Cats in Mysteries

by Maggie King

Want to make a good mystery even better? Add a cat.

Seriously.

Many mystery series feature feline companions. The most famous one is The Cat Who … series, created by the late Lilian Jackson Braun. The stories feature reporter Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, Kao K’o-Kung (Koko for short) and Yum Yum. Koko has a “sixth sense” that gives him stellar powers of detection.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy also anthropomorphizes her feline detective, Joe Grey, P.I. I was on an Alaskan cruise a few years back and borrowed Cat Pay the Devil from the ship’s library. I had to return the book when the cruise ended but purchased a copy as soon as I got home. It’s a truly charming series.
Midnight Louie is the late Carole Nelson Douglas’s feline super sleuth. Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy even speaks. I loved Jennifer J. Chow’s Sassy Cat Mystery Series, and was sad when she didn’t continue it.

Some cats leave the detecting to their human companions. Lydia Adamson, Susan Wittig Albert, Linda Palmer, Gillian Roberts, and Rosemary Stevens are just a few of the authors who feature cats as “window dressing.” Often literally, as cats like to perch on window ledges, watching the world go by.

Just as my Olive stole my heart, she also stole the heart of Hazel Rose, the title sleuth in my Hazel Rose Book Group series. Shammy, Daisy, and Morris, now enjoying eternity together across the rainbow bridge, live on in my series. They don’t detect (Olive hunts down mice and voles, but shies away from killers).

I haven’t forgotten our canine friends–Linda wouldn’t forgive me if i did! The Robbins Library in Arlington, Massachusetts features an impressive list of mysteries with pets, cats AND dogs.

The cats of my life. Top: Marie, Shammy, Daisy; Bottom: Olive, Morris

Originally published in 2018 on the now defunct Pets, Paws, and Claws blog.

Author: Maggie King

Maggie King is the author of the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries. Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Death by Cupcake, Murder by the Glass, First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder, and Crime in the Old Dominion. Maggie is a member of International Thriller Writers, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a founding member of Sisters in Crime Central Virginia. She serves Sisters in Crime on the national level as a member of the Social Media team. Maggie graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a B.S. degree in Business Administration, and has worked as a software developer, customer service supervisor, and retail sales manager. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, Glen, and Olive the cat. View all posts by Maggie King

One thought on “Cats in Mysteries”

Having a cat or a dog in a mystery series or even a romance series always adds that furry touch that makes the story seem more real since so many of us have a furry friend sharing our lives. When that four-legged partner helps solve a case, we get an even better ending since we do know they have senses far sharper than our own and, who knows, maybe they really are good at detecting a killer. I added a former police dog, Monte, to Chance McCoy’s life in Second Chance and the next two books in the series because he rounded out Chance’s new life as a private detective. Yea, I like the furry face addition.

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gbpool says:

May 13, 2026 at 4:42 am

Having a cat or a dog in a mystery series or even a romance series always adds that furry touch that makes the story seem more real since so many of us have a furry friend sharing our lives. When that four-legged partner helps solve a case, we get an even better ending since we do know they have senses far sharper than our own and, who knows, maybe they really are good at detecting a killer. I added a former police dog, Monte, to Chance McCoy’s life in Second Chance and the next two books in the series because he rounded out Chance’s new life as a private detective. Yea, I like the furry face addition.

LikeLike