The Start of It All (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781839757341)

Do cats and dogs make good detectives? Jake, one of Ma and Pa Dawson's Siamese cats, thinks they do. At least, he's more than willing to give it a try. Jake lives a comfortable life with his three feline companions, Libby, Ginny and Wesley, but he's always complaining that nothing ever happens and longs for something to bring some excitement into his life. His chance comes when the Valley Villages, where the Dawsons live, are hit by a series of audacious burglaries. The local police are completely stumped and so, after some persuasion from Jake, the four Dawson cats decide to lend a paw and catch the burglars themselves. Roping in several other village cats and dogs on the way, the animals use their particular skills in an attempt to discover the identity of the burglars and catch them in the act. New friendships are made and old grudges forgotten as the animals work together to deliver their villages from the rogues attacking them. In the process they become an efficient and resourceful team. However, the reality of the mission is not quite as easy as the idea and the animals find they have to seriously exercise their brain power in order to overcome the difficulties they face, which interfere with the progress of their self-imposed task. Not only that, the enterprise turns out to be more perilous than any of them had expected. Several members of the team find themselves in situations which are fraught with danger and, at times, the chance that not all the animals will escape unscathed is a real possibility. The final confrontation with the burglars tests all their ingenuity and courage, with more than one of the team facing real danger.