''Animal lovers will delight'' Ann Granger
''A real treat . . . I loved it. Cats, dogs, murder and a credible and relatable heroine'' Barbara Nadel
Driving home from a ceramics evening class, Clarice Beech reflects on the absence of one of her students, Colin Compton-Smythe. Later, Emily, Colin''s daughter, telephones to say her father has died during routine surgery. Distraught, Emily opens up to Clarice about his wretched childhood and the day five-year-old Colin returned home to discover Avril, his mother, gone. Colin never believed she would have left without him and had been trying to find out more about Avril''s disappearance all those years ago.
Clarice readily agrees to accompany Emily to Colin''s funeral. On arriving at the stunning Victorian Gothic manor house, with Bellatrix, the majestic stone Siamese cat reposing at its entrance, Clarice soon becomes drawn into the fractious world of the Compton-Smythe family: Colin''s ar
