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CATS-PAW,
INC by L.L. Thrasher An adult mystery with touches of comedy and characters you will love to hate or just love. Zach Smith wanted to name his firm Cats-Paw, Inc, but his sister Carrie believed no one would understand the meaning. It comes from an old fable about a cat sleeping by a fire where a monkey was roasting chestnuts, when the nut were done the monkey would use the cats paw to pull them out of the fire so he would not burn his own fingers. As Zach said, “Now people hire me to pull their chestnuts out of the fire.” But, thinking his sister was right he decided to call it Arrow Investigations. He is hired search for a 14 year-old runaway named Jessica Finney whose trail leads to Portland. While on his way to Portland Zach comes across another runaway named Allison. Feeling sorry for the nineteen-year-old runaway Zach gives her a ride. He also wants to find out where she belongs so he can return her safely home. When they arrive in Portland Allison stays with him so he rents a room with 2 beds. The next day while Zack is looking for Jessica he hears a news story about a murder in his hometown of Mackie. It bothers him because it is connected to his past with the police department and his reason for quitting three years ago. But he decides to put it aside and continue looking for Jessica. Her trail leads to Portland's worst streets where pimps, drug dealers and porn offers runaways an unsafe security in exchange for their innocence and sometimes their lives. Zack find himself dealing with his past and his growing feelings for the 19-year-old runaway. You will have to read the book to find out all the good stuff, and believe me just the fact that it is an L.L. Thrasher mystery I can honestly say you will not be sorry. A great story -- a great whodunit. This is L.L. Thrasher’s first mystery published back in 1991. I recall hearing somewhere of a possible reprint by another company. I think her fans would be thrilled to see this happen! |