Theda Krakow is in a funk. Her sometime boyfriend's gone for good. The death of her beloved cat opened a bigger void. And the career leap she's made from copy editor to freelance writer has left her finances-and her spirit-flat. She desperately needs a headline to get her life back on track. Out for a stroll in her Cambridge neighborhood, Theda spies a stray kitten. This charmer leads Theda to an old woman holed up in a decrepit house full of cats.But when she returns to interview Lillian Helmhold, Theda finds her fascinating subject dead of an apparent accident. The neighbors are celebrating, the police aren't interested, and the cats are removed to a shelter. End of story. Not for Theda--one or two things don't compute. So Theda marshals her investigative journalism skills to turn gumshoe.