What the Cat Saw
The award-winning Hart offers an intricate twist on the locked-room mystery. Nela Farley can read cats’ minds, a talent developed after a personal tragedy. After losing her reporting job, she agrees to take her sister’s place in the offices of the Haklo Foundation. She stays at the apartment of another employee, Marian, who just died after a fall. Marian’s cat tells Nela that Marian fell because of a skateboard on the stairs. After someone breaks in during her first night at the apartment, Nela finds an expensive necklace. She then learns of several months of malicious vandalism at the foundation. After befriending a local reporter, she starts investigating. The locked-room aspect comes into play because only a handful of people have keys to the foundation. The cat-whispering angle turns out to be a relatively small factor in the story, yet paranormal-mystery fans will find it appealing, and Hart’s audience will respond to the typically well-crafted plot. --Amy Alessio