True to her word, Dimity's next choice was a cosy murder mystery. The Cat Who Caught A Killer by L. T. Shearer. It was an easy read, Ursula complained.
'Well, it's a busy month for you, what with the children and exam time, I think it was an ideal choice. Not every book needs to be a classic with multiple themes' reasoned Ada gently. Julie smiled. Ursula was prone to making everyone read the classics or something that was a bit more pretentious. She and Ursula were at loggerheads about suitable topics and curriculum. Ursula was not impressed by Julie's liberal hippy approach and Julie thought that Ursula was far too regimented and priggish for her children's good.
Ada turned to Hecate.
'Imagine our cats being able to talk. Imagine the things they would say.'
Hecate frowned.
'If it was a competition between your cat and mine, your cat might be the one to murder somebody and mine might be the one to detect it.'
Ada laughed. She took no offence that her Pendell was not the smartest cat on the street, never thuggish but unable to resist clumsily getting himself into scrapes. He was also a genius at sucking up to people. Just turned on the charm and most people melted. Hecate didn't seem one of them.
'Certainly, he's no evil genius' she conceded. 'Just as well, I don't need one of those in my house.'
Hecate glanced at her and nodded. She seemed ill at ease with small talk and didn't join in on jokes. Her reviews could be scathing but were well reasoned. She didn't appreciate Dimity calling her HB and didn't care for Julie's beetroot cakes. The most she did was smile at the ground if Ursula was being made fun of. An odd duck but Ada was used to all sorts.