The author of the award-winning Joe Grey mystery series--a writer hailed for her "magical whimsy and deft writing" (Cats magazine) who "has raised the stakes of the feline sleuth genre" (Kirkus Reviews)--teams up with her husband to conjure a charming supernatural adventure involving the devil, a thief, a bet, and a spirited phantom cat. To the devil, the span of human life is as brief as spit on the wind. But the challenge of playing with flawed humans, like a cat toying with a mouse, is endlessly amusing. However, if the devil loses a wager, he will harass a person's descendants until he eventually gets his due. Which is why he is tormenting Lee Fontana. The night before Lee is paroled, Satan terrifies and tempts the thief with the promise of one more successful robbery. But Lee has a secret ally looking out for him. The prison cat, a ghost, will tail the ex-con on his dangerous mission--an adventure that moves across the country and spins far beyond our present world into the vast realms of afterlife, a story in which ghostly Misto revels in his added ethereal powers and expanded freedom.

The Cat, The Devil, and Lee Fontana: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Murphy, Pat J. J.

Murphy, Shirley Rousseau

United States

William Morrow

Shirley Rousseau Murphy, the acclaimed author of the award-winning Joe Grey mystery series, teams up with her husband, Pat J. J. Murphy, to conjure a charming supernatural adventure involving the devil, a thief, a bet, and a spirited phantom cat.
To the devil, the span of a human life is as brief as spit on the wind. But the challenge of playing with flawed humans, like a cat toying with a mouse, is endlessly amusing. If the Devil loses a wager though, he will harass a person’s descendants until he eventually gets his due. Which is why he is tormenting Lee Fontana.
The night before Lee is paroled, Satan terrifies and tempts the thief with the promise of one more successful robbery. But Lee has a secret ally looking out for him. The prison cat, a ghost, will tail the ex-con on his dangerous mission—an adventure that will leave a long legacy for everyone’s favorite talking tomcat, Joe Grey, and his pals in the charming California coastal town of Molina Point.

The Cat, the Devil, and Lee Fontana: A Novel

William Morrow Paperbacks

A ghost cat, the Devil, a deceitful criminal, a father framed for murder, and a vulnerable young girl combine in this magical tale from the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of the Joe Grey feline mysteries, Shirley Rousseau Murphy, and her husband Pat J.J. Murphy.
The Devil has been up to no good . . .
Brad Falon, one of Satan’s longtime puppets, orchestrated a deadly robbery and set up his old friend Morgan Blake to take the fall. Now, Morgan has been sentenced to life in prison, and his wife Becky and young daughter Sammie are devastated. Alone and afraid, in need of comfort and a friend, Sammie turns to Misto, the ghost cat.
Behind bars, her father Morgan makes fast friends with an old con named Lee Fontana who knows a few tricks about outwitting evil. They plan a wily escape to bring the real killer to justice and clear Morgan’s name for good. All it will take is outsmarting the Devil one more time. . . .

The Cat, the Devil, the Last Escape: A Novel

William Morrow Large Print

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