Publisher's Weekly Review
Adamson's feline formula still does the trick for cat-crazed cozy fans. In the 15th Alice Nestleton mystery (after Cat on a Beach Blanket), the New York City cat-sitter and sporadic actress is asked by an acquaintance who sits on the board of a charitable soup kitchen to locate a missing donor. Christmas is nearing, and Sustenance House won't be able to provide its traditional goose dinners to the poor if the anonymous person who usually contributes $81,000 isn't found. Sitting in on a board meeting, Alice and the members are stunned when travel writer Will Holland passes out candy canes and squirt gunsthen picks up a pistol and kills himself. Nevertheless, Alice, with her usual aplomb and her detective juices flowing, quickly locates the donor, who has been killed in what police theorize was a gang attack. Alice, after receiving an anonymous note, isn't convinced and deputizes her friends to help, even going so far as to coerce her lover, actor Tony Basillio, into becoming a foster parent to Tiny and Tim, the donor's abandoned Siamese cats. Under the influence of the cats, who were often used in old-age homes to cheer up the ill and the depressed, Tony starts acting strangely: he becomes more loving and more caring. Unable to shake the feeling that the deaths of the donor and the travel writer are linked, Alice methodically tracks down the truth and in the meantime comes to some seasonal conclusions about brotherly love. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Out-of-work, cat-loving, part-time sleuth, hardly-any-time actress Alice Nestleton is on the prowl again. Her excuse this time is a call from Jack Bigow, the driving force behind the Rep, a highly respected theatrical company. Jack is also on the board of Sustenance House, a shelter and soup kitchen for the homeless. The biggest support for the charity, for the last 12 years, has been a pre-Christmas donation of $81,000, in the form of postal and bank money orders, sent anonymously. This year, with Christmas only days away, it hasn't arrived, and Jack wants Alice, in her sleuthing mode, to track down the donor. She agrees to attend a Sustenance House board meeting that very night, and, along with the members, is witness to the suicide of travel writer and board member Will Holland. It's all catnip to Alice, who promptly enlists the aid of off-on lover Tony Basillio and old friend bistro-owner Nora. Alice figures out the donor's name and tracks him to his run-down apartment building, only to find that he had been killed four months ago--the culprit still unapprehended. There are connections to Will Holland; to Will's collaborator Austin Walters; to a couple of so-called grief therapists, and eventually, even connections with Sustenance House. Alice ferrets them out in her usual in-your- face style, using disguises, and unlawful entries where needed. Fun for a bit, until common sense intrudes, but cat lovers will no doubt exult in the 15th of this series (A Cat Under the Mistletoe, 1996, etc.), adorned, as usual, with charming sketches of the species.
Library Journal Review
When a Manhattan homeless shelter's generous annual anonymous donation fails to arrive, board member Jack contacts popular series sleuth/actress/cat-sitter Alice Nestleton for help. Two behind-the-scenes manipulators steer her in different directionsone away from the truth, the other toward itso she jumps to several embarrassing conclusions before connecting the donor's murder with the suicide of another board member. Several cats and Alice's lover, Tony, inspire Alice and amuse readers. No padding herejust smooth prose and a clever plot. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
