Jillian takes over as shelter mom of a large, overweight cat in The Cat, the Vagabond, and the Victim by Leann Sweeney. Clyde’s human has become seriously ill with cancer, so he has had to send Clyde to stay with a friend. In short time, Clyde disappears, only to reappear two months later in Mercy, SC, 200 miles from where Clyde left, but unfortunately just too late to find Mr. Jeffery, his human, alive. But leave it to Candace, Jillian’s best friend and fan of all things forensics, to notice something suspicious about Mr. Jeffery’s death. He does not have as many of his heart pills as he should. Could he have been murdered? Committed suicide? But if so, why did he not take all the pills in the bottle?
These questions take a back burner to Jillian when Clyde manages to slip out the door and escape. In panic over the loss of her newly-rescued cat, Jillian grabs Candace and looks all over for the boy. Returning to Mr. Jeffery’s house on the assumption that Clyde escaped Jillian’s house in order to finish his journey to get to his human, Jillian and Candace return to Mr. Jeffery’s home, where they find a new surprise: the dead body of Buford Miller, Mr. Jeffery’s home health aid. With rumors swarming about drugs, a missing will, and a large family with individual interests, Candace gets busy and tries to send Jillian home to rest and stay out of police business.
As usual for Leann Sweeney, The Cat, the Vagabond, and the Victim, the sixth book in the Cats in Trouble series, does not fail to delight. I appreciate the depth of the plot and the way Jillian gets involved in her mystery cases. Most cozy mysteries feature an intrepid amateur out to prove the world wrong and herself (for these books usually feature a woman) correct against all odds. Such women are hard for most readers to identify with, as they do not act the way a typical individual behaves. But in this case, Jillian gets involved in her mysteries because of the nature of her humanity and In particular because of her intense love of cats. In this case, Jillian’s sympathy leads to her being willing to become a shelter mom for Clyde, which soon brings her into the case. All her subsequent actions then stem from her desire to aid Clyde and improve his life.
The cats in the book each have their own personality and characteristics that make it obvious that Sweeney has her own personal experiences with cats. Jillian’s trio are rescue cats from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Having read this book as people are cleaning up after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, I found this detail all the more poignant. All the books in the series talk about the fact that the three cats were rescued from Katrina, but The Cat, the Vagabond, and the Victim plays up the rescue angle all the more.
Syrrah, the Abyssinian, is bolder than Jillian’s other cats and exhibits a high degree of curiosity, creating a fun scene when he pounces on the obnoxious Lydia’s sparkly toe ring. Merlot, the Maine coon cat, which is a breed that grows to 20 pounds, seems a bit shy and serves as Jillian’s “gentle monster.” Then Chablis likes to stick close to Jillian and is the sweet one looking out for Jillian.
I also appreciated the discussion of the ethics of journalism, with Emily, a weather reporter, eager to rise up the ranks of journalism by any means necessary, going so far as to put a GPS tracker on Jillian’s car. With Kara, Jillian’s step-daughter, being the owner, editor, and reporter of the local newspaper in Mercy, she gives Emily a serious talk about the proper methods of doing reporting. Then later, Kara points out that as much as she would love to report a discussion she had with Jillian and Kara’s boyfriend, an assistant district attorney, that concluded several details of the case, she must report only the facts and can’t publish speculation, as much as many other news agencies do that. In an age when guesses get promoted as tall news, I wish more news agencies followed such guidelines.
In addition, I thought the book dealt sensitively with issues of race and interracial marriage. That is a topic often not dealt with in cozy mysteries, which stick to completely uncontroversial issues. The book shows an example of an African American woman who refused to marry a white man years earlier because she felt it would hurt the man she loved. However, it also shows how sadly he lived because of this. I appreciate the way it shows the converse of an interracial marriage.
Vanessa Johansson performs the audio edition of this book. She seems to be the very part of Jillian, who narrates the book. Johansson sounds like she is smiling through much of her reading. She really takes on the character of Jillian with zest for the role and realism in its performance.
I have loved all of Leann Sweeney’s books, and The Cat, the Vagabond, and the Victim is no exception. I enjoyed the depth and complexity found in the mystery and not just a simple whodunnit. I did need the summation of the events at the end as it got confusing at times towards the denouement. However, this book stands out so much further than most books in its genre that ever that bit of confusion cannot lower the book in my estimation. I give the book five stars and loon forward to the next book in the series!
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