Danger in Cat World

I received this as a review copy. I have to admit, until I saw it, I had never even heard of Nina Post – let alone read any of her books (of which there appear to be four!) – but i will be very happy to read others at some stage! Perhaps when my massive ‘To Read’ pile has dwindled somewhat!

The ‘Danger’ in cat world actually refers to Detective Shawn Danger –
a homicide detective brought in to investigate the murder of a rich paper heiress who has been found with her head bludgeoned in.

In an attempt to solve the case, Shawn also has to investigate the apparent murder of the heiress’ 50+ year old tortoise (who had once attended boarding school), work out why she had been obsessive about the weights of her collection of anvils and get to the bottom of why she hired such a bunch of misfits to work in her mansion on such odd tasks as ‘investigating coincidences’.

Not only this, but Shawn’s is trying hard to avoid his own family
(who wouldn’t want to avoid sisters that used to make him play ‘North Korean Dictator’?), has found a potential love interest and is having to placate his cat Comet who is a little put out when a number of ideantical cats seem to be appearing at Shawn’s house every hour.

I love a little bit of surreal, and this certainly does contain a bit of surreal.

Shawn is a fantastic character. he’s a bit of a loner, at loggerheads with his family, only has Comet for company and really throws himself into his work – which results in him being a very good detective. However, he is extremely likeable, and a bit cocky. The
‘dates’ he goes on are very amusing – I would have enjoyed those kinds of dates

“Can’t you get in trouble for taking me on a wretched, terrible date?” “The department doesn’t have rules in place for date quality. We’re free to go on whatever quality of date we like.”

When you take the slight oddities out of the book, and the ‘other world’ and ‘another Danger’ that Shawn often sees on an old TV (he can’t stand the other smug Danger), this is just a plain and simple detective story. But it is one with very strong characters, a likeable not-too-damaged hero and quite a few ‘grin’ moments, if not laugh out loud.

I really enjoyed it.

An Off-Beat Quantum Mystery Procedural February 4, 2014

Pop Bop "Pause and Reflect" (Denver, Colorado, United States)

This review is from: Danger in Cat World (Kindle Edition)

Since this is by Nina Post you can expect witty dialogue, a twisty plot, quirky characters and an assured and accomplished author displaying a remarkably playful intelligence. Your expectations will be met. As an added bonus, the lead character, Shawn Danger, is more interesting, is better developed, and is much more complex and engaging than is usually the case, and this adds an extra dimension to the strengths I normally associate with a Nina Post book. Danger's eventual sidekick/love interest, Sarah Baio, was also better developed than one might expect.

I read Post for the word play, the dialogue and the witty deadpan throwaway lines, observations, and descriptions. Plot is never a very high priority. If you require tightly plotted and rigorous mysteries or police procedurals you should probably be warned that this book wanders off the straight and narrow from time to time and is not above spoofing mystery conventions. On the other hand, if you like your mysteries a little off kilter this could be a great find.

Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

Detective Shawn Danger is called in to investigate the murders of an heiress...and a tortoise. Shawn already has a cat, but suddenly his house is filling up with other cats, all identical, and there are more of them every hour. Can these mysterious cats be connected in any way with the investigation? Why did the heiress surround herself with a very strange collection of employees? What was behind the experiments she was carrying out in the basement? And why was the tortoise sent to boarding school???

A funny, quirky light-hearted murder mystery with a touch of fantasy, this was a very enjoyable easy read. Shawn and his love-interest are both amusing, attractive characters and the plot hits a nice balance between realism and fantasy. The cats were an added bonus, providing a lot of the humour, and the author gets cat behaviour just right. There was a bit too much unnecessary description for my taste and occasionally there was too much repetition of the facts of the case, but overall this was an entertaining romp, the kind of thing to cheer yourself up with on a grey day. Left me chuckling at the end – particularly at Shawn’s ‘scientific’ explanation for the weird things that had happened. Good fun!