From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

Cat Telling Tales
by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
William Morrow  (10 E.  53rd St.,  New York,  NY 10022),  2011.
373 pages,  hardcover.  $19.99.

Mysteries don’t top my reading list,  but feline sleuth Joe
Grey and his crime-solving sidekicks,  two scrappy cats named Dulcie
and Kit,  are entertaining in Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s 18th novel,
Cat Telling Tales.  The action takes place in the coastal community
of Molena Point,  California,  where Joe always seems to be involved
in solving murders.  Plucky and persistent,  Joe tracks down details
and shares them with police chief Max Harper,  who makes the arrests.
In Cat Telling Tales,  fire leaves a 12-year old boy
homeless.  His guardian Hesmerra,  an older alcoholic,  is found dead
amidst the ashes.  Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

Animals and the kids who love them:
Extraordinary true stories of hope, healing and compassion
Edited by Allen & Linda Anderson
New World Library (14 Pameron Way,  Novato,  CA  94949),  2011.  194
pages,  paperback.  $14.95.

Take out a hanky because some of the stories in Animals and
the kids who love them:  Extraordinary true stories of hope,  healing
and compassion choked me up. Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

Dewey’s Nine Lives:
The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions
by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
Penguin USA (375 Hudson St.,  New York,  NY 10014),  2010.
320 pages,  hardcover.  $19.95.

Dewey the library cat, formally named Dewey Readmore Books,
is famous worldwide.  Dumped in the book return chute at the Spencer
Public Library in Spencer,  Iowa,  on a blustery winter night in
January 1988,  the fluffy red and white kitten was adopted by the
library staff. Reeling from unemployment,  factory closures,  and
depressed property values,  Spencer found in Dewey a symbol of
resilience.  People came to the library just to meet and greet Dewey. Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

Going Home:  Finding Peace When an Animal Dies  by Jon Katz
Random House (1745 Broadway,  New York,  NY 10019),  2011.  166 pages,  hardcover.  $22.00.

Going Home is a guide for grieving animal owners that thrusts itself into a very crowded field.  An Internet search at Amazon.com turns up at least 250 titles under “pet loss.”  And Jon Katz’s fictionalized book is far from original.  According to Katz,  the incidents in Going Home did happen,  but he “changed names and personal characteristics” of people involved.  So the stories Katz tells may not have actually happened as Katz relates them. Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

Cat Companions:  A memoir of loving and learning
by Susan M. Seidman
CreateSpace (distributed exclusively by <www.amazon.com>,  2011.
248 pages,  paperback.  $16.00.

Cat Companions describes the qualities we love about our cats:  mysterious,  aloof,  cranky,  yet loving and fun.  Author and cat lover Susan M. Seidman dishes out tidbits about her extended feline family,  including Supan with whom she shared an apartment in Paris,  and Alex, one of her many cats who were discarded by someone else. Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

A Big Little Life:  A memoir of a joyful dog named Trixie  by Dean Koontz
Bantam Books (1745 Broadway,  New York,   NY 10019),  2011.  269 pages,  paperback.  $15.00.

Dean Koontz sidesteps from producing best selling novels to bring us A Big Little Life:  A memoir of a joyful dog named Trixie, about a Canine Companions for Independence dropout.  Just about everyone I know,  myself included,  claims to have the best dog in the world.  Koontz says he does too.  Trixie may have flopped as a service dog,  but she excelled as the Koontz family’s loyal,  loving and devoted companion,  adding joy to the lives of Koontz and his wife Gerda,   and their network of friends,  family and neighbors. Read more