by: Kit Gray
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: May 26, 2026
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
A charming cozy mystery with a delightful twist: The detectives are three kittens with magical powers, determined to solve a most purr-plexing case.
Precocious kittens Bippity, Boppity, and Boop are exceedingly loyal to their human, the twenty-eight-year-old up-and-coming magician Mila. She saved them from starving to death in a dingy Corvin’s Crossing alleyway and has been nothing but loving ever since, even though her own life is in shambles.
So when Mila’s sketchy boyfriend and business manager turns up dead at the end of her big magic show—she’s the prime suspect. With evidence mounting, there’s nothing stopping the sheriff from hauling away Mila to the human pound. Unless the kittens can solve the crime and clear her name.
The kittens will have to use their dubious control over the laws of physics and every whisker of know-how they’ve got to catch the real killer if they want to save their happy home with Mila. This is one meow-stery more tangled than any ball of yarn they’ve encountered yet.
Boppity: We’re—
Bippity: Shh! I’m in charge! We’re quite well, thank you. Much better now that we’ve been rescued by a human.
That’s really good. First of all, congratulations on having your story on how you saved your human told. Since there are three of you, I’m going to let you decide if you all want to answer my questions, or if only one of you is going to be the group spokeskitten.
Thank you for asking! I, Bippity, will be the spokeskitten for this interview. After all, I’m the oldest and the cleverest, and obviously, that means I’m in charge of—
Hiiiiii! I’m Boop! Bippity is busy wrestle-battling Boppity, so I’ll answer your questions!
Lol. Okay. Can you tell me briefly how Mila (your human) and you guys became a family?
Our mother disappeared, and we were trapped in a box. Then Bippity had this lovely idea that we should all meow together for some reason. It was so fun, I meowed as loudly as I could! Suddenly, this glorious human came over! She had long, coppery-brown hair and soft hands and a sad face. But when she saw us, it turned into a happy face! And that was Mila!
💜 I hear you guys are a little magical. What are your special talents?
Don’t let the other humans know, okay? It’s against the Law of Cats. Humans must NEVER know. Promise?
I promise not to say a word.
Bippity is a queen, so it’s no wonder that photons obey her. You want to know what photons are? Me too. You can ask her, once Boppity is done chewing on her ear. I guess they’re kind of like tiny bits of light, except sometimes they’re waves, not bits. Whatever they are, she tells them shoo! And they go where she says! She makes us invisible sometimes!
Boppity is a fierce warrior, and he can see these things called qubits, which he says are inside of everything. He can tangle up the qubits of two objects, and then when he thwaps one, the other one goes fyoo! Right across the room! Even if it’s a shoe with a human’s foot in it!
And me? I purr. I’m really good at it. It’s really important, because our human’s purrer is broken. So I have to purr for her, too.
That’s so sweet of you, Boop. I like to think that cats have a sixth sense about people. I know you guys are crazy about Mila. Who else in your story are you crazy about and why?
My favorite human, besides Mila, is Ms. Fi. Mila doesn’t have a mother, just like we don’t. Ms. Fi is kind of like her mother, and her cat, Hylia, who I’m pretty sure is the Empress of the Universe, is like a mother to us. I love Ms. Fi because whenever Mila is with her, she gets all soft and calm, like she feels safe.
Let’s play a game. Tell me who the statement mostly resembles.
Sleep late: Meeeeeeee!
Eat all the kitten/cat treats: Boppity! He’s the hungriest kitten EVER!
Run into the wall doing zoomies: Me again! I oops a lot!
Climb onto the kitchen counters: Bippity, so she can see her domain!
Start a fight amongst the three of you: Boppity! He loves battle!
Boss the others around: Definitely Bippity! I bet you guessed that one.
Give Mila love bites: I give Mila love-slobbers! Does that count?
Most likely to bite in anger: Boppity again! He’s so brave!
Final question. What can readers expect from your story, The Black Cat Detectives?
It has funny parts and scary parts and even some sad parts, and I bet you’ll be surprised at the end.
You’re really lucky, because you get to meet Mila, the most wonderful human in the world, and see her clever human magic tricks. You get to discover how clever and responsible Bippity is, and how brave and fierce Boppity is, and I will purr many times. I promise!
There are clangy bits and chewy bits and growly bits and poofy bits and shouty bits and zoomy bits, but don’t worry. Everywhere you look, there are purr piles and yummy treats.
Most of all, there’s joy. That’s what our story is really all about. I hope after you read it, you’ll carry it around inside you like a purr that never ends!
Boop, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for me. It was very nice meeting and talking with you!
Kit Gray aka Elise Scott writes from their lived experiences of queerness, disability, neurodivergence, fat-positivity, and petting three cats with two hands. Their life has been an adventure, from facilitating equine therapy for trauma survivors to counseling at-risk youth with the aid of an inordinately large sub-woofer and beyond. They earned their BA from Mount Holyoke and their MS from Capella University. Their debut novel, a cozy mystery featuring three kittens with the ability to bend the laws of physics, who must solve a murder to save their rescuer from the human pound, is forthcoming from Crooked Lane in May 2026. Elise is a Not Quite Write Prize winner and Best-of-the-Net nominee. Their short work has appeared/is forthcoming in The Advocate, Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror, The Not Quite Write Anthology 2025, The B’K, Five Minutes, Knee Brace, All Existing, and Quibble, among others. Find out what they’re working on now at their website.
That’s really good. First of all, congratulations on having your story on how you saved your human told. Since there are three of you, I’m going to let you decide if you all want to answer my questions, or if only one of you is going to be the group spokeskitten.
Thank you for asking! I, Bippity, will be the spokeskitten for this interview. After all, I’m the oldest and the cleverest, and obviously, that means I’m in charge of—
Hiiiiii! I’m Boop! Bippity is busy wrestle-battling Boppity, so I’ll answer your questions!
Lol. Okay. Can you tell me briefly how Mila (your human) and you guys became a family?
Our mother disappeared, and we were trapped in a box. Then Bippity had this lovely idea that we should all meow together for some reason. It was so fun, I meowed as loudly as I could! Suddenly, this glorious human came over! She had long, coppery-brown hair and soft hands and a sad face. But when she saw us, it turned into a happy face! And that was Mila!
💜 I hear you guys are a little magical. What are your special talents?
Don’t let the other humans know, okay? It’s against the Law of Cats. Humans must NEVER know. Promise?
I promise not to say a word.
Bippity is a queen, so it’s no wonder that photons obey her. You want to know what photons are? Me too. You can ask her, once Boppity is done chewing on her ear. I guess they’re kind of like tiny bits of light, except sometimes they’re waves, not bits. Whatever they are, she tells them shoo! And they go where she says! She makes us invisible sometimes!
Boppity is a fierce warrior, and he can see these things called qubits, which he says are inside of everything. He can tangle up the qubits of two objects, and then when he thwaps one, the other one goes fyoo! Right across the room! Even if it’s a shoe with a human’s foot in it!
And me? I purr. I’m really good at it. It’s really important, because our human’s purrer is broken. So I have to purr for her, too.
That’s so sweet of you, Boop. I like to think that cats have a sixth sense about people. I know you guys are crazy about Mila. Who else in your story are you crazy about and why?
My favorite human, besides Mila, is Ms. Fi. Mila doesn’t have a mother, just like we don’t. Ms. Fi is kind of like her mother, and her cat, Hylia, who I’m pretty sure is the Empress of the Universe, is like a mother to us. I love Ms. Fi because whenever Mila is with her, she gets all soft and calm, like she feels safe.
Let’s play a game. Tell me who the statement mostly resembles.
Sleep late: Meeeeeeee!
Eat all the kitten/cat treats: Boppity! He’s the hungriest kitten EVER!
Run into the wall doing zoomies: Me again! I oops a lot!
Climb onto the kitchen counters: Bippity, so she can see her domain!
Start a fight amongst the three of you: Boppity! He loves battle!
Boss the others around: Definitely Bippity! I bet you guessed that one.
Give Mila love bites: I give Mila love-slobbers! Does that count?
Most likely to bite in anger: Boppity again! He’s so brave!
Final question. What can readers expect from your story, The Black Cat Detectives?
It has funny parts and scary parts and even some sad parts, and I bet you’ll be surprised at the end.
You’re really lucky, because you get to meet Mila, the most wonderful human in the world, and see her clever human magic tricks. You get to discover how clever and responsible Bippity is, and how brave and fierce Boppity is, and I will purr many times. I promise!
There are clangy bits and chewy bits and growly bits and poofy bits and shouty bits and zoomy bits, but don’t worry. Everywhere you look, there are purr piles and yummy treats.
Most of all, there’s joy. That’s what our story is really all about. I hope after you read it, you’ll carry it around inside you like a purr that never ends!
Boop, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for me. It was very nice meeting and talking with you!
Purchase The Black Cat Detectives from:
(Affiliate Links Used)
Places to find Kit Gray:
You can follow The Black Cat Detectives Blog Tour here.
Thank you so much for interviewing Boop and for the delightful interview questions! What a fun tour stop this is!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Thank you for stopping by. I'm looking forward to reading the book. I LOVED speaking with Boop.
Delete