Edited by: Abigail Browning.

From the pages of America's two best-selling mystery magazines, here are 43 maliciously entertaining cat tales, each celebrating the time-honored relationship between a good mystery and a prescient four-footed companion. Whether the silent witness or active participant, our feline friend plays an integral part in the puzzling world of crime and punishment.

Tales of murder, mayhem, and meows are all here in this irresistible collection of purr-fect cat crime stories from the world's best mystery writers. Mystery fans and cat lovers alike will devour "pick of the litter" tales from the likes of P.G. Wodehouse, Theodore Sturgeon, Edward D. Hoch, and many others. Readers will delight in bestselling author Lilian Jackson Braun's story of a charming Siamese named SuSu, who's the first to smell a rat in a chilling tale of two spinster sisters and an eccentric neighbor. Patricia Highsmith depicts an eerie tale of a mysterious creature that inhabits a couple's home and serves as a constant reminder of their guilt. And Ruth Rendell leads an unwary motorist up the garden path to an elderly cat owner's cottage, giving a sinister twist to the old maxim, "an eye for an eye." In these purebred stories of felines and felonies, a cat gives a criminal reason to "paws" ... and gives readers a selection that's a terrific tabby treat from first page to last.

Either as a tool for the criminal, a bodyguard for a would-be-victim, or the avenger for the innocent, it's a safe bet that in this collection of mysteries, the cat holds the clue!

Contents:

• Catspaw (1987) by Sandra Woodruff
• SuSu and the 8:30 Ghost (1964) by Lilian Jackson Braun
• The Caller (1993) by Hugh B. Cave
• The Alexandrian Cat (1994) by Steven Saylor
• Miss Paisley’s Cat (1953) by Roy Vickers
• Arnold (1986) by Fred Hamlin
• Call to Witness (1972) by Nancy Schachterle
• The Sin of Madame Phloi (1962) by Lilian Jackson Braun
• The Nile Cat (1969) by Edward D. Hoch
• Cat’s-Paw (1988) by Mary Reed
• Cat of Dreams (“Death and the Fiery-Eyed Cat”, 1958) by Frances & Richard Lockridge
• The Abominable House Guest (“Fluffy”, 1947) by Theodore Sturgeon
• Phutt Phat Concentrates (1963) by Lilian Jackson Braun
• The Faithful Cat (1983) by Patricia Moyes
• A Case of Catnapping (1954) by A.H.Z. Carr
• Who Killed Wee Winky? (1993) by Barbara Owens
• The Witch’s Cat (1939) by Manly Wade Wellman, writing as Gans T. Field
• The Cat in the Bag (1983) by Charles Peterson
• The Cat and Fiddle Murders (1983) by Edward D. Hoch
• Professor Kreller’s Secret (1983) by Ingram Meyer
• A Feline Felony (1968) by Lael J. Littke
• The Lady Wore Black (1984) by Hugh B. Cave
• Helix the Cat (1973) by Theodore Sturgeon
• Death at the Excelsior (“The Education of Detective Oakes”, 1914) by P.G. Wodehouse
• Miss Phipps and the Siamese Cat (1973) by Phyllis Bentley
• Little Miracles (1992) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• The Black Cat (1990) by Lee Somerville
• Cat Burglar (1991) by Gene DeWeese
• The Theft of the Mafia Cat (1972) by Edward D. Hoch
• Spectre in Blue Doubleknit (1988) by Bruce Bethke
• The Old Gray Cat (1977) by Joyce Harrington
• Animals (1985) by Clark Howard
• The Searching Cats (“The Cat and the Killer”, 1956) by Frances & Richard Lockridge
• The Highwayman’s Hostage (1990) by Lillian de la Torre
• Ming’s Biggest Prey (1975) by Patricia Highsmith
• The Black Cat (1843) by Edgar Allan Poe
• Chocolate (1992) by Leslie Meier
• A Visitor to Mombasa (1974) by James Holding
• Between a Cat and a Hard Place (1993) by Jimmy Vines
• The Empty Birdhouse (1969) by Patricia Highsmith
• The Trinity Cat (1976) by Ellis Peters
• Mrrrar! (1953) by Edgar Pangborn
• Long Live the Queen (1991) by Ruth Rendell