In a previous issue of Pet Tails (June/July 2008) I introduced you to a series of books featuring pet sitter/sleuth Dixie Hemingway by author Blaize Clement. Dixie is back in Clement's newest mystery entitled Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof.

In case you missed the previous reviews, Dixie is a former Florida sheriff's deputy who, mourning the loss of her husband and daughter in a freak accident, gives up (so she thinks) her life as a crime fighter to become a pet sitter in Siesta Key, FL. However, even now in her new career her investigative skills are put to the test. In this installment, Dixie meets her new neighbor, the stunning Laura Halston, and her Havanna Brown cat Leo. Eager for friendship, Dixie forms an immediate bond with Laura who confides that she is hiding from an abusive, soon-to-be ex, husband. Dixie is certain that the husband is behind a series of threatening phone calls, which Laura receives and, later, when Leo leads Dixie to Laura's body in the shower, she is convinced that the husband - "a sadistic surgeon skilled with a scalpel" - is to blame for her stabbing death. When Dixie's new boyfriend homicide detective Jean-Pierre Guidry is handed the case, he informs Dixie that just about everything she believed she knew about Laura is a lie. As she tries to understand Laura's past and help solve her murder, Dixie is forced to acknowledge things about herself that she has never faced before

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Readers will also find the story of Maizie, a seizure assistance dog for a young boy undergoing brain surgery, a compelling subplot.

If you have not already done so, introduce yourself to Dixie today!

In Cat Playing Cupid by Shirley Rousseau Murphy, the sleuth is the cat! The latest in Murphy's mystery series featuring talking feline detective Joe Grey finds love - and murder- in the air.

After Joe Grey's human, Clyde Damen, finally pops the question to his longtime sweetheart Ryan Flannery, what more appropriate time to tie the knot than on Valentine's Day? However, dark secrets from the past uncovered by Joe and his feline pals threaten to ruin the happy union. First, a body discovered many miles away reopens a ten year old cold case involving a man who disappeared only days before his own wedding. The jilted bride is back in town to find the truth - or to hide evidence of her own guilt? She becomes involved with Ryan's father who is housesitting for Clyde and Ryan and caring for Joe Grey while they are on their honeymoon. Then a second body is found closer to home on the grounds of a ruined estate overrun by feral cats. Around the wrist of the corpse is a bracelet bearing the image of a rearing cat, and Joe and friends discover hidden nearby a rare book that divulges their own secret: their special ability to speak.

As the police investigate these two murders 500 miles and many years apart, only Joe Grey suspects that these 2 cases are related - but will he live long enough to bring this connection to light? Eventually, feline perception and cop sense combine to finally bring a killer to justice.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy was awarded the World's Best Cat "Litterary Award" in 2006 for the Joe Grey series, as well as numerous other awards.