Max the Detective Cat: The Catnap Caper

Sarah Todd Taylor's The Catnap Caper is a cosy Paris mystery for 8 year olds starring a cat who's very proud of his tail.

What happens

Maximilian lives at the Theatre Royal in London. This time he's off to Paris with his theatre friends, because Madame Emerald is judging a grand singing competition called The Voice of Paris.

He's determined to look elegant. It doesn't go well. He's covered in soot on the train, buried under a pile of shopping in a café, and sinks so far into a cushion that he can't lift his head (poor Max).

Then a woman in the café sobs one word. Kidnapped!

It isn't a child who's been taken. It's a cat. A sleek grey cat with a diamond collar, and she isn't the first. Eleven precious pets have vanished from their smart Paris homes, and the police have better things to do. So Max and his best friend Oscar, a gentlemanly black cat who'd rather be on a roof than anywhere, decide to crack the case themselves.

Everything is told from Max's side, and he's hilarious. He has a special miaow for every occasion and practises them carefully. He's also quick to pounce, which is how he ends up dangling from the dress of the most important judge in the competition. Oops!

The clues are fun to follow too. There's a piece of drugged meat on a balcony, a wisteria torn off the wall and a signature on a photo that Max is sure he's seen before. Can your reader work it out before he does?

And Paris is gorgeous in it. Cafés and cake shops, hats trimmed with peacock feathers, and the Eiffel Tower peeping over the rooftops wherever Max goes.

It's worth knowing this isn't Max's first case, and the opening chapter says quite openly how the earlier ones were solved. If your reader hasn't met him yet, it's best to start with The Disappearing Diva.

What to read next

If it's Paris and a bit of secret sleuthing they're after, A Spoonful of Spying is by the same author. Alice is a young spy, and the story opens with her in a waiter's uniform, tailing a man across a party boat on the Seine.