One ear is the villain, a mouse, his uncle is a cat-eating mouse, and his eldest brother is a monkey-eating eagle and Dr. Great Ape. Greetings Humans! It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday and today’s prompt is Books with your favorite trope/theme. My Mommy loves anything mysterious. A good who done it is bound to bring an extra treat for all of us to ensure no one will bother her while she and the clever detective is solving the mystery at hand. The other thing she loves, is me of course. So that means her favorite trope has to be cat detectives! Max the handyman Wrongfully Accused of the burglaries feeds the local cats often and plays hide and go seek with them. Even after being fired he feeds them on his way out. Cats Hate Water: In The Maltese Kitten, giving the eponymous kitten a bath to wash off hair dye is viewed as Dirty Business by every cat present. Lots of people charge for these services, but I do it voluntarily’: Sharon Morris. Photograph: Jason Paige Smith/The Observer

Odd Name Out: The Flying Fangs (former circus cats) are named Wang, Chang, Drang and Strum. Interestingly, Strum is the only one who doesn't take part in the others attempts at making rap music, and seems to find the whole thing embarrassing. During the middle of the 1980s to this day, China had a zero-tolerance against crime, which inspired the themes of the series and also at the time the series was a popular amongst Chinese children and adult audiences alike. The leash-trained Henry sports a lighted cat collar with a small camera so Freeman can keep up with his search in the dark and see what he sees. Washy Watchy: Street cat Oscar watches the machines from the laundromat window as entertainment. He considers it to be as good as television and especially likes the Soaps. Later on he talks about a tv show he saw where the police just chased a guy in circles until they all fell down and is reminded that was the rinse cycle. Political Overcorrectness: In the second book Sam meets a cat representing the Feline Rights Organization, which wants to change the name "cat" to Feline-Americans (due to words like cataract and cataclysm having cat in them) and call themselves animal companions instead of pets.

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Beneath Notice: Played with. Quark the burglar has obviously been to all of the apartments before to make wax impressions of keys to the terrace and get an idea of what jewels to steal but none of the cats can ever remember seeing anyone who fits his description before. It turns out this is because Quark is in fact a menial figure, a painter, but the reason none of the cats recognize him is because they were taken out of the apartment while he was there so the families could avoid the paint fumes and the cats wouldn’t mess up the wet paint. Fiery Cover-Up: Prior to The Great Catsby, Harold Rigsby hired an arsonist to burn down his office and destroy the records proving he was a tax cheat. When I get a call to say, “My cat is missing,” I need their story: what kind of cat is it? What’s its personality? Does it love getting into people’s faces or does it hide whenever company comes round? Overweight cats seem to come home sooner. Has it ever been outside? Entertainingly Wrong: The cops instantly believe the burglaries were committed by Max the handyman, using a key to come in through the front door and setting the scene to make it look like an outside burglar. The readers and Sam know that their wrong from the start, due to a cat across the street having seen a burglar climbing the building and dropping down onto terraces.

We’re not miracle workers or superheroes, but we get results 80% of the time. And our clients are grateful, we get Christmas cards and thank you gifts – we stay in touch. Tranquilizer Dart: In The Maltese Kitten, Evil Poacher Herman Hench carries a dart gun that he uses to put multiple people and animals to sleep for several hours.

Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Prior to The Great Catsby, a local woman shot her rich husband and got away with claiming she’d mistaken him for a burglar because her sister was married to the sheriff.