276°
Posted 20 hours ago

The Cat Who Caught a Killer: 1 (Conrad the Cat Detective, 1)

£7.495£14.99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

The fantasy element is restricted to Conrad being able to actually talk to Lulu (and share his instincts and thoughts) but for the rest they must work within the usual parameters. Conrad is a wonderful and loveable cat—intelligent and fun—and not the typical sarcastic cat that stories often portray. The owners of some of the cats Bouquet stabbed to death were at Hove crown court on Friday to see him imprisoned for five years and three months. A serving Met police officer complaining about the Professional Standards Unit stopping them being racist (it's okay, he only wants to be a little racist, as a treat) was the proverbial straw for me. The themes emphasise just how much the bond shared with an animal can really help to make sense of grief and the tumultuous events leading up to and after a loss.

This is marketed as a cosy crime mystery, and it’s definitely a gentle story that’s easy to follow as it unfolds with no explosive or unexpected twists. CCTV footage allegedly implicating Bouquet in the attacks emerged after one pet owner, Stewart Montgomery, spotted a camera near a trail of blood outside his house where his kitten, Hendrix, had been stabbed with a knife. It is something of a relief to know that this man has been locked up and that his hideous crimes will be punished.

When Lulu takes her narrowboat to Oxford, she is planning nothing more stressful than attending a friend’s birthday party. My thanks to Pan Macmillan for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Cat Who Caught a Killer’ by L T Shearer. I found some of the writing heavy handed with ideas being repeated over and over again (yes, Lulu we know that you have enough money already! The death of Lulu's husband is dangled like a carrot in front of the reader, with neon lights flashing that this is important. Mourning the recent death of her husband, the former police detective had expected a gentle retirement, quietly enjoying life on her new canal boat, The Lark, and visiting her mother-in-law Emily in a nearby care home.

I suppose I shouldn't expect any less from an ex-cop, but the fact the book presents this as it being a likeable trait of hers is just. Lulu Lewis is a retired police detective, spending time on her newly acquired boat, life quietening down after the loss of her husband in a hit and run only a few months ago.There feels like that is a lot of fishing and the wham, things fall into place, the suspects(who are quite obvious all along) confess etc voila, there we are. Having recently suffered a bereavement, I know that this is a sentiment that is often expressed, especially about older people who have died, but it still read a bit repetitively in the book. One big clue to identifying Steven as the cat killer was when he was caught on a CCTV camera which was set up by a local resident, whose cat had been killed by Steven. Oh, and dear author, if you don't like there being no police stations open anymore maybe stop voting Tory. Not only did Steve Bouquet inflict horrendous suffering to each of the animals he attacked, but he also caused real trauma to their owners, many of whom found their beloved pets injured and bleeding.

To be honest the cat doesn’t do much detective work, he follows Lulu around and talks to her while she investigates.But when her mother-in-law dies suddenly in suspicious circumstances, Lulu senses foul play and resolves to find out what really happened. The community were able to use online forums, leafleting in the streets, and CCTV to help the police track down the cat killer.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review! She is retired though had served for thirty years in the Metropolitan Police, rising to the rank of Superintendent. The cat is entirely pointless, just happening to turn up the day before the murder victim dies, and doesn’t even catch the killer as the spoiler-laden title implies; his only contribution is wearing a transmitter on his collar, which a pot plant could have accomplished just as easily.I guess the only thing I kind of liked in the book was Conrad the Cat, but even his "meow" at everyone they met became repetitive. I really was hoping he would at least turn out to be the reincarnation of the main character’s late husband, or that maybe the main character was actually just playing out her internal detective monologue by “talking” out loud to a cat, but no such luck. But that isn’t the only special thing about him for Lulu soon finds that the cat Conrad can talk (though he understandably speaks only to her), and he makes himself comfortable on her boat.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment