Cats with the minds and vocal abilities of humans tend to find themselves in more trouble than cats and humans combined. At least, that always seems to be the case with Joe Grey, his lady Dulcie, and their wild-spirited friend Kit. In addition, their aptitude for crime-solving and Kit's desire to drift back to the wild roaming band of cats she left when she was younger make life even more interesting.

In this installment of the Joe Grey mysteries, there's a murder, perhaps, but no corpse. Then, little break-ins keep happening all over the neighborhood, but without much missing. As they uncover clues to try to determine what's going on, the cats have to team up with some of the feral cats and the few humans in the know about their abilities; this is one time Joe Grey is glad he isn't a lone gumshoe!

Another funny and warmhearted story about Joe Grey, Dulcie and Kit, CAT STRIKING BACK also gives more detail about the feral cats that choose not to live with humans, as well as continuing the character development of the primary characters. One doesn't need to read all of the previous novels in this series to enjoy this book, but it is even more excellent with the backstory.