Talk Back

[malabar]

This 1989 novel was a bestseller in the original German edition and appeared in English for the first time in 1993.

Felidae - the Latin name for the family to which domestic and wild cats belong - incorporates some interesting and lesser-known cat facts in with an engaging story. The action centres round Francis, a particularly intelligent and wry cat with few illusions about either the human or cat worlds. When he and his owner (or 'tin-opener', as the cats refer to their primate companions) move to a new neighborhood, his interest is immediately piqued by the corpse of a black cat that he finds in his new yard. With the aid of a couple of the cats in the area (and with the obstruction of several others), Francis gets closer and closer to identifying what looks to be a feline serial killer.

I had doubts about a cat-oriented mystery, but this is by no means overly sentimental. Cats are predators, and they are presented as such in the book. Francis and his colleagues are somewhat anthropomorphised (as they must be to make the book readable by humans), but not in a saccharine way. Highly recommended.