Alice Nestleton is a well-regarded avant-garde theater actress who can't find the kind of serious work she wants, at least not often enough to pay the bills, so she moonlights as a cat-sitter--with a penchant for getting involved in murders with a high meow factor. She usually fixates on a cat as the key to the case, earning her the not-always-complimentary title Cat Woman. Forty-one years old (and, like Nancy Drew, managing not to age at all over the course of the series), Alice lives in New York City with her cats Bushy and Pancho.
Many of the Alice Nestleton books by Lydia Adamson are in print and available; check for out-of-print and used copies at
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1. A Cat in the Manger, 1990
While cat-sitting during the Christmas holidays, avant-garde actress Alice Nestleton discovers a corpse and determines to solve a murder that features both cats and high-stakes horse racing.
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Out of print
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2. A Cat of a Different Color, 1991
A lovesick acting student's unexpected gift of a white Abyssinian-like cat leads Alice into a mystery involving a group of Russian emigrés when the young student is murdered and the cat is kidnapped.
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3. A Cat in Wolf's Clothing, 1991
Her penchant for taking a cat's-eye view of murder already known, Alice is hired as a consultant to help the police track a serial killer who leaves a mouse toy for each victim's cat at the murder scene.
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4. A Cat by Any Other Name, 1992
Alice and some other cat lovers cultivate a Manhattan herb garden that includes catnip, and are stunned by the apparent suicide of one of their number at a party celebrating their first crop.
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5. A Cat in the Wings, 1992
Alice's holiday outing to Lincoln Center to see The Nutcracker turns into another foray into murder when a ballet dancer is found dead during the performance, and an old friend is arrested and charged with the crime.
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6. A Cat With a Fiddle, 1993
When she delivers a Scottish Fold kitty to her owner, a member of a string quartet, at a peacful artists' colony in Massachusetts, Alice discovers that the group's guest pianist has been murdered and harmony is decidedly lacking.
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Out of print
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7. A Cat in a Glass House, 1993
Poor Alice can't even eat a meal in a Chinese restaurant without somebody being killed right before her eyes. And now she's convinced that the disappearance of a red tabby cat from the eatery is related to the murder of a waitress.
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Out of print
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8. A Cat With No Regrets, 1994
Offered a movie role and a big-bucks contract, Alice happily flies to Marseilles with her cats, Bushy and Pancho, for location filming. Then the death of the producer in a car crash kills her chance at cinema stardom, but not her appetite for sleuthing.
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Out of print
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9. A Cat on the Cutting Edge, 1994
Alice calls on the Village Cat People, a service for problem pets--but she has a bigger problem than just her recalcitrant kitty Pancho when the woman who is sent to help her ends up murdered right at Alice's front door.
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10. A Cat on a Winning Streak, 1995
In Atlantic City for an acting gig, Alice searches for the owner of a cat who has managed to crawl in through the window of her hotel room--and finds a dead body and an apparent killer, covered in blood. (Cover shown is from an earlier edition.)
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Out of print
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11. A Cat in Fine Style, 1995
Alice Nestleton, actress, cat-sitter, and now high-fashion model? Alice agrees to pose for a photo layout, and when someone dies from a food allergy during the shoot, she is certain the death was not just an unfortunate accident.
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Out of print
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12. A Cat in a Chorus Line, 1996
After witnessing the murder of an old acquaintance moments after she arrives at a gathering of theater folks, Alice investigates the link between him and his killer, and traces the motive for murder to the victim's musical theater days.
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13. A Cat Under the Mistletoe, 1996
Alice's latest cat-sitting chore involves bringing Roberta the troubled tortie to her shrink. And when the cat therapist is murdered, Alice links the crime to the unsolved murder of an unidentified woman ten years earlier.
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14. A Cat on a Beach Blanket, 1997
While housesitting on Long Island, Alice sees a cat wearing a bell, witnesses an explosion, and stumbles over a dead body in the sand dunes. And that's just in the first chapter. (Cover shown is from an earlier edition.)
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15. A Cat on Jingle Bell Rock, 1997
Alice is called in to investigate when a charitable group's anonymous benefactor suddenly disappears, leaving the organization in dire straits, which become even more dire when a board member inexplicably and publicly commits suicide.
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16. A Cat on Stage Left, 1998
Alice reluctantly agrees to board a cat for a hefty fee, but the cat's owner is gunned down right in front of her, and the cat she's brought to be boarded is only a stuffed toy. (Cover shown is from an earlier edition.)
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17. A Cat of One's Own, 1999
Alice helps her old friend Amanda find a cat to adopt from a shelter, but the distinctive-looking cat is promptly stolen and Amanda is killed when she goes to ransom him from his catnapper for a cool fifteen thousand dollars.
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18. A Cat With the Blues, 2000
When a divorcing couple's Russian blue cat becomes the pawn in a bitterly contested custody case, Alice is hired to cat-sit till a satisfactory arrangement can be worked out--and to prevent a possible catnapping by either party.
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19. A Cat With No Clue, 2001
Alice arranges for the delivery of a special anniversary meal for an elderly acting couple. Not a good idea--the next day, they're both dead from poisoning, and Alice has to clear herself of suspicion and find a home for their two kittens.
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20. A Cat Named Brat, 2002
The newest entry in the long-running Alice Nestleton series features the cat-sitting New York City actress investigating the murder of her latest unlucky client and trying to discover the whereabouts of his missing kitty. Read the review.
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