A Curious Affair: A Talking Cat Romantic Mystery

By Melanie Jackson

Book Overview

Like a Thunderbolt!

Recent widow Jillian Marsh wasn't planning on killing herself that March night, but she hadn't ruled it out, either. It had rained for the last seventeen days -- days in which her jaw was locked and she was unable to speak, supposing there'd been anyone worth addressing. And then there was her cat problem. Ever since she'd been hit by lightning last October, the cats in town had been talking to her. Which meant she was insane, right?

Melanie Jackson writes "a curious combination of dark fantasy and romance leavened with quirky humor."
---Booklist on Still Life

But that night something changed. The cat Atherton appeared with something very interesting to say, about an odd accident that had occurred up the hill. And since Jillian could hardly go to the town's new lawman, who'd been trained in LA and was new to this Sierra town, with a feline eyewitness, it was up to her to find out if there was indeed trouble afoot -- or if this conspiracy and her newfound and unwanted attraction to Sheriff Murphy were all part of an endless hallucination.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09R2WRNBV
• ISBN13: 9798408501694
• Release Date: January 2022
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

whimsical whodunit second chance at love

Three years have passed since her spouse died, but Jillian Marsh has not moved on; she still grieves her loss and questions whether life is worth living. However, last Halloween, lightning hit Jillian. The only after effect is she can communicate with cats like a Dr. Doolittle. Finally, on a rainy March night in the Sierras (that is an oxymoron for that season and locale) Jillian considers suicide as she never got the chance to apologize to her husband for doing him wrong and she suffers from TMJ (temporomandibular joint disorder); the third Seconal and fourth Drambuie add to her melancholy. However before she takes her life, Atherton the cat, whom she never met, arrives to inform her that a murder just occurred. Jillian informs new sheriff Tyler Murphy. As he tries to keep her out of his inquiry, she refuses to stay on the sidelines. Meanwhile the townsfolk refuse to assist the sheriff on his investigation; so Jillian turns to the feline population as they are determined to see the killer pay and expect the woman who can understand them to take care of justice for them. This whimsical whodunit second chance at love is stolen by the feline crowd especially Atherton, who fits TS Eliot's quote (at the beginning of the tale of the tail): "When a Cat adopts you there is nothing to be done about it except to put up with it until the wind changes." Although a bit padded with too much cat litter at times, fans will enjoy this lighthearted frolic in which cats serves as witnesses to the crime and as matchmakers. Harriet Klausner