Kittens Can Kill, Clea Simon (find out more)
Partial description: The dead don’t keep pets. So when animal behaviorist expert Pru Marlowe gets a call about a kitten, she doesn’t expect to find the cuddly creature playing beside the cooling body of prominent Beauville lawyer David Canaday. Heart attack? His three adult daughters angrily blame drug interactions, feline allergies—and each other. And begin to feud over their father, his considerable estate, and that cute ball of fluff.
This was the first of Clea's series that I read, and you can believe I'll go back to read the earlier titles in the series. A good story and a fun twist on animal mysteries.
Sherlock Holmes, The Missing Years: Japan, Vasudev Murthy (find out more)
Partial description: In a seriocomic novel that radically ups the ante, Sherlock Holmes and Watson find their match in more than one man (or indeed, woman) as a clock inexorably ticks. History, mystery, romance, conspiracies, knife-edge tension; a train in Russia, roadside crime in Alexandria, an upset stomach in Bombay, careening through Cambodia, nasty people in China, monks in Japan–here’s a thrilling global chase that will leave you breathless (occasionally with laughter) as the Sherlock Holmes: The Missing Years series begins.
I'm looking forward to the next books in the series, because this one was a lot of fun and very cleverly done. Good job, Vasudev!
And if you're a reader of Mystery Readers Journal, look for Barbara Leavy's article in the March issue, titled "Some Thoughts About Depressed Northern Detectives."
