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Pet Noir
Can a lowly gumpaw hope for love with a girl who rides in a jewel-encrusted carrier?
Feline investigator Leon, with opposable thumbs and the ability to talk, is possibly the most dangerous cat in the galaxy. Indentured to the Security department of Gamma Station until the cost of his creation is paid off, Leon alternates between harassing his human partner/roommate Devin and fighting sleazoid criminals, yet still finds time to flirt with the lovely Leila, an exotic Burmese who lives in the swankiest level of the station. Will he win her heart, and more important—will he win his freedom?
Feline investigator Leon, with opposable thumbs and the ability to talk, is possibly the most dangerous cat in the galaxy. Indentured to the Security department of Gamma Station until the cost of his creation is paid off, Leon alternates between harassing his human partner/roommate Devin and fighting sleazoid criminals, yet still finds time to flirt with the lovely Leila, an exotic Burmese who lives in the swankiest level of the station. Will he win her heart, and more important—will he win his freedom?
Paperback
Published May 10, 2011
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About the author
Pati Nagle
51 books62 followersPati Nagle is the author of two linked romantic fantasy series: the Blood of the Kindred historical series (THE BETRAYAL, HEART OF THE EXILED, SWORDS OVER FIRESHORE), and The Immortal Saga contemporary series (IMMORTAL, ETERNAL, FOREVER). She was born and raised in the mountains of northern New Mexico. An avid student of music, history, and humans in general, she loves the outdoors but hides from the sun.
Nagle's stories have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Cicada, Cricket, and in various anthologies, including collections honoring New Mexico writers Jack Williamson and Roger Zelazny. She has also written a series of historical novels as P.G. Nagle. She is a Writers of the Future finalist and finalist for the New Mexico Press Women's Zia Award. Her short story "Coyote Ugly" received an honorable mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and was honored as a finalist for the Theodore Sturgeon Award.
She lives in the mountains in New Mexico with her husband and two furry muses, surrounded by trees, starry skies, and wildlife.
Nagle's stories have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Cicada, Cricket, and in various anthologies, including collections honoring New Mexico writers Jack Williamson and Roger Zelazny. She has also written a series of historical novels as P.G. Nagle. She is a Writers of the Future finalist and finalist for the New Mexico Press Women's Zia Award. Her short story "Coyote Ugly" received an honorable mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and was honored as a finalist for the Theodore Sturgeon Award.
She lives in the mountains in New Mexico with her husband and two furry muses, surrounded by trees, starry skies, and wildlife.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 12, 2011
Pet Noir by Pati Nagle is about a genetically modified cat named Leon, who has thumbs and can talk. He was bought by Chief Wright to help solve crimes, and is taken from the lab he was born in, and from his mother and siblings as a kitten.
The story goes from Leon being a kitten to an adult, he gets a roommate named Devin to take care of him, and also be his partner, he along with the chief are the only ones who know that he can talk. It’s in novel form, but it’s like a bunch of little short story crimes.
A good, quick read, makes me kind of wish that Leon was my cat.
[Read for LibraryThing Early Review Program.]
The story goes from Leon being a kitten to an adult, he gets a roommate named Devin to take care of him, and also be his partner, he along with the chief are the only ones who know that he can talk. It’s in novel form, but it’s like a bunch of little short story crimes.
A good, quick read, makes me kind of wish that Leon was my cat.
[Read for LibraryThing Early Review Program.]
January 23, 2021
This was definitely written by someone who owns cats - I could see my cats in the story and I imagined them in the same situations that the author had put Leon in. I liked the flow of the book, even though the world was described in a few words, and so was most of the characters, I still could see all the places, faces, creatures and I just felt like I'm wandering through the Gamma station with Leon by my side. Great book!
August 20, 2011
Pulp efiction starring genetically modified cat with oposable thumbs as a crime fighter on a space station.
June 20, 2011
This is a cat mystery book with a science fiction twist. Leon is a genetically modified cat who can speak and has thumbs like a human. He is sent to Gamma Station far away from his mother and siblings when he is only a few weeks old in order to serve out his time to pay for his modification by helping out the security force on Gamma Station. He assists his human partner, Devin in solving crimes on the station. The book is actually a set of different short mysteries that work together in this e book. The readers see Leon’s point of view of life on the station and he even makes a few friends that help him in solving the crimes. This book would appeal to fans of the Cat Who and the Mrs. Murphy books.
August 5, 2011
I truly enjoyed this story about a cat named Leon who is sent into outer space to solve a mystery. Leon is a genetic breed of cats who is designed to be stationed in a security base in outerspace. Leon loves to tease his human friends and is fond of a certain Burmese cat. Pet Noir is Leon's story and his travels through the galaxies solving crime. This is a cute little book to read when you want to read something lite. I was drawn to this story because I am a cat lover and love stories about cats.
June 27, 2011
LibraryThing Early Review eBook
Leon is a genetically adapted cat working in security on a space station. This collection of interlinked adventures with his human and feline companions is a fun, light and charming read.
I would recommend this book highly. Leon is an entertaining, engaging protagonist and I look forward to his future exploits
Leon is a genetically adapted cat working in security on a space station. This collection of interlinked adventures with his human and feline companions is a fun, light and charming read.
I would recommend this book highly. Leon is an entertaining, engaging protagonist and I look forward to his future exploits
April 12, 2014
A cat detective working security at a space station is a fun premise for a book. This is collection of stories about Leon, a genetically engineered cat, and pals both feline and human who solve a series of crime mysteries. Leon has a great personality. Hopefully Pati Nagle will write more about his adventures.
December 9, 2014
Whilst Pet Noir originally sounded right up my street, especially as I am rather fond of cats, the reality was disappointing.
The book follows Leon, a genetically engineered cat, who solves a range of cases along with his human companion Devin. That is perhaps the book's biggest downfall, as it is actually five short stories rather than one novel, which interrupted the flow when reading it. Some of the cases were predictable and felt rushed towards the end.
My one other major criticism is that the characterisation, at times, is unbelievable. Leon and Devin, are beautifully written, and it is a shame that the other characters are not written with such care.
I did however like the idea of a cat detective, and Pet Noir did make me laugh in places.
As a final word, I would warn hard-core Sci-Fi fans that this is only really Sci-Fi in context, and the plot is rather more humour-based than heavy science-fiction.
Overall, I finished the book but didn't really like it, although that could be just that it wasn't what I expected. I wouldn't read this again, and I would only recommend it to fans of this particular sub-genre or perhaps the teenage reader, who wants something different.
The book follows Leon, a genetically engineered cat, who solves a range of cases along with his human companion Devin. That is perhaps the book's biggest downfall, as it is actually five short stories rather than one novel, which interrupted the flow when reading it. Some of the cases were predictable and felt rushed towards the end.
My one other major criticism is that the characterisation, at times, is unbelievable. Leon and Devin, are beautifully written, and it is a shame that the other characters are not written with such care.
I did however like the idea of a cat detective, and Pet Noir did make me laugh in places.
As a final word, I would warn hard-core Sci-Fi fans that this is only really Sci-Fi in context, and the plot is rather more humour-based than heavy science-fiction.
Overall, I finished the book but didn't really like it, although that could be just that it wasn't what I expected. I wouldn't read this again, and I would only recommend it to fans of this particular sub-genre or perhaps the teenage reader, who wants something different.
May 3, 2018
A collection of mystery-ish stories told from the POV of Leon, a cat geneteched to have opposable thumbs, human-level intelligence, and the ability to speak. In a somewhat logic-stretching move, a "small town" space station's security department bought one of these very very expensive cats to help them solve a case. Each of the other five stories in the book involve Leon and his human cop/partner solving other cases.
The first story (Leon as a kitten, just arriving on the space station, everything new to him) was the best by far. I would have rated the book higher, if it were only that story.
One of the reasons this book sat in my To Read pile so long was the title. To be honest, I had picked up this book expecting it to be so bad that it might be amusing. It wasn't bad at all -- it was exactly what it billed itself to be. I'm not a mystery book reader though, and the whole 'noir' genre doesn't work for me, so through my own fault, the book wasn't a good match for me. As the stories went along, Leon's voice changed, and it was more and more sounding like noir, so eventually I bailed. I stopped reading at the 63% point, in the middle of the third story.
The first story (Leon as a kitten, just arriving on the space station, everything new to him) was the best by far. I would have rated the book higher, if it were only that story.
One of the reasons this book sat in my To Read pile so long was the title. To be honest, I had picked up this book expecting it to be so bad that it might be amusing. It wasn't bad at all -- it was exactly what it billed itself to be. I'm not a mystery book reader though, and the whole 'noir' genre doesn't work for me, so through my own fault, the book wasn't a good match for me. As the stories went along, Leon's voice changed, and it was more and more sounding like noir, so eventually I bailed. I stopped reading at the 63% point, in the middle of the third story.
May 14, 2016
EDIT: I received this book in a LibraryThing's Giveaway.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but with the Noir part comes all the misogyny with it. All the women in the book are either criminals, sex objects or mothers and that includes the cats. YES, even the female cats are only there for Leon's pleasure. Women are spoken of as being "impossible to understand" and other such nonsense. So really the stories were cliche and bland.
Another thing that keeps getting mentioned is food, Leon the main cat is always eating and begging for scraps and food that it's more or less filler for most of the book. It really felt like a lot of repetition. Overall none of the stories were deep crime thrillers or maybe even noir thrillers.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but with the Noir part comes all the misogyny with it. All the women in the book are either criminals, sex objects or mothers and that includes the cats. YES, even the female cats are only there for Leon's pleasure. Women are spoken of as being "impossible to understand" and other such nonsense. So really the stories were cliche and bland.
Another thing that keeps getting mentioned is food, Leon the main cat is always eating and begging for scraps and food that it's more or less filler for most of the book. It really felt like a lot of repetition. Overall none of the stories were deep crime thrillers or maybe even noir thrillers.
November 27, 2013
This is a satisfying series of events for any cat person, and Leon has the fur to go the whole way with his detective stories. A super security cat, who is just making his way in the interstellar world, he realizes that his genetic engineering has placed him between the human/alien world, and the cat world. Not a comfortable place for such a youngster but shows him to be a feline of great promise, from a human perspective. Even his humans appreciate him more and more. And he knows how to be tough when he needs to be. Leon, aka "Tux" is a cat for the ages. More, please.
September 29, 2014
A guilty pleasure. Reminds me of the old style science fiction before everything got so glittery-vampirey-werewolf-everyone-is-a-secret-fairy-princessy. It's like early Heinlein, before he hit puberty and discovered girls have boobs.
It also reminds me of Cat-A-Lyst by Alan Dean Foster.
This ebook edition does not change font size which made it difficult to read.
It also reminds me of Cat-A-Lyst by Alan Dean Foster.
This ebook edition does not change font size which made it difficult to read.
October 1, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. While a light read, Leon's adventures reveal satisfying world building, such as life on an established, working space station that is more like a small town than a space vessel (pets and parks!), and the social problems attached to genetic engineering and the creation of new beings, who have to pay back their (unasked for) creation. Leon the genetically engineered cat is a charming narrator, and his interactions with humans and the established cats on station are fun. I just hope the author has more Leon stories, because I want to read them!
January 5, 2014
Fun little ride with a genetically altered cat, Leon, on board a space station where he and his human partner, Devon, fight crime. Filled with little cat tidbits, a Persian named Butch (or Cuddles as named by his human) a slightly crazy short-hair named Spats, and a lovely Burmese named Leila, this was a sweet set of short stories. I'd love a full length novel!
August 18, 2011
A fun collection of short stories told from an undercover cat detective's point of view. Nagle has created fun characters and has written with attention to little cat details that made this an enjoyable afternoon treat with my own kitten curled on my lap napping.
July 28, 2011
strange premise but quite cute
January 8, 2013
A cat, genetically engineered so he has thumbs and can talk, solves mysteries. On a space station. Do you need more awesome than that?
December 27, 2013
Not as fun as I thought it would be.
January 25, 2021
Fun littler book!
January 28, 2021
Who knew Sci-Fi could be so cute and cuddly. It was a fun brain-candy story. I'd read more.
November 2, 2023
Fun and great concept, maybe a little sillier than I'm used to.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews