Dean Wesley Smith

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith published over two hundred novels and over seven hundred books, and hundreds and hundreds of short stories. He has over thirty million copies of his books in print.

At the moment he produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the Old West, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the cold case mystery series, Cold Poker Gang series, and the superhero series starring Poker Boy.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch sold more than 35 million books worldwide. She publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance.

Her novels made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction appeared in more than twenty best-of-the-year collections. She won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov's Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award.

The Year of the Cat edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith

Cats find themselves in all sorts of situations, sometimes comic, sometimes scary, sometimes just plain headshaking. In fact, for some reason, cats tend to draw crazy situations to themselves like the old cliché, moths to a flame.

But nothing attracts cats like a good mystery, particularly of the cozy kind. Cats love crime; they love to solve crimes, to observe humans trying to solve crimes, and occasionally even to commit crimes, because, you know—cats.

The felines in this volume do all of the above and more. Grab a comfy chair and a purring feline, and dig in.

Includes:
"Lin Jee" by Mary A. Turzillo
"The Maltese Double Cross" by Carole Nelson Douglas
"Scrawny Pete" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
"The White Cat" by W.W. Jacobs
"Uncle Philbert" by Dory Crowe
"Cat Nap" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
"Mystery Cat" by Dean Wesley Smith
"The Christmas Kitten" by Ed Gorman

CURATOR'S NOTE

In 2020, Dean Wesley Smith & I did a cat-oriented Kickstarter. We thought it would be great fun to publish 100 cat stories. This, Cat of Cozy Situations, pairs well with Bonnie Elizabeth's book. You'll find two of my stories in here as well. I had a blast editing the Year of the Cat books. If you like this one, go here and pick up the volumes you've missed. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Introduction

Cats find themselves in all sorts of situations, sometimes comic, sometimes scary, sometimes just plain head-shaking. In fact, for some reason, cats tend to draw crazy situations to themselves like the old cliché, moths to a flame.

Actually, I think that is one of the many reasons humans love cats so much. They can go from boring and asleep to wild and in danger in a matter of seconds sometimes. You just never know with cats.

Cozy is a sub-genre of mystery, and cats are a staple of that area. But they are also a staple of all mystery and crime areas.

Kris thought cat stories not limited to cozy, but to all mystery or crime areas, would be fun and I agreed.

That opened up a great deal of stories that we knew about and just picking eight was a challenge.

But it was also great fun. We found many that fit in all the other books in the series, but we felt these eight fit here perfectly.

Here are titles of the twelve volumes of cat stories we are putting together.

-— Book One

A CAT OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

-— Book Two

A CAT OF PERFECT TASTE

-— Book Three

A CAT OF DISDAINFUL LOOKS

-— Book Four

A CAT OF STRANGE LANDS

-— Book Five

A CAT OF COZY SITUATIONS

-— Book Six

A CAT OF SPACE AND TIME

-— Book Seven

A CAT OF HEROIC HEART

-— Book Eight

A CAT OF ROVING NATURE

-— Book Nine

A CAT OF ARTISTIC SENSIBILITIES

-— Book Ten

A CAT OF FANTASTIC WHIMS

-— Book Eleven

A CAT OF FERAL INSTINCTS

-— Book Twelve

A CAT OF ROMANTIC SOUL

In the earlier volumes and in coming volumes, there are cats in cozy situations that involve crimes. And many stories that have cats in crimes. Seems cats and crimes go together, not only in just the cozy sub-genre. So if you liked the focus of this volume, there have been and will be more in this series. Just the nature of cat stories, after all.

We hope you'll enjoy the ones we picked for this book.

And now dive into mystery, crime, and of course, cats.

Dean Wesley Smith
Las Vegas, Nevada