Book Review: The Suspicions of Mr Whisker (2024) by Mandy Morton

I received a review copy of this book from Farrago Books via NetGalley for which my thanks.

Mandy Morton’s mysteries of which The Suspicions of Mr Whisker is no 13 (and the fourth that I’ve read so far) may be set in an alternative world, ‘peopled’ by cats and made fun and enjoyable by puns, translation of real-world aspects people into feline counterparts and copious amounts of food, but the mysteries as I’ve mentioned in reviews of previous reads are not only solid, they are nowhere near the cosies one would ordinarily expect from the settings and broad concept. Rather we get characters with very human traits whose relationships and dynamics mirror that of human beings and consequently show one some of the worst sides of human beings.

This is even more true of this instalment which is the darkest I’ve read so far and even though I’d seen a fellow reviewer mention this aspect, I didn’t realise how dark until I actually started reading. While this is no ways reflects on the quality of the writing or indeed how engrossing the book was, I think one should be aware of the possible triggers here which include suicide, abuse and some rather grisly deaths.

While the story opens with Hetty Bagshot and Tilly Jenkins, proprietors of the No. 2 investigating mysterious graffiti artists who’ve been vandalising some shopfronts, soon discovered to be a group of students from Mr Whisker’s Academy for Wayward Cats, things soon assume a far more serious turn when Mr Whisker engages their services to investigate the brutal murder of a teacher and they also find the Academy has recently been seeing a string of suicides by students. Mr Whisker’s Academy is very reminiscent of Wackford Squeers’ Dotheboys Hall including the unpleasantness of the Whisker family (husband, wife and daughter Bathsheba) but one finds with Hetty and Tilly that things here are much worse, with the students being not only unwanted by their families but delinquents and the school being run entirely contrary to its objective.

Hetty and Tilly, aided by Bruiser who drives them around in his motorcycle with side-car, Miss Scarlett, barely start looking into the matter when other incidents begin to occur and the body count starts to rise. Secrets and mysterious goings on are uncovered but can they solve what’s really plaguing the Academy? And stop the murderer?

The Suspicions of Mr Whisker had all the elements that I love about Mandy Morton’s series from the title itself being a parodying the popular detective series (TV and books) to the puns and feline equivalents she’s created like the Much Purring set of hamlets (Much Purring on the Rug and Much Purring in the Blanket among them) where this mystery is set. If one visits the cinema, one might get to watch Ben Fur while the stained glass at the school is done by Preflufflelite cats. To balance these off though, real-life elements are retained too—so while ‘Shirley Bushy’ might be singing her ‘James Blond’ hit ‘Biscuits are Forever’, their TV still runs Sunday Night at the London Palladium.  

The other of my favourites is the surfeit, one might say, of food. To say Hetty and Tilly have healthy appetites would not just be an understatement but rather an injustice—from mixed grills to fish and chips to eggy bread and sausages and sumptuous teas (most followed not long after by another meal which these two don’t take long to clear off)—this one has it all. (I loved how Morton described one of these episodes: The once-laden tea table was a poor shadow of its former self by the time Clara collected up the empty plates. In case you were wondering what that table might have been laden with: ‘beef, chicken and salmon sandwiches with the crusts cut off; a giant pork pie… cheese and fruit scones, a Victoria sandwich; an assortment of small buns, iced and sprinkled with hundred and thousands’—I’m sure I’ve made you hungry).  

In this book especially, these staples also tempered the darker and grislier aspects of the mystery threads. Hetty and Tilly are faced with the murders and the suicides at the Academy amongst a group of students who have all committed heinous acts in the past and are perhaps more than capable of doing so again. Other subplots, secrets and mysterious goings on are interwoven with these threads with the result that one can’t but read on to see how things will be resolved, in terms of solving the murders as also the future of the students and Academy and numerous other characters. In the process there is action and drama but also pain and heartbreak. But Morton luckily resolves things well, realistic but hopeful.

Alongside we also follow along with some of the happenings at Hetty and Tilly’s village including local gossip, which also come with their own surprises.

The Suspicions of Mr Whisker may not quite be a cosy but it is an engrossing read, with a satisfying, though sombre mystery interspersed with lighter moments in the catty elements and food.

Book details: Farrago Books, 2024, pp. 220