Halloween Cat Mysteries with The Petectives

By Robert J. Smith 

Yoshi and Gatsby, the stars of the Petectives series of books, discuss Halloween cat mysteries.

Gatsby: Hello, blog readers! Spooky season is upon us, and there’s nobody better than the Petectives to talk about Halloween cat mysteries.

Yoshi: And why is that?

Gatsby: I’m an orange cat. You’re a black cat. Halloween colors! You can’t get any more Halloween than us!

Yoshi: Be that as it may, I’d rather not participate in all the nonsense and superstitions that plague black cats at this time of the year. To put it succinctly, I’m not a fan of All Hallows’ Eve.

Gatsby: Yeah, you can’t even say “Halloween” like somebody normal. Well you may not like Halloween, but you are a book lover. Can you think of any good Halloween mysteries with cat detectives? That seems like a good blog topic.

Yoshi: Of course I can. Easily.

Gatsby: OK, then let’s make it more of a challenge. I’ll bet you can’t name five Halloween stories with a cat detective. And for bonus Halloween points, the cats have to be orange or black.

Yoshi: Challenge accepted.

Leger’s Eyes by Lacey Dearie

Yoshi: First up is Leger’s Eyes, the third book in the long-running Leger series.

Gatsby: How long is “long running?”

Yoshi: There are over forty books chronicling Leger’s life as a Scottish black cat detective. In this one, he gets justifiably upset at the unseemly depictions of black cats during the month of October.

Gatsby: Does he go on a tirade like you do every year?

Yoshi: Yes, but as we black cats are known for our magnanimity, when a human toddler goes missing on Halloween night, Leger puts his grievances aside and helps find the child.

Gatsby: Wait, they have Halloween in Scotland?

Yoshi: Of course they do! Halloween originates from that part of the world. It’s derived from the Celtic harvest festival Samhain. There’s a long, rich history of Halloween in Scotland. You really should read the poem “Halloween” written by the famed Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1786.

Gatsby: Maybe after I’m done reading all of the Leger stories. These books are all mysteries with quirky characters and a cozy vibe in a different locale. There are two other Halloween stories in the series: Leger’s Ghost and Leger’s Halloween Party. All three make for short, cozy reads on an October evening.

The Cat that Followed Phantoms by G. David Sterling

Yoshi: This is the second novel featuring Buckleberry, a cat detective who operates out of a town in North Carolina.

Gatsby: Another black cat, huh?

Yoshi: Of course. Black cats are clever, resourceful, and tenacious. Qualities that make for a good detective. Most orange cats I know are more likely to commit crimes than solve them.

Gatsby: I’m going to ignore that and get back to the book. Buck is as cool as a fresh bowl of water. He acts as a private investigator for the animals in his area while also helping his police detective owner solve human cases.

Yoshi: In this story, Buck’s town of Copper Summit is having an extremely weird Halloween season. Buck witnesses a human murder, a domestic terrorist organization from a century ago is back and causing trouble, and at the center of it all is a creepy, dilapidated, old house. Buck needs to figure out what’s going on before the town falls victim to mass hysteria.

Gatsby: Sounds gripping. One thing I like about the stories is the diverse animal cast.

Yoshi: True. In this one, Buck gets help from a bat, an owl, and a bunch of ravens.

Gatsby: But no dogs?

Yoshi: There are a couple K9 police dogs, but they don’t do anything useful.

Yoshi and Gatsby: Typical!

Gatsby:  One thing I don’t like about Buck’s adventures is that he works his tail off solving these cases for the humans and gets no credit.

Yoshi: Yes, Detective Shaw seems to have an inkling that Buck is up to something, but on the whole, he’s oblivious to the fact that a cat is doing his job for him.

Gatsby: He’s only human. What’s next? Is it actually a ginger cat?

Yoshi: Yes, and also a black cat.

Gatsby: You don’t mean-?

Petectives by Robert J Smith

Gatsby: Great, our book. So I’m the orange cat.

Yoshi: Yes, Petectives takes place during Halloween as a brilliant black feline searches for a missing cat while also investigating a human crime organization. Oh, and the story is narrated by his semi-competent assistant, an orange cat named Gatsby.

Gatsby: What are you talking about? Petectives is the story of a brave orange cat who hits the streets to help a beautiful show cat find her brother. At the same time, he risks his life to shut down some humans engaged in crimes against animals. Oh, and there’s a black cat named Yoshi who stays home where he sleeps a lot, reads books, and bosses the handsome orange cat around.

Yoshi: It’s incomprehensible that you could narrate a book and misinterpret it so badly.

Gatsby: Whatever. I think that we can both agree that was a heck of a Halloween. Mystery, action, comedy, romance, and I almost get killed three times.

Yoshi: You almost getting killed is not a selling point. Or perhaps it is. Anyway, if a reader is looking for a good time, they would do well to pick up a Petectives book.

Gatsby: So ends the shameless self-promotion. Now do you actually have a mystery with an orange cat detective that isn’t me, or is that too much to ask?

Yoshi: I do indeed.

Purrfect Haunting by Nic Saint

Yoshi: This is book number 97 in the Mysteries of Max series about an orange cat (or ‘blorange” as he likes to refer to himself).

Gatsby: 97? That’s a lot of mysteries!

Yoshi: Yes, it is. There are almost a hundred books featuring Max solving comedic mysteries with his quirky supporting cast. I’m not sure this one takes place at Halloween, but it does involve a haunted house.

Gatsby: I’ll allow it. But just because there’s an orange cat.

Yoshi: One of Max’s humans is asked to investigate a house where strange occurrences have been taking place. When Max and his surprisingly large supporting cast spend the night, things get comically weird. Of course Max has to sort everything out, including solving a murder that took place before the story began.

Gatsby: You’re always going to have a lot of fun reading a Max mystery.

Yoshi: Now onto the final entry.

Gatsby: Is it an –

Yoshi: No, it’s not an orange cat. It’s a black cat. The preeminent black cat detective.

Cat with an Emerald Eye by Carole Nelson Douglas

Yoshi: Midnight Louie is one of the best-known cat detectives in literature. The series has twenty-eight novels and a handful of short stories depicting Louie’s adventures in Las Vegas. These books have won many awards, including multiple Muse Medallions and World’s Best Cat Litter-Ary Awards from the Cat Writers’ Association.

Gatsby: What was that last one?

Yoshi: The World’s Best Cat Litter-Ary award.

Gatsby: Sounds vaguely familiar for some reason.

Yoshi: Anyway, Louie is a black cat who investigates cases in Las Vegas. In this novel, Louie gets a tip that there’s going to be trouble at a Halloween night séance that his owner is attending at a Vegas venue. Of course, Louie manages to attend the séance and is right in the thick of the action when a psychic is murdered during the proceedings.

Gatsby: There’s a psychic at the séance?

Yoshi: The séance is lousy with them. Which makes Louie’s job of finding the murderer tricky. Most of the suspects are experts at misdirection.

Gatsby: I like how the chapters switch perspectives from Louie’s entertaining first-person narration to the other chapters that I skip.

Yoshi: You skip the chapters that are from the human perspective? How do you make sense of the story?

Gatsby: It’s fine. The cat tells you everything you need to know. Besides, I’ve always had difficulty relating to humans.

Yohsi: That’s five novels. I believe that I’ve completed your challenge.

Gatsby: Good job.  Blog readers, what do you think? Did we miss any good ones? Did we miss any bad ones? Was this whole thing an ill-conceived waste of time? Let us know in the comments! Personally, I think it could’ve used more orange cats.

Yoshi: Just wish the readers a Happy Halloween.

Gatsby: Happy Halloween!

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About the Author

Yoshi and Gatsby star in the Petectives book series, which has won multiple awards, including the “World’s Best Cat Litter-ary Award”.

Robert J. Smith is the agent for Yoshi and Gatsby. Smith’s duties include:

• Translating and transcribing Yoshi and Gatsby’s adventures.
• Managing Yoshi and Gatsby’s business affairs and public relations.
• Litter box maintenance.