Cat of a Different Color

Alice Nestleton Mystery #2

by Lydia Adamson

Available Digitally for the First Time. A mystery cat takes talented actress-turned-sleuth Alice Nestleton behind the scenes—for murder... Beautiful Off-Off Broadway actress-sleuth Alice Nestleton gasps as a sinister shadow looms at the top of her apartment house stairs. But it’s only a moonstruck student from her acting class who comes bearing a gift—a gorgeous white Abyssinian-like cat. That is strange enough, but stranger still, just days later the young Lothario is killed in a Manhattan bar…and the exotic kitty is cat-napped! Alice’s own two cats, the regal Bushy and the harum-scarum Pancho, have helped her catch criminals before. But the trap she devises to corner the perpetrator of the cat theft may entangle her instead in a dead actor’s secrets and murderous drama—of love and revenge… Curl up with a copy of A Cat Tells Two Tales, available October 2012 in trade paperback from Obsidian.

Genres: Mystery, Cats, Animals, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy

Mass Market Paperback

First published May 7, 1991

About the author

Lydia Adamson is the pen name for Franklin B. King who is an author, free-lance writer and copywriter. In addition to the Alice Nestleton series, he is the author of the Deirdre Quinn Nightingale and Lucy Wayles series. He lives in New York City and also wrote under the name 'Frank King'.

Reviews

[Erunyauve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit esoteric in a way to which I couldn't entirely relate. I love theatre, but I have the bad taste to actually like Sir Andrew's work, and the main character seems to be more Beckett and Absurdism, which I loathe and find grotesque. At one point, she's reading a play called 'Rats' that, you guessed it, is a parody of sorts of 'Cats', which isn't the problem. The problem is that the rats start eating the human performers in the production taking place on the stage above. If you ask me, there's a simple solution here: more cats, which also would have improved the book I am attempting to review.

The story itself has all the right elements of surprise and mystery, but the author relies on a bit too much tell and not enough show. We aren't given the opportunity to invest ourselves in the characters. Nonetheless, I did like Alice, and I might try another book in the series.

[Katie Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd, quirky mystery. I deliberately didn't read the summary blurb, so I was uncertain until relatively late in the book whether this was a cozy mystery or a fantasy mystery. What can I say, the mysterious disappearing oddly-colored cats could have been aliens, or gods, or ghosts of murdered actors! Turns out they were just cats. Ah well. I think the other way would have been more interesting. There were possessed fireplaces and hypnotized neighbors and everything!

I liked Risa, the dead boy's lover, and would have enjoyed her role being larger.

Super not into the tired subplot of beautiful woman has unrequited crush on man two decades her senior, who prefers a woman four decades younger than himself. But then I never like the "Mentor sleeps with much-younger Mentee" dynamic.

[Carolyn Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tail of a Pied Cat

Most of the time I do not enjoy mysteries, but the Alice Nestleton stories are different. There is murder and mayhem, but the reader learns about them after the fact. As a reader I do not want to be involved when the actual murder happens. The plot had a good twist that gave me an unexpected ending.

[L.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was probably better than the first book but I didn't care for the mystery. It was solved using a boatload of knowledge and history that the reader knew nothing about until the big reveal at the end. It felt like a pretty gaping hole in the plot. But the twist at the very end was great.

[Gale Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a slow read but I plan to continue to read the series.

[Diane Large · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't even know why I finished this book. The story was disjointed and I didn't find Alice or her cats likable.

[Kathei]

If you like cats and you like mysteries then this series is for you.

[Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

the writing is not stellar and the mystery is obscure and bizarre. I think I actually really enjoy reading these because adamson has done such a wonderful job in creating the character alice nestleton. as I was reading, I didn't feel like the other characters were thin or poorly developed because the writing was not strong enough, I felt that all we were getting was what alice saw and thought, what alice was able to perceive. and she's a flighty, melodramatic, fantastical kind of person. she pursues her interests unapologetically, whether it's avant garde theatre or strange cat abductions, and she doesn't care about looking crazy as long as she's doing what she cares about. sometimes she has to run out of a building in the middle of a conversation because she discovers something or feels upset ... lots of ellipses, probably at least one on every page. I have no idea if this was even the intention, but I think it's really cool to inhabit this character so fully.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It had earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Karen GoatKeeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice Nestleton is an off off Broadway actress who supports herself cat sitting in New York City. The cats seem to attract mysteries which she attempts to solve in her own quirky fashion aided by her Bohemian friends.
Alice is teaching an acting class. One of the students shows up at her apartment leaving her with a love letter and a cat that looks like an Abysinnian but is white with black markings on head and rump. The student is murdered. The cat is stolen. Alice smells a mystery.
This series is very New York City. The characters are all quirky in interesting ways. The books are fun and easy to read.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series, all revolving in some way or another around cats. The "sleuth" is an actress who is semi successful, but who needs a day job to stay afloat financially, so she "cat sits" for various cat loving owners who much leave their pampered kitties. It's her "day job" that brings the murders to her attention. Her love life sometimes intrudes (a bit PG 13, but not explicit) with its casual attitude towards extra marital sex, but the stories are charmingly told with eccentric and real feeling characters and cares.

[Monty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second in a series of light mystery novels whose main character, Alice Nestleton, is a mostly unemployed actress living in New York whose day job is to cat sit. Somehow she winds up solving murders. She has two cats of her own, and cats play a prominent role in the stories. This is a fun change of pace book--brain candy.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice Nestleton is teaching an acting class. One of her students shows up at her apartment expressing his love for her and bringing her the gift of a white Abyssinian cat. When the cat is catnapped and the student is murdered, Alice searches for the cat and for answers. This was a cute book and a quick read. I enjoyed it very much.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

15.3 - Letters of the Season. BOOK 1 - Read a book written by an author with a name (first, middle, or last) that includes the letters SON sequentially. Ex: Bill Bryson, Sarah Addison Allen, Susan Sontag

[Stigandr Rude · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really meh about this book. My Step-dad surprised me with it, thinking it was a book I had been pining for, it wasn't. It was OK, I like my cozy murder mysteries and this was close but it wasn't there for me to be excited about it.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

easy read, and enjoyable since i work in the theatre world and have cats

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

better than April 24, good plot & clues, twist

[Phillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Alice solves another mystery!

[Deborah Sigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking forward to continuing the rest of the series.