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The Alarm of the Black Cat

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( 309 ratings, 49 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Alarm of the Black Cat by Dolores Hitchens is a gripping crime thriller that unfolds in a small, seemingly quiet community. The story follows a seasoned detective as he unravels a complex web of secrets and lies following a series of mysterious occurrences centred around an elusive black cat. As tension builds, suspicion casts a shadow over the inhabitants, leading to startling revelations.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're intrigued by classic crime and thriller stories with a clever detective at the helm. It's perfect for fans of tightly woven mysteries with unexpected twists and engaging character dynamics, offering a satisfying blend of suspense and deduction.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

This classic mystery features a family feud, feline intervention, and the spirited septuagenarian sleuth from The Cat Saw Murder.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A strange encounter with a little girl named Claudia and a dead toad sparks elderly detective fiction fan Rachel Murdock's obsessive curiosity, and she winds up renting the house next door just to see how things play out. But soon after she and her cat Samantha move in, Rachel realises they've landed right in the middle of a deadly love triangle that's created animosity among the three families who now surround her.

When Rachel finds Claudia's great-grandmother dead in her basement, she reaches out to a friend in the LAPD to solve the crime. They soon learn the three households have been torn apart by one husband's infidelity and a complicated will that could lead to a fortune. In a house plagued by forbidden love, regret, and greed, Rachel will have to trust her intuition, as well as Samantha's instincts, to surviveβ€”and keep Claudia out of the hands of a killer whose work has just begun…

Series: An American Mystery Classic

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    A successful writer and a B-movie director seem like the perfect match in the Hollywood Hills. With him working to produce her novel for an upcoming film, the pair's recent marriage isn't the only way that they're connected. When the husband is found murdered on the wife's birthday, using a method of poisoning described in one of her books, Victoria...
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  • Waltz into Darkness
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  • Golden Age Bibliomysteries
    Of crime fiction's many sub-genres, none is so reflexive and intriguing as the "bibliomystery": stories that involve crimes set, somehow, in the world of books. In Vincent Starrett's A Volume of Poe, a bookseller is murdered; in Ellery Queen's The Adventure of the Three R's, the detective tracks the disappearance of a local Missouri author; and a killer stalks the...
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  • The Alarm of the Black Cat
    A strange encounter with a little girl named Claudia and a dead toad sparks elderly detective fiction fan Rachel Murdock's obsessive curiosity, and she winds up renting the house next door just to see how things play out. But soon after she and her cat Samantha move in, Rachel realises they've landed right in the middle of a deadly love...
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  • The Widening Stain
    For the staff of the library at the centre of The Widening Stain, it's easy enough to dismiss the death of a woman who fell from a rolling ladder as nothing more than an unfortunate accident. It's more difficult, however, to explain away the strangled corpse of a man found inside a locked room, surrounded by rare and obscure erotica....
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  • Golden Age Bibliomysteries
    Of crime fiction's many sub-genres, none is so reflexive and intriguing as the "bibliomystery": stories that involve crimes set, somehow, in the world of books. In Vincent Starrett's A Volume of Poe, a bookseller is murdered; in Ellery Queen's The Adventure of the Three R's, the detective tracks the disappearance of a local Missouri author; and a killer stalks the...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The book features the character Miss Rachel Murdock, who is lauded as an appealing and delightful literary figure reminiscent of Jessica Fletcher. Critics from the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus praise the novel for its charming protagonist and alluring prose, delighting fans of Golden Age mysteries and Miss Marple alike.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781613163931

Publisher: Penzler Publishers

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 04 April 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: American Mystery Classics

Contributors:

  • Introduction and notes by David Handler

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 145.0mm

Height: 211.0mm

Weight: 377g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Dolores HitchensΒ (1907–1973) was a highly prolific mystery author who wrote under multiple pseudonyms and in a range of styles. A large number of her books were published under the D. B. Olsen moniker (under which her "Cat" series was originally published), but she is perhaps best remembered today for her later novel, Fool's Gold, published under her own name, which was adapted as Band a part by Jean-Luc Godard. David Handler is the Edgar Award-winning, critically acclaimed author of several bestselling mystery series. He began his career as a New York City reporter, and wrote his first two novelsβ€”Kiddo (1987) and Boss (1988)β€”about his Los Angeles childhood. In 1988 he published The Man Who Died Laughing, the first of his long-running series of mysteries starring ghostwriter Stuart Hoag and his faithful basset hound Lulu.

Also by Dolores Hitchens

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  • The Cat Wears a Noose
    Walking home wearily from an evening spent poring over the books of the Parchly Heights Methodist Ladies' Aid, searching for a fifty-eight-cent error, Miss Jennifer Murdock becomes witness to a terrible scene: A man, stumbling drunk, arrives homeβ€”and just as he fumbles with his keys, gunfire erupts and kills him on the spot. Jennifer is determined not to tell her...
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  • The Alarm of the Black Cat
    A strange encounter with a little girl named Claudia and a dead toad sparks elderly detective fiction fan Rachel Murdock's obsessive curiosity, and she winds up renting the house next door just to see how things play out. But soon after she and her cat Samantha move in, Rachel realises they've landed right in the middle of a deadly love...
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  • Cat's Claw
    Unable to stop herself from investigating another murder, Rachel Murdock gets plenty of help from Samantha, the cat who follows her wherever she goes; her much less adventurous sister Jennifer; and Lieutenant Mayhew, who is grateful to have another sharp mind on the case. Miss Rachel, her sister, and her cat are watching with undisguised interest a bandy-legged man who...
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  • The Cat Wears a Noose
    Walking home wearily from an evening spent poring over the books of the Parchly Heights Methodist Ladies' Aid searching for a fifty-eight-cent error, Miss Jennifer Murdock becomes witness to a terrible scene: A man, stumbling drunk, arrives homeβ€”and just as he fumbles with his keys, gunfire erupts and kills him on the spot. Jennifer is determined not to tell her...
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  • Cat's Claw
    Unable to stop herself from investigating another murder, Rachel Murdock gets plenty of help from Samantha, the cat who follows her wherever she goes; her much less adventurous sister Jennifer; and Lieutenant Mayhew, who is grateful to have another sharp mind on the case. Miss Rachel, her sister, and her cat are watching with undisguised interest a bandy-legged man who...
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