Grace, Jack, and their two cats, Tatiana and Zeus, discover a disturbing surprise at Grace and Jack's engagement party. Eddie, the band's lead singer, has been murdered--stabbed with a letter opener.
This is Prohibition, and so everyone that has a comfortable income drinks like a fish, by modern standards. And of course, it' all a big joke. For someone who grew up with two alcoholic uncles and a recovering alcoholic father, it's not quite so funny. It's even less funny when you've actually looked at the per capita consumption of alcohol in the years preceding Prohibition, and the annual per capita consumption since. Bad, or at least unwelcome, news: No, per capita consumption of alcohol has never recovered to anything close to pre-Prohibition levels. The pre-Prohibition alcohol consumption rates were truly scary, and Prohibition worked spectacularly well. By the time it was repealed, the culture had changed, and we didn't need it anymore. But be that as it may, Grace, Jack, and the cats have a murder to solve.
That means, in this case, going to Tijuana, to meet a gangster's moll called Cupcake Kitty, due to her enthusiasm for those two things. Along the way, we learn that the Magical Cats really are magical, and a vital part of the Brewster & Wentworth Detective Agency. Jack and Grace could not solve the case without them!
This is a light, fun, short story, and most people will just not be as put off as I am by the cavalier attitude toward near-constant drinking to get drunk. And the cats, of course, are wonderful.
Enjoyable.
I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
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