him daily, offering comfort and support. But Misto is also trying to look after one of his former owners, a little girl named Sammie, and eventually we will find out that Sammie and Lee are related. As it turns out  Lee's little sister is also Sammie's great aunt. Misto communicates with both Sammie and Lee, although no one else can see, hear, or feel him. Sammie has prophetic dreams, a trait shared with Lee's younger sister. When the devil uses ones of his pawns to get Sammie's dad, Morgan, mistakenly locked up for murder, their paths will cross. It's an interesting premise and the characters, settings and plot are reasonably well executed. For some reason, however, it did not totally grab me. I have checked out the first of her Joe Grey series to satisfy my curiosity.

1 comment:

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