CATS, CRIMES and 

                          NEW ZEALAND, AMERICAN 

                          and AUSTRALIAN WRITERS!

     Lyn McConchie, a New Zealand writer with her own farm in the heart of the main north island of New Zealand, has long time been a cat lover. It shows in many of her stories and is definitely not absent in this collection of four stories titled Sherlock Holmes: Catalyst. 

     She opens with Something the Cat Dragged In which introduces the reader to both Mandalay the cat and his owner Miss Emily Jackson. How a cat fond of salmon might save a life in his scrounging you would have to read this intriguing tale.

     In Cat with a Vested Interest we have Mandalay bringing home part of a vest and thus prompting an investigation. There is a dead woman and a young life only just saved because of the cat and Doctor Watson's actions. 

     My favourite of the four is Cat with Enough Rope in which Mandalay brings back to Miss Emily a most unusual creature and thus begins a circus mystery. What animal you say? A grand female alpaca. In recent years the breeding of alpacas in both Australia and New Zealand has grown in popularity. In fact, not far from Lyn's farm she has a neighbour with alpacas so when she writes about them she knows what she is talking about. In this story there is also spy versus spy which, in this case, is fun.

     Pinned to a Crime doesn't take Mandalay too far from home to create a mystery for Holmes and Doctor Watson to solve. In fact it is a small treasure found at Miss Emily's home with the potential to do much damage to existing reputations. 

     Catalyst is a Wildside publication released in 2016. 

     Lyn's fondness for cats is well established as I hope is my fascination for birdlife. 

               Two-Fisted Tales Number Two : 

                An EC Comic Book Reprint 

     It has long been my held belief that if we do look at all the ramifications of going into battle we would most likely choose not to do so. Pre-code EC comic books were known to pull no punches when it comes to this.

     We are reminded in the first tale War Story that not much time has passed between the end of the Second World War and the Korean War. In fact, it has been only five years!

      In Brutal Capt. Bull we are brought into the world of press gangs and young men not wanting to be sailors, back in  the days of the tall masts, but having to somehow find a way to survive the ordeal. 

Dragon Queen is a novel that touches upon how class systems work and how the desire to find a substitute for war can lead to rebellion. It is science fiction set in the future where dragons are human mutations with scales and tales. If you have read and enjoyed 1984 you will like this book.

    Second-Hand Creeps, with horror from around the globe, continues to gather readers from everywhere.