A Few Thoughts About Cats by Marilyn Levinson

When it comes to cats, I sometimes think there are two kinds of people. The cat haters shudder when you mention the word "cat." "They're sneaky." "They climb everywhere." "They don't listen." "They won't love you like a dog will." The cat lovers smile when you tell them you have cats and are eager to see photos of your fur babies. Often they will pull out their phone to show you pictures of their own. 

I am a cat lover and the carer of two cats. Of course I think the world of dogs and loved my Mini Schnauzer. But I not only adore my kitties, I find them fascinating. My dilute tortie Juliet speaks to me constantly. As soon as I sit down, she's on my lap and eyes me soulfully--her way of telling me to put down my Sudoku puzzle and rub under her chin. Her medium-haired brother Romeo retrieves cards and papers from the dining room table and drops them at my feet with the quietest meow. Both cats are always close by, and when they aren't they come as soon as I call them. 

Yes, they do some of the things the haters accuse them of. While my two felines usually obey me when I tell them to stop doing something, they insist on climbing onto the kitchen table though they don't touch our food. They're good about using the scratching pads scattered around the house, but occasionally need to be reminded not to claw the dining room chairs. They are loving and affectionate.

 Cats were revered in Ancient Egypt, but they haven't always had an easy time of it. In the Middle Ages, cats were reviled as witches' familiars and in league with the devil. Many were massacred. So many, in fact, that it's been said that the Black Death/Bubonic Plague in the fourteenth century killed so many people because cats, that would have killed the rats and the fleas on them that carried the plague, had been exterminated. Nowadays cats are popular pets, probably because of the invention of kitty litter in 1947.

Cats are clever, curious, and comical. They make wonderful companions to their sleuths in cozy mysteries and often add a dimension to the story. In my Haunted Library series, Carrie Singleton finds Smoky Joe, who started out life as a barn kitty, when he wanders onto her lawn. After he jumps into her car, she ends up bringing him to the library where she's head of programs and events.

And when Smoky Joe proves to be sociable with the patrons, he quickly becomes the library cat. He even takes part in the mysteries Carrie resolves—finding diamonds that no one can locate in one book and saving Carrie from a murderer in another. 

These days, it's not only cozies where cats have a role. A kitten makes an appearance in the latest "Reacher" season on Netflix. 

What do you think about cats as a pet or as a character in a mystery? 

Tall Tails – The Writer’s Cat by Kait Carson

 

Cats have a storied place at the side (or on the lap or keyboard) of writers. From Hemingway to Highsmith, Dickens to Twain, cats have served as muses to their humans. I have had two very different feline muses. Hutch a brown tiger with more human characteristics than I care to consider who reminded me to write daily.

 

This was his “why are you photographing me when you should be writing” face. Hutch went to play at the rainbow bridge in August of 2018, but he didn’t leave before he trained his successor.

 

Cub takes his job very seriously. He provides plot and editing advice, and when things get too tame for his liking, he takes over the keyboard and through the magic of kitty osmosis, transfers his ideas onto the page.

 

I write traditional bordering on thriller and cozy bordering on traditional novels.  They have one thing in common – besides what I hope is a good story – critters. Catherine Swope in the Miami is Murder series is the proud human of Bullet – a retired police K-9 - and Paddy Whack a rescued silver tabby. Hayden Kent in the Florida Key’s traditional series has a brown tabby named Tiger Cat. Hank Wittie in the Southernmost Secrets cozy series has a brown tiger cat named Pirate Cat.

 

My critters don’t speak, or help solve the mysteries, but they do provide solace and stress relief to my various heroines. If you’re looking for crime solving critters, I suggest you check out Lilian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who series or Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy series. Both series are fun, easy, reads. The Mrs. Murphy series deals with weightier issues than the Cat Who series which is pure fun.

 

I had the rare good fortune to meet Jack (Bumby) Hemingway in the early 1970s when I was visiting Key West. He was hard to miss. He looked just like his father. As a life-long cat lover, I asked him about the cats on the estate. He shared with me that although cats were always around the property and often in the house, the family didn’t have cats in Key West. That, John said, was in Cuba. He went on to explain that because the cats at the museum were so well-cared for, and because it was likely that they were descendants of a polydactyl cat that had been on the property during his father’s time, he supported the myth whole-heartedly. I have no way of knowing if Jack’s version is true, or if he was simply a Hemingway making up stories, but either way, it speaks to a writer’s love of felines.

 

Why do cats have such an honored place in a writer’s life? Anything I write here is pure speculation, but as a writer with cats, I do have some standing to speak. Cats are self-contained creatures. Win a cat’s heart and you have a friend for life. They will grace your lap with fur and warmth, and purr like a motorboat when stroked. A cat sits quietly, content to watch the cursor float over the page. They won’t demand to be walked just as you find the perfect solution to a plot problem thus interrupting the flow of creative juice. Petting a cat is also said to lower blood pressure. I find that mindless stroking induces a near meditative state. In that meditative state free association flows and creative ideas bloom. They are the perfect natural antidote to writer’s block.

 

Readers, do you enjoy stories with critters? Writers, do you have a feline helper?