It don't get no better, as us hillbillies say.

I had never read any of Kay Hooper's books before I picked this one up in Wal-Mart awhile back. The title caught my attention first; then the cover art; then the description of the story on the back cover.

What with one thing and another (mainly reading a great pile of other books before I reached this one) it lay on a shelf for some months. I began reading it last night and frankly have neglected chores, email, and pretty much anybody who spoke to me to finish it today.

The story begins with a black cat named Pendragon, who appears out of nowhere on the day a troubled young beauty named Josie Douglas moves into an old house in the Virginia countryside. The house had been, fifty years before, the site of an alleged suicide. In short order, it becomes obvious that Pendragon is far from an ordinary housecat, and that the "suicide" is returning as a ghost, apparently hoping that Josie will find the truth about his death.

Of course there's a love interest: the landlord, Marc Westbrook, nephew of the man who died in the house, who falls in love with Josie on sight. Josie has a tragedy in her past, but learns to love Marc in spite of it. Hooper never satisfactorily resolves that subplot, but with the help of Pendragon the cat, Josie and Marc solve the mystery of his uncle's murder--as it turns out--and put things to rights with the uncle's true love.

The plot is reminiscent of a Barbara Michaels one, although I must say that Hooper does not write with the evocative style of Michaels. Still, it's a good read. My only quibble is that Pendragon the cat, who seems more human than a cat ought to be, leaves at the end of the story.

Hooper, who has gone on to great success with several series characters, wrote THE HAUNTING OF JOSIE as a stand-alone in 1994. It was reissued following the success of her later series novels.

If you like romance, suspense, ghosts and cats, this one's for you. As for me, if anybody comes looking for me, I'll be in a corner somewhere with a book.

There have of course been many parodies and pastiches of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories. I have to say that just about the funniest ones I ever read were written for the hell of it by my brother, who, after reading a couple of John Lennon parodies, was inspired to write about Ramrod Jones and Dr. Bopper. Other parodies were written by William Sidney Porter (O. Henry), and pastiches with Holmes as a character have been written by Nicholas Meyer and Laurie R. King, who pairs Holmes with a female partner (and eventual wife) named Mary Russell.

King's pastiches are probably the best-written of all these. Another well-written one is by Caleb Carr, best known for his series of novels beginning with THE ALIENIST, which feature a Victorian psychologist who solves crimes by what one could call forensic psychology. In 2005, though, Carr was granted permission by the Doyle estate--one gathers he is one of the few writers so honored--to write a new adventure of Sherlock Holmes. The end result was THE ITALIAN SECRETARY, which combines a Holmes story with a Scots ghost legend.

Holmes and Watson are summoned to Holyroodhouse, a Scots residence of British royalty following the union in 1603 of the two royal houses of Scotland and England with the ascension of James I (in Scotland James VI) to the English throne vacated by the death of Elizabeth I. An architect and a construction boss who were to refurbish the parts of Holyroodhouse once occupied by Mary, Queen of Scots, have turned up murdered in a manner eerily similar to the actual 1566 murder of Mary's Italian secretary, David Rizzio. Holmes's older brother, Mycroft, fears that these deaths point to a plot against Her Majesty Queen Victoria, currently residing in Holyroodhouse, and needs Sherlock's help to prevent an attempt on her life.

However, Holmes finds something considerably stranger going on; it seems that Mary's old rooms are haunted by the spirit of David Rizzio--who seems to be very up to date on nineteenth century opera.

Well plotted and worked out to a satifactory conclusion--the Queen is saved and the "ghost" of Rizzio is laid to rest--the book nevertheless left me a bit disappointed. As a reader, I love nothing better than to settle in on a rainy afternoon with Holmes stories. As a writer, I know that no one can with complete success duplicate the exact style of a character created by another, and while Carr tells a good story, I miss Conan Doyle's style and the atmosphere of his books.

Minor quibbles, though. It's worth a read. Short enough to be read in a single afternoon and does not require major research into the Stuart and Victorian eras to follow the story.

If anybody comes looking for me, I'll be in a corner somewhere with a book.