Angie and Octo-Cat are moving into his former home — a mansion where the cat door opens automatically in response to a chip in his collar — when she hears that Senator Lou Harlow, who lived next door, was found at the bottom of her grand staircase. Turns out the suspects in Senator Harlow’s fall are … her two Sphinx cats, Jacques and Jillianne, who speak in rhymes. They readily and mournfully admit their guilt to Octo-Cat, punishing themselves for their beloved owner’s death by sitting too close to the AC vent, where their hairless bodies shiver constantly.

After a call from Charles and a bit of careful peeking through the trees, Angie notices her boss, Mr. Thompson, is hanging around Harlow Mansion so much that one of the policemen on guard duty reminds him of the rules about a crime scene. Not only were the late senator and the longtime lawyer friends for decades in their dedication to the environment, Charles confirms, but Harlow had planned to retire and endorse Thompson as her hand-picked successor. Angie has trouble visualizing her rude boss as a glad-handing politician, but she’s learned never to underestimate a person’s potential.

With her Nan in residence and her mom chomping at the bit to get the scoop on Senator Harlow’s death, what will Angie & Octo-Cat discover? Can Jacques and Jillianne really have killed their beloved owner? Or is there a more nefarious force behind Lou Harlow’s death?

Molly Fitz has produced another entertaining Pet PI mystery, one that finds Angie moving toward making her accident-induced power a business and finally putting those seven associate degrees to good use.