Cats Bearing Gifts was my first Joe Grey mystery, but I don't think it will be my last. I've been reading fantasies as long as I've been reading mysteries and I don't mind a blend of one or more genres. The idea of cats who speak human (okay, American English), as well as cat is fine by me. I'm sure that Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tee Tucker from Rita Mae & Sneaky Pie Brown's mysteries would envy these cats for being able to communicate with their chosen humans. Also, the bits about a mysterious netherworld that one of the humans has visited were interesting.

There are multiple third-person viewpoints, human and cat, in this mystery, including that of the villain, the kind of jerk who believes that everything bad is someone else's fault and he had nothing to do with it. The reader knows what's going on and has to wait for our heroes to put it together. The humans are nice, the cats are charming, the villain worthy of boos and tossings of popcorn. It was fun. I liked Ms. Boyce's narration. ( )