Feral Attraction (A Cat Groomer Mystery, Book 3)
Feral Attraction
(A Cat Groomer Mystery)
by Eileen Watkins
Buy from Amazon
ISBN: B078QTWVNM
(Kindle)
ISBN-10: 9781496710604
ISBN-13: 978-1496710604
Summary
To help out her best friend, Dawn, Cassie agrees to speak up at a contentious meeting about feral cats causing problems at a local condo community. She meets resident Sabrina Ward, an aging but feisty eccentric who argues for a trap-neuter-return solution to the problem. Sabrina has agitated for underdog causes all her life, and Dawn has known and admired her for years. Cassie likes Sabrina, too, so she also is shocked when Dawn finds the older woman dead in the woods bordering the condo community. Technically, Sabrina had a heart attack, but did something, or someone, frighten her to death? Dawn persuades Cassie to help her investigate, though this arouses resentment among certain community residents. It seems that, due to her history of rabble-rousing, quite a few people could have wanted to “euthanize” Sabrina, for reasons that went beyond her fondness for the ferals…
What Reviewers Are Saying
“Watkins’ series is distinguished by the incorporation of facts about cats, relating to each case, making her writing educational as much as entertaining.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“(Cassie is) someone you’d like to know and spend time with, even if you’d end up covered in cat hair.”
—Kings River Life Magazine
Novel Excerpt
About seventy years old, Sabrina Ward rose to her full, diminutive height with the help of a cane. A dark knit cap barely tamed her long, wavy hair—dyed magenta and threaded with gray. She wore a purple paisley shawl as a muffler and a faded denim jacket over a loose, flowered thrift-shop dress. As if she needed glasses, Sabrina squinted in the direction of the condo board members’ table. Even so, she somehow radiated steely will and determination.
“Mr. Chamberlain,” she said, “I’m very sorry about your dog. But I doubt it was just the stale cat food that made him so sick. More likely, someone in this community poisoned the food in hopes of harming the feral cats, and Jojo was an accidental victim.”
This caused a stir through the gathering, and Lauren ordered the group to settle down. “Ms. Ward, I doubt anyone would do a thing like that. But even if someone did, it just goes to show that matters have escalated to a dangerous level. Ted is right, our bylaws do prohibit feeding wild animals. We’ve made an exception in this case, because you and the Fine Feral Friends convinced us that you had a plan to reduce the colony. But as Heidi said, so far it hasn’t been very successful.”
I jumped into the fray again. “It takes time to get a whole colony under control. After a few cats get caught, the rest catch on and avoid the traps. You have to keep trying until you get them all.”
A pretty woman with gray curls batted a hand at this idea. “This is a nice community. I don’t see why we should have to put up with cat traps cluttering the grounds.”
Sabrina’s jutting jaw made her look fierce as an Easter Island statue, and her rich voice rang out in anger. “You can’t put up with a little temporary inconvenience to save twenty lives? Because that’s what we’re talking about. These are innocent creatures that aren’t doing us any real harm. They may not be pets, but they’re living the way nature intended. We need to find a way to coexist with them, not haul them off to be euthanized, just because they interfere with our scenic views.”
Next to me, Dawn burst into applause. I joined in with more restraint, and so did a few other residents. The board members remained impassive, though, as did most of the folks seated in the rows of metal chairs.
“Thank you, Ms. Ward,” Lauren said, evenly. “You concerns will be taken into consideration.”
Off to my left, the man in the rust-brown pullover muttered, “‘Not doing any real harm,’ aren’t they? What about our damned property values?” With a scowl he added, “Crazy old bat. Somebody oughta euthanize her.”
#
