Only the Cat

The mystery was a good example of a British cozy with some gothic overtones set in modern times. The cat played the part of an interesting pet rather than a detective and made the story a more traditional mystery than many with cats in the title. Enjoyed the book.

...I have just a few quibbles. 1) Who wears caftans anymore? Who in their 30's/40's even knows what a caftan is? 2) If you were worried about being attacked, don't you think it would be a good idea to take a cell-phone and a charger along with you? 3) Maybe some pepper spray too? And even a cane? After all, you could always pretend to limp! 4) Wouldn't you be a little bit worried about all the food brought in on trays and the potential of poison? Myself, I think I would bring along some granola bars! 5) Wouldn't you want to be sure that you had a friend "outside" who would squawk if you didn't check-in regularly and who would go to law enforcement if you disappeared? But of course, having common-sense would mean a lot of the plot would disappear and that this would be a much different book! On the whole, I really enjoy Marian Babson's books so don't let this review discourage you if you like cozy mysteries.

Affluent business mogul Everett Oversall lives the Hugh Heffner dream as he surrounded by beautiful females who work for him. However, his idyllic life changes when his gorgeous personal assistant Vanessa takes a nasty fall; she ends up in a coma in what Everett insists was a tragic accident; he vows to cover her medical expenses. Vanessa's twin brother Vance thinks otherwise as he believes someone tried to kill his sibling. A professional female impersonator, Vance decides to dress up as his sister Vanessa albeit suffering from amnesia so he does not have to know about life inside the Oversall castle. His goal as a she is to uncover who wants his sister dead. To his shock instead of one obvious meanie, he finds a houseful of nasty felines with motives to kill anyone in the way of their ambitious plans; Vanessa in her job was clearly in the way of someone. Vance trusts no one except Vanessa's cat Gloriana. This is a fun amateur sleuth tale entirely because of Vance who sort of reminds the audience of Dustin Hoffman's two roles in Tootsie. Vance as Vanessa is the only fully developed character as the rest of the cast is more stereotyped with Everett being the sultan of his harem and his one dimensional females difficult to distinguish between each one of them or whether their respective IQs are greater than their bra size. Still fans who enjoy something different in their mysteries will appreciate Vance's undercover effort impersonating his sister. Harriet Klausner