The Nine Lives of Bianca Moon

by Delas Heras

Overview

Murder, ghosts, and a vengeful fiancée? The Nine Lives of Bianca Moon is the purr-fect blend of humorous fantasy, detective story, and ghostly fun.

Set in the 1950s, in an alternate world run by cats and dogs, the action kicks off with the mysterious murder of journalist Flint Lockford on the streets of Greenwich Village. Junior Detective Morton Digby and his partner Detective J.B. Puddleworth launch their investigation, but must contend with Flint's feisty fiancée, Bianca Moon, who is determined to take justice into her own paws.

Meanwhile, Flint's ghost arrives at Ghosthall, an abandoned courthouse now home to a band of rowdy ghosts. There he meets new friends and learns the ins and outs of being a spook. When he sets out to find Bianca, he is shocked to learn she has embarked on a reckless quest for revenge. Determined to protect her from her own feline fury, but limited by his ghostly powers, Flint must rely on Junior Detective Morton Digby and his partner to collar the killers before Bianca runs out of lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735317557
Publisher:	Double Six Books
Publication date:	06/20/2023
Series:	Morton Digby , #1
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	272,628
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

DELAS HERAS is the author of three genre-busting novels. He lives in New York City with his family and his tuxedo cat.

Editorial Reviews

2023-05-17
Heras delivers a rollicking murder mystery—starring cats and dogs—set in 1950s New York City.

Flint Lockford, an Irish wolfhound, is a top investigative reporter at the Knickerbocker Gazette and is preparing to propose to his girlfriend, an Angora cat named Bianca Moon. Things couldn’t be better—until he is unexpectedly crushed by a falling piano. Left to wander the city as a ghost, he is quickly taken in by a group of fellow shades and waits for the detectives assigned to his case to figure out his death was murder, not an accident. Junior detective Morton Digby, a border collie mix, has a new partner, a Scottish terrier named J.B. Puddleworth, who is slow to figure out that they’re at the bottom of the pecking order at the precinct—they have a hard time convincing their superiors that the piano was cut loose on purpose. The duo begins to investigate suspects who might have had a bone to pick with Flint over one of his articles. Meanwhile, Flint’s bereaved girlfriend, Bianca, is spitting mad and not about to sit idly by while the detectives bungle the case. Along with her alley cat friend, Roxy, and the ghost of Flint whispering in her ear, she begins asking her own questions. Anthropomorphic cats and dogs living in 1950s New York is a tricky conceit to pull off, and the author does so with flair (“Adapting to apartment-style living was proving to be a big adjustment for the Scottie and his wife, especially as they had a family of Saint Bernards living directly above them”). There is a large cast of characters, both alive and spectral, and they are all vividly drawn without pulling attention from the protagonists. These are cats and dogs you’d want to be friends with (well, most of them). The period detail in the descriptions of the city is impressive, and the story does a deft job making light entertainment of a tale filled with murder and vengeful criminals.

A quirky premise and sharp twists and turns make this mystery page-turning fun.

Kirkus Reviews