Treasury of Cat Mysteries (Tr)

The affinity mystery fans have for cat stories may be a puzzle. It's also a publishing reality, and one which Greenberg, co-editor of the popular Cat Crimes series, makes good use of here. Picks of this litter include Sharyn McCrumb's tale of a murdered architect reborn as a cat with revenge on his mind in ""Nine Lives to Live"" and Mat Coward's ""Where the Cat Came In,"" about a cat burglar who finds himself locked in a house with a large amount of cash and his cat. A doting owner of a kitten foils a murder attempt in B.J. Mull's ""Too Many Tomcats,"" while Jon L. Breen takes a turn around the racetrack with ""Tea and 'Biscuit."" Award for best in this show is shared by Peter Lovesey for his stunning ""Ginger's Waterloo,"" about a man whose domestic loyalties are torn between cat and wife; Bruce Holland Rogers for the delightful send-up of a career bureaucrat in ""Enduring as Dust""; and Margaret Maron who tells in ""The Beast Within"" of how a dutiful, rejected wife finds release from her troubles when her mind becomes trapped in the body of a cat. (May)