The Cat that Played Chess

by Catarrina Cummings

Having received an eviction notice, Zapporah Leverne needs money fast. Her current job as a Product Tester will not meet the deadline. She believes her extraordinary cat named Rookie can fix this. This feline is so good at copying humans that she can move chess pieces on the chessboard. Zapporah pulls ropes to land Rookie a part in a commercial. Her cat wows the director to the point he thinks she would be good in his reality television series. But Rookie is stolen from Zapporah's apartment. Although there are barely any clues to the thief's identity, Zapporah's roommate, Sloth, believes the landlady is the thief and attempts to prove it. When Zapporah receives a voice message with a cat meowing in the background from talent agent, Gloria Stravos, her suspicions are confirmed. Whoever stole Rookie will put her in show business. Arriving at Gloria's office, Zapporah discovers Gloria has been murdered. Things don't look good for Zapporah when the homicide detective learns she and Gloria had a history of fighting. Will Zapporah's intuition and tech-savvy help find Rookie and save her from a cunning murderer hiding behind the cloak of a white nationalist organization?

235 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 8, 2023

Reviews

[Poonamdeep Kaur]

This story was suspenseful and quirky, just like Zapporah's cat! This book had some unexpected twists and turns that got you to hate some characters while loving some of the others. I especially grew alot of disdain towards Sloth because in his efforts to escape his extremely wealthy but corrupt family, not only did he become completely dependent on Zapporah for his housing and food, but he has the audacity to be upset over the fact the Zapporah won't accept his romantic advances while he's sitting on her couch, living rent free and eating up all of her food

[Mary Morse]

Excellent mystery

This was a Great read. The mystery hung on until the end which was great. The characters were beautifully fleshed out. I really enjoyed having the Chapters Featuring Different points of view From different characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book Congratulations ms. Cummings!

[Emily Hussey]

One helliva cat

Enjoyed the adventures- made a long train journey pass quickly. Some snicker out loud moments, even if I was astonished at the shit food Sloth keeps eating. I want a cat like Rookie.

[Aurora]

This book will have you guessing to the very end about what happened to this cat’

[Rebecca Hofstetter]

This was a fun read following along with Rookie, Zap, and Sloth. The typos were distracting, so I'll come back and rate higher if those get fixed in future printings.

[Jill White]

I'm always a sucker for a cat story.