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Author Lorinda Lucas returns from a book tour of the United States to find that Roscoe, the cat who lives next door, is in alarming shape. Hoping that whatever has hit poor Roscoe will not be caught by her two cats, Had-I and But-Known, she learns from her friend Freddie that both Roscoe and his owner, Lorinda's neighbor "Macho Magee," are more or less prisoners of another author, one Cressie Adair. For an unknown reason, Cressie has decided to move not only into the colony of mystery writers but straight into Macho's house, life, and all nine lives of his cat. For Roscoe, that means an exclusive diet consisting of very small portions of feline health foods. And then Macho, well, his pen name does fit the thrillers he writes, but his real name, Lancelot Dalrymple, is a much better description of the meek little author he actually is. He's restricted to a "health" diet himself, and can do no more for poor Roscoe than surreptitiously leave a window open so the hungry beast can escape to where he might find some real food....

Any colony of crime writers, even though their books are as different as Cressie's "chick lit" and Macho's heavy thrillers, can be expected to contain a good bit of contention. But not many authors are ready to go for murder away from the printed page. In this delightful tale, with its undertone of sweetly malicious humor about self-important writers, you can depend on finding actual homicide: Please Do Feed the Cat comes complete with a murder as well as a cast of writers as varied as their books. Trust Marian Babson for another happy read.


Customer Review: Cute mystery, but not very "Caty"
A cute sequel to Canapes for the Kitties. These are cozy mysteries but not as "caty" as the "Cat Who" (Lilian Jackson Braun), Mrs. Murphy (Rita Mae Brown), Joe Grey (Shirley Rousseau Murphy), or even Midnight Louie (Carole Nelson Douglas) mysteries. But it is still a cute, quick read.
Customer Review: very entertaining
If you're a cat owner, and your cat(s) own your life, and you enjoy amusing, quirky cozies, you'll want to check out Marian Babson's "Please Do Feed the Cat." It may not be the mystery novel of the year, but it is charming, humorous and loads of fun to read. Back home safely at Brimful Coffers (a little village that's also a writer's colony) from her American book tour, mystery writer Lorinda Lucas is shocked to discover that things are not as they should be in her quiet little neck of the woods. For starters, her neighbour Lancelot Dalrymple, who writes hard-boiled mysteries under the pen name "Macho Magee" has taken up with Cressie Adair, a writer of fluffy "chick lit." The thing is that Cressie is a harpy, and she has taken over Macho's life completely, down to putting both Lancelot and his chubby and lovable cat, Roscoe, on a severe diet. Further down the street, another denizen of the village is having trouble with her builders; and even more tragically, a little girl was killed in a hit-and-run accident at Brimful Coffers not too long ago. All in all, not quite the homecoming Lorinda had anticipated. More immediately though, both Lorinda and good friend, Freddie, are more concerned about prying Cressie away from Macho. Except that it's beginning to look as if it will take an act of murder to separate the two! Why is Macho putting up with Cressie and her evil ways? And why is the very cosmopolitan Cressie hiding out in a quiet little village like Brimful Coffers? Things get even more dramatic when two rival mystery writers descend on the village and seem only too ready to carry on their quarrel in full technicolour... I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Please Do Feed the Cat." It may not possess many clever plot twists, nor was it an incredibly suspenseful read, but it definitely was a very enjoyable and humorous read. I found myself chuckling at (and identifying with) how the cats (Had-I, But-Known & Roscoe) had their humans trained; and I really enjoyed the humorously ironic manner at which Marian Babson portrayed some of the authors in this mystery novel. No, "Please Do Feed the Cat" may not the most riveting read, but it definitely was a very charming and entertaining one.


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