Gone, kitty, gone

In Watkins's enticing fourth mystery featuring cat groomer Cassie McGlone (after 2018's Feral Attraction), the 2019 North Jersey Cat Expo is coming to Chadwick, N.J., and Cassie has volunteered to give grooming demonstrations in her new mobile grooming van. The expo's star attraction will be pop singer Jaki Natal and her Scottish Fold cat, Gordie. Jaki's manager is unsure about her participating, however, since a stalker has recently been sending her love letters and gifts, but Jaki loves her cat and wants to be a part of the show. On the first day, Gordie is catnapped during a power outage, and a security guard is later found murdered. At Jaki's request, Cassie, who has a reputation as a sleuth, leaps into the investigation and ends up in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with Gordie's abductor. A second murder puts everyone on high alert. Distinctive characters, all of whom contribute to the crime solving in one way or another, drive the well-paced plot. Cat cozy lovers will be enchanted. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (Jan.)

When a young singer's famous pet gets catnapped, she relies on a cat fancier to solve the case.Now that she's got wheels, Cassie McGlone is ready to take Cassie's Comfy Cats, her boarding and grooming business, on the road. What better way for her to advertise her expanded business than by setting up a grooming demo at the North Jersey Cat Expo, whose inaugural meeting is in her hometown of Chadwick? At least that's the suggestion of hype man Perry, who's trying to promote the event. Even the famed young singer and actress Jaki Natal is scheduled to make an appearance along with her Instagram-famous Scottish fold, Gordie. The attendee who most intrigues Cassie, however, is her own mother, a lifetime ailurophobe who just may be changing her tune now that she's dating a cat fan. After her grooming demonstration, Cassie meets up with her boyfriend, local vet Dr. Mark Coccia, to go see Jaki and meet Gordie. A freak power outage interrupts the presentation, and in the ensuing mayhem, Gordie disappears. And in case you care, some security guard dies, perhaps murdered, though Watkins doesn't give him the dignity of a name. When Detective Angela Bonelli shows up to investigate, it's almost as if her primary focus isn't Gordie's whereabouts. Listening to Jaki's concerns and recalling her own success with investigations in the past (Feral Attraction, 2018, etc.), Cassie's certain that she's the one who can find the missing feline, even if it puts her in danger.Feline-focused, perhaps to the detriment of human charactersand what's more cat than that? Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.