CAT CRIMES TAKES A VACATION

The editors' series of Cat Crimes anthologies hits bottom with this sixth installment. Though the idea seems promisingrescue those cat mysteries from the confines of a single location (Danger in D.C., 1993, etc.)it backfires, since breaking the well-established bonds between cats and cozy, if territorial, domesticity reduces the featured felines to the threadbare roles of avengers (in pieces by Gillian Roberts, Gary A. Braunbeck, Daniel B. Brawner, Jan Grape, Terry Black, Dorothy Cannell), telltale clues (Michael Collins, Bruce Holland Rogers), or walk-ons (Barbara Paul, Bill Crider, Tracy A. Knight, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Bill Pronzini, editor Gorman). Only Catherine Dain gives her cat a starring role. As mysteries, the stories range from mediocre downward. Somebody's obviously buying these books, however, so expect a new twist next year.