Murder at the Cat Show

The appearance of this second-in-a-series from England will gladden Babson's numerous aficionados in America. Doug Perkins describes the larky and suspenseful action at the cat show that he and his partner, Gerry Tate, have been hired to publicize. Their efforts are hardly needed, since media people swarm about the exhibit, but then famous Hugo Verrier's golden cat statue goes missing and show-organizer Mrs. Chesne-Malvern is killed. Somebody wedged her body behind the bars securing Pyramus and Thisbe, Sumatran tigers whose mistress, Carlotta Montera, plays a leading role in the murder investigation. In the supporting cast, ``stage mothers'' push their stars. While many convincingly real cats compete for the reader's affections, even Doug, expressing indifference to feline charms, falls helplessly in love with a wistful kitten. The drama ends with a suitably startling episode that trips up the person trying to slip away with Verrier's golden cat. (Aug.)