Nela Farley is between jobs when her flighty sister Chloe calls with an opportunity. Chloe's boyfriend won a two-week trip to Tahiti, and she wants Nela to fill in for her at work and take care of a deceased co-worker's cat. What no one realizes is that the co-worker was murdered. No one, that is, but the cat. When Nela arrives, she picks up on Jugs' thoughts, a talent she developed after her fiancé was killed in combat, but she can't go to the cops with that. Then Nela realizes that her own life is in danger.

I enjoyed WHAT THE CAT SAW and was pleased that it kept me guessing about who was behind the murder and several other crimes of vandalism and theft. Nela, Chloe and local reporter Steve Flynn are well-drawn characters and likeable (even though we never actually meet Chloe), and Jugs seems to be a pretty accurate representation of a cat. The other characters, though, are somewhat superficial. All we really get are glimpses of each character, mostly in group situations. Nela, and later Steve, make a lot of lists running down the suspects and summarizing their personalities, and it starts to seem repetitive, even though we get a new nugget of information here or there.

Nela's newfound psychic ability with the cat seems very much like a gimmick. We get three or four examples of how it manifested itself right after her fiancé was killed, but she never runs into any other cats and Jugs only gives her one useful clue. The mind-reading wasn't really necessary at all. At other times, I was frustrated by the characters' actions. Or inaction. For example, when Steve Flynn wants to know more about the new Haklo employee Nela Farley, why doesn't he go to the internet? If he consciously chose not to Google her, because he was interested in her romantically, then readers need to know that.

WHAT THE CAT SAW is a fast read and a compelling, suspenseful, story. It's not as layered or as well-thought-out as I would like, but it is entertaining.

Book Summary

Ever since the death of her fiance, Nela Farley has found herself plagued by a sixth sense: she understands the thoughts of cats when she looks into their eyes. Nela knows that what she's experiencing is completely irrational, but it's hard to ignore...

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