This image is the cover for the book Panthers Play for Keeps, Pru Marlowe Pet Noir

Panthers Play for Keeps, Pru Marlowe Pet Noir

"[F]ans of animal mysteries will find plenty to keep them entertained here." —Booklist

When Pru Marlowe takes a dog for a walk, she doesn't expect to find a body. But Spot, a service dog in training, has too good a nose not to lead her to the mangled body of a young woman. Despite her own best instincts, Pru can't avoid getting involved.

The young woman seems to have been mauled by a wild cat—and Pru knows there have been no pumas in the Berkshire woods for years. Wallis, Pru's curmudgeonly tabby, seems fixated on the idea of a killer cat, but Spot suggests that the violent death was something more than a tragic animal attack. As motives multiply, a cougar of a different sort sets her eyes on Pru's sometime lover, and another woman disappears. With panther panic growing, Pru may have to put aside her own issues—and her own ideas of domesticity—to solve a savage mystery.

Clea Simon

Clea Simon is the author of the Pru Marlowe, Dulcie Schwartz, and Theda Krakow mystery series, as well as three nonfiction books. A former journalist, she lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband Jon and their cat Musetta.

Poisoned Pen Press