THE BENGAL IDENTITY

A New Jersey cat groomer asked to take on a particularly needy client realizes she may be harboring a fugitive cat.

Proud of her cat-lady ways, Cassie McGlone has recently returned to her hometown of Chadwick. The highlight of the new life she’s forging is her grooming and boarding business, Cassie’s Comfy Cats. She and employee Sarah Wilcox love being able to care for animals, and Cassie especially enjoys teaching others cat facts that may help them understand their feline companions better. When new client Rudy Pierson comes to Cassie’s shop with an emergency boarding request, Cassie and Sarah aren’t sure how to handle it. Rudy tells them that there’s been a fire at his house and he needs immediate boarding for Ayesha, his large, active cat. But he can’t provide any paperwork to show that Ayesha is his or veterinary records to fill in her medical background. Because Rudy seems so desperate, Cassie can’t help but agree, even grooming Ayesha’s unusual brown fur. During the grooming, Cassie sees that Ayesha is spotted and that her fur may actually be dyed. That discovery, combined with Rudy’s subsequent disappearance, sets off alarm bells. Could Rudy be trafficking purebreds, and is Ayesha actually a Bengal? When the police find an unidentified body, Cassie gets in touch with her detective friend, Angela Bonelli, and the two realize that Rudy has been murdered, bolstering Cassie’s theory. As in The Persian Always Meows Twice (2017), Cassie feels compelled to learn the truth, this time to ensure that Ayesha is returned to her rightful owners, all with the help of her boyfriend, Dr. Mark Coccia—assuming that he can tear himself away from the cute new office hire in his veterinary practice.

A warm, wholesome cat cozy, perhaps a tad preachy, whose biggest flaw is the multiple climaxes that drag out an obvious ending.