It was my privilege to stay in with L. T. Shearer last November when The Cat Who Solved Three Murders came out in hardback. You’ll find that post here.

Today, in advance of the paperback release of The Cat Who Solved Three Murders, I’m delighted finally to share my review.

The Cat Who Solved Three Murders is published by Macmillan in paperback on 20th June 2024 and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Cat Who Solved Three Murders

Conrad the cat detective and retired police detective Lulu Lewis travel to Oxford on their canal boat and investigate a case of art theft in a grand country manor house.

Retired police detective Lulu Lewis’s life changed forever when she met a street cat named Conrad. There’s something very special about Conrad, but it’s a secret she has to keep to herself.

When Lulu takes her narrowboat to Oxford, she is planning nothing more stressful than attending a friend’s birthday party. And drinking a few glasses of Chardonnay.

But a brutal murder and a daring art theft means her plans are shattered – instead she and Conrad find themselves on the trail of a killer. A killer who may well strike again.

My Review of The Cat Who Solved Three Murders

Lulu and Conrad have a second case to solve.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Cat Who Solved Three Murders. The premise of a talking cat, Conrad, acting as a detective is utterly bonkers, and yet it really works. In a sense, although Conrad is a physical Calico cat, he perhaps represents ex-Detective Lulu’s inner monologue so that he is a kind of sounding board for her theories and conclusions. Whatever the manifestation of Conrad, the story works highly entertainingly. It doesn’t matter at all that this is the second in LT Shearer’s Conrad the Cat Detective series, as Lulu’s back story and the reasons why she lives on a narrow boat with Conrad are skilfully woven into the narratives so that the story can be enjoyed completely independently. 

As Lulu and Conrad investigate a burglary and killing at Lulu’s friend Julia’s home, the plot is full of action, crime and murder. It is pacy, engaging and interesting. The Cat Who Solved Three Murders is an excellent example of the current trend in cosy crime, but with a talking cat it has the edge of novelty too, so that it feels just a little bit different and all the better for it.

The setting is so clever because the majority of it takes place at Julia’s home so that the reader gets a real sense of the grandeur and scale of the mansion. I loved the descriptions of the rooms. It’s so easy to picture where the action happens as there is a filmic quality to the descriptions. 

The narrative might feel essentially light in tone and an easy, diverting read, but there are deceptively deep themes too. The Cat Who Solved Three Murders contemplates friendship, family, marriage, loyalty and revenge. There’s a blurring of morality in doing the right thing for the wrong reason and the wrong thing for the right, or at least understandable, reasons. Lulu struggles with her conscience at times and through her conversations with Conrad we discover that choices are not always clear cut. 

Is The Cat Who Solved Three Murders the finest literary fiction I’ve ever read? Well, no. But it is extremely well plotted, absorbing and brilliantly entertaining. It would make a wonderful television series and I had a super time reading it. For those who want a well thought out narrative with an innovative extra in Conrad, The Cat Who Solved Three Murders is an absolute must read. I thought it was great! 

About L.T. Shearer

L T Shearer has had a lifelong love of canal boats and calico cats, and both are combined in The Cat Who Caught a Killer, a one-of-a-kind debut crime novel which continues with The Cat Who Solved Three Murders.

For further information, find L.T. Shearer on Facebook.