A locked room. A dead man. The cat is the only witness, and he isn't talking.

Everyone loves a locked room mystery. From Agatha Christie to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Edgar Allen Poe, the intelligent mind rejoices at the thought of the impossible crime. Not only "who done it?" but "how the heck did they pull it off?" It may involve magic, the paranormal, science, or merely a clever killer, but no matter how you look at it, you think, "What fun!" Right?

Not necessarily.

Not when it's real life.

Not when you're the person in the locked room.

A series of locked-room murders have been committed in sleepy little Long Beach, Washington, and as for the killers, Sheriff Matt Boulder has no idea who or why. The sheriff needs help, but when he calls in his friend, animal cop Denny Paris, he gets cat shelter volunteer and amateur sleuth Lynley Cannon too.

The officers investigate one line of inquiry while Lynley takes a different approach. Her only clues are a cat found at the murder scene and a rich man's missing wife, but thread by thread, she unravels a scheme more insidious than fiction.