The Great Cat Nap

Ace is a hard-core newspaper reporter. He's tenacious, confident, and assertive. He's also a cat. When the famous show cat Ruby the Russian goes missing, Ace is on the story. But he bites off more than he can chew when he agrees to play detective and find the prize-winning cat, believed to have been kidnapped by animal smugglers. Calling on his feline friends, a few dogs, and even a boastful rat nemesis, Ace’s investigation will lead him from the most respected parts of town to the lowly haunts of the underground alley cat system. He’ll have to try to break a cat out of the pound for priceless information and get into a single-pawed battle with smugglers before getting his shot at solving the dangerous crime, culminating on a chilly October night in the gray and lonely streets of downtown. The winner of the 2014 TOFTE/WRIGHT CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AWARD, this 55,000 word middle-grade mystery is filled with adventure, suspense, and humor -- all told from the point of view of a cat! "A dame in trouble. A wise-cracking sidekick. A seedy underworld full of shady characters. And in the middle of it all, a hard-bitten (or maybe just flea-bitten) reporter determined to get to the bottom of the story. In THE GREAT CAT NAP, A.M. Bostwick plays with classic noir tropes to create this clever and entertaining story about Ace, a reporter and amateur detective who also just happens to be a cat. THE GREAT CAT NAP is a wild ride through the mean streets and dark alleys (and sunny front porches) of Lakeville, Wisconsin." -M. Molly Backes, author of The Princesses of Iowa