Originally published in Mystery Readers Journal, Volume 39, Number 4, Animals in Mysteries II, Winter 2023.
That cats and mysteries go together like peanut butter and jelly or shoes and socks is evident by the number of mysteries written about cats and the number of people who read them. In the last half of the 20th century crime fiction readers were treated to an explosion of mysteries in which cats play a major role. But they weren’t unknown before then. An early cat-focused series was written by Dolores Hitchens under the name D. B. Olsen about sisters Rachel and Jennifer Murdock and their cat Samantha. They appeared in 15 books beginning in 1938.
Pam and Jerry North and their black and white cat Pete first emerged in The Norths Meet Murder, published in 1940. The Norths went on to include other cats in their adventures, most notably the Siamese Martini and her kittens Gin and Sherry. (The Norths were fond of their cocktails.) Richard and Frances Lockridge wrote 27 books about the feline-loving Norths.
The venerable Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun about journalist Jim Qwilleran with his Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum began in 1966 and continued for 29 books. A devoted follower of the trio tells me the first few books are the best. This is probably the series that most readers think of as the earliest cat mystery.
Rita Mae Brown gave the world an unforgettable cat character when she created Mary Minor Harristeen, the postmistress in a small Virginia town, and her highly intelligent tabby cat Mrs. Murphy. Mrs. Murphy and Tucker, a Welsh corgi, conduct their own investigation of whatever problem is perplexing Harry and do their best to protect her. Their first adventure was published in 1990; the 32nd is scheduled for release in 2024.
Alice Nestleton also first appeared in 1990. A New York actress most of the time, she filled in those inevitable periods of unemployment by cat sitting. Lydia Adamson wrote 21 books about her between 1990 and 2002 with titles that all start with A Cat…. Dixie Hemenway is a cat sitter too, only in Sarasota, Florida, in 11 books by Blaize and John Clement issued between 2005 and 2016. In a related job Cassie McGlone is a cat groomer in Chadwick, New Jersey, in six titles by Elaine Watkins. Jennifer Chow writes about Los Angeles pet groomer Mimi Lee and her cat Marshmallow in the Sassy Cat mysteries.
Some authors work both cats and books into their stories. Garrison Allen set his six-volume series (1994-1999) about former Marine Penelope Warren and her oversized Abyssinian cat named Big Mike in a mystery bookstore in Empty Creek, Arizona. Darla Pettistone and her cat Hamlet owned a bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, in the 2011-2016 series by Ali Brandon. Prolific Canadian author Vicki Delany has developed several contemporary mystery series; one of them is about Gemma Doyle, who runs her Great Uncle Arthur’s Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium with Moriarty the cat on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Lorna Barrett created Stoneham, New Hampshire, a town full of bookstores where Tricia Miles runs a mystery bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, with her appropriately named cat Miss Marple.
Rescue cat Eddie accompanies librarian Minnie Hamilton on her bookmobile route around Chilson, Michigan, in 11 books by Laurie Cass. Miranda James writes about university librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat Diesel in the hugely popular Cat in the Stacks mysteries that began in 2010. Mystery novelist Sabrina Tate and her black cat Hitchcock investigate crime in Lavender, Texas, in the Bad Luck Cat series by Kay Finch. In what may be the most original premise of all, Monica Shaughnessy writes about Edgar Allan Poe’s cat in the Cattarina mysteries, where we get the low-down on the great writer’s best-known works.
Some authors acknowledge the very real pet overpopulation problem in their books. In the early books of the Berger and Mitry series written by David Handler, State Trooper Desiree Mitry and her neighbor feed colonies of cats and trap the friendly ones to find them homes. Kathi Daley writes the Whales and Tails Mystery series about the Harthaven Cat Sanctuary in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State. Laurie Crenshaw and her Norwegian Forest cat Annie run a cat café in northern California, where customers can drink coffee and socialize with cats who need homes. Jinty James has written 23 books about the duo. Cate Conte also writes about a cat café, but this one is on the coast of Massachusetts, where Maddie James finds homes for kitties, serves coffee, and investigates murder.
Sometimes cats take crime-busting into their own hands. These detective felines include Joel Grey, cat and private investigator, who debuted in 1996 in the first book of 21 by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. Midnight Louie patrolled the streets of Las Vegas in the much-loved series by Carole Nelson Douglas, who wrote 28 books about Louie and his human Temple Barr. The nocturnal thefts of Rags, the kleptomaniac cat created by Patricia Fry, often uncovers crimes. So far he’s been involved in 63 adventures. Li’l Tom, cat detective at the Pussyfoot Detective Bureau of Telegraph Hill, does his best to keep crime in San Francisco under control. Angela Crider Neary has only produced two books about his adventures as of this writing. Razzy assists aspiring reporter Hannah Murphy in cracking cases in the Razzy Cat Mysteries by Courtney McFarlin. In the Detective Whiskers books by Chris Abernathy, Whiskers capitalizes on the experience he gained as the assistant to Fred, a police officer for 40 years before he died, to investigate crime in his new beach town home of Paradise Cove, where Fred’s widow retired.
Cats often encounter crime in the course of their commercial undertakings. Sofie Ryan writes about Sarah Grayson, her rescue cat Elvis, and their secondhand shop in North Harbor, Maine. Jillian Hart makes cat quilts in Mercy, South Carolina, with her three cats, Syrah, Chablis, and Merlot but inevitably stumbles into murder in the Cats in Trouble series by Leann Sweeney. Hamish, a Maine Coon cat, helps café owner Beatrice Young keep crime at bay in the village of Ashbrook, New Hampshire. Alannah Rogers has produced 14 books about them. Rebecca M. Hale wrote a half-dozen books about Rebecca who inherited an antique shop in San Francisco, California, and her cats Rupert and Isabella. Kathy Krevat puts Trouble the cat to work as a taster in the gourmet cat food business run by Colbie Summers in the Gourmet Cat Mysteries.
Small towns seem to be an integral part of many moggy mysteries. Kat Harper’s return to her small home town of Cherry Hills, Washington, launches the Cozy Cat Caper Mystery series by Paige Sleuth. Karen Ann Golden set her The Cats That… mystery series in Erie, Indiana, where Katherine Kendall inherited a Victorian mansion. Biscuit McKee and her cat Marmalade live in the old southern town of Martinsville, Georgia, in the 11-book series by Fran Stewart. Shadow, a stray feline, helps investigative reporter Sunny Coolidge in small town Kittery Harbor, Maine, in the five books by Claire Donally.
Feline mysteries are not entirely a U.S. phenomenon. Conrad the Cat Detective lives in West London on a canal boat with widowed Lulu Lewis. He helps her investigate murder in two books written by L. T. Shearer. James the Connoisseur Cat, created by Harriet Hahn, also lives in London and solves crimes while mingling in exclusive social circles. James only figured in two adventures, 1991 and 1993.
On the other end of the social spectrum tabby cat Aubrey is lucky to be chosen by the Goodmans from all of the kitties in the rescue center. He settles into English suburban life happily until someone starts taking out the humans in the houses around him. Creator Alison O’Leary has written four books about his undertakings in this contemporary series. Reverend Francis Oughterard lives in 1950s Surrey with his cat Maurice and hound Bouncer, who save the inept cleric from one catastrophe after another in seven amusing books by Suzette Hill.
Hettie Bagshot is a cat running the No. 2 Feline Detective Agency in Scotland. Mandy Morton documents Hettie’s cases, the 12th is due out in 2024. The Leger Cat Detective series by Lacey Dearie is also set in Scotland. Long short stories rather than full length novels, Leger the cat has appeared in 44 adventures since 2013.
Louise Clark sets her 9 Lives Cozy mysteries about Stormy the Cat and journalist Quinn Armstrong in her hometown of Vancouver in British Columbia.
Blacksad is a noir graphic series created by Spanish authors Juan DÃaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido and issued by French publisher Dargaud. The main character is a cat named John Blacksad, who is a hardboiled private investigator. He is a classic PI, viewing the world with a cynical eye. He usually wears a dark suit and trench coat and uses the alias John H. Blackmore on several fake IDs, including debt collector, FBI agent, and customs officer. His occasional sidekick is Weekly, a weasel who works as a muckraker for a tabloid newspaper. Smirnov is a brown German Shepherd and Blacksad’s police commissioner friend. The first volume was published in November 2000 and five more titles have been released.
Turkish-born Akif Pirincci’s Felidae is set in Germany and won Germany’s prize for best crime novel of the year in 1990. The story is told from the perspective of Francis, a house cat who is looking for the murderer of the cats in his neighborhood. The novel was translated into 17 languages and became an international bestseller. It was followed by several more volumes of cat crime fiction but only a couple were translated into English, Francis on the Road and Salve Roma!, the sole book in the series that took place outside Germany. These books can be hard to find. A wiki devoted to the series gives synopses of the books not translated: https://felidae.fandom.com/wiki/Felidae_Wiki
Some authors write multiple mystery series about cats. Nancy C. Davis has five. Clea Simon also has five. Marian Babson wrote dozens of mysteries, many of them featuring cats. T. C. LoTempio writes several mystery series, most of them with cats.
An exhaustive list of cat-focused mysteries would be nearly impossible to compile, but more titles can be found on the Goodreads, Amazon, and Cozy Mystery List websites.