The Tell-Tail Heart is a fanciful story about how Edgar Allan Poe might have found the inspiration for his famous tale, The Tell Tale Heart. The story is told by his cat (and muse), Catterina Poe, a lovely tortoiseshell cat. Someone has murdered two people. Both victims are wealthy women, and both had a glass eye. Beautiful blue glass eyes. What reason would a murderer have for killing people who sport glass eyes? Why two in matching blue? Catterina is on the case.....and she valiantly works to get her master to understand her antics. It's hard to point out murder suspects when humans refuse to understand their cats!

I am a huge Edgar Allan Poe fan, so this story was so much fun to read! Catterina is a street-wise, intelligent kitty. The mystery is engaging and interesting. This series is so creative. The book also includes the text of Poe's a Tell Tale Heart at the end.

The cover art is awesome!

There is a prequel story about how Catterina met Poe and a second book, Black Cats, in the Catterina Mystery series. I'm definitely reading the whole series! :)
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This is pretend fiction and is very cute. It concerns one of mystery’s greatest authors, Edgar Allan Poe. He did have a tortoiseshell cat. Monica Shaughnessy found a couple of different spellings for the cat’s name. Cattarina seemed most used and most reasonable. Just like most cats, Cattarina owns her people; they don’t own her. She determines who will be allowed to pet her. All others, beware! And, she led Eddy to the clues that helped him detect who the murderer was. I loved how Cattarina seemed to sense that Virginia (Cissy) Poe was sick, and how she would sleep with her at night to help keep her warm. Anyone who has a cat can visualize Cattarina’s antics as Ms. Shaughnessy described them quite well. However, I did have a gag reflex concerning Cattarina’s holding the ‘eye’ in her mouth. This is the first in the series, but it does have a short story prequel called To the River. Rating for The Tell-Tail Heart: 4 out of 5. ( )

I received this book on a giveaway and I am glad I did. It's not a book I would typically pick out for myself. I enjoyed this book *much* more than I thought I would. I loved it!

I picked this book to enter to win because I love Edgar Allen Poe and I love mystery novels. I thought the idea of having his cat be the narrator was cute. I had no idea that I would get wrapped up in the story like I did. Cattarina is a great character. She is a diva & a detective and an entertaining narrator.

I don't want to give away too much of the story (I dislike reading reviews where the plot is talked about so much I don't feel the need to read the book after), but if you are on the fence about buying this - don't be! Read it now. ( )

The Tell-Tail Heart is a delightful romp in the catnip for both mystery readers and cat lovers. The story is told from the point of view of Cattarina, a black female cat who belongs (as much as any cat can belong to a human being) to the writer Edgar Allen Poe or Eddie as she is fond of calling him. Catters, as she is called by Eddie, finds a glass eye which leads her on an exciting adventure to solve a murder with the help of her beloved Eddie.

This novel is a quick read, evenly paced, and keeps the reader intrigued with “now what has Catters get herself into?” The characters and setting are well developed. The only detraction to the story is the weak development of the love relationship between Cattarina and Snow which may have been better served as a simple friendship. The Tell-Tail Heart is well written and comes recommended for tweens and older readers.

Cattarina is a charming character who most deservedly needs a second story! ( )

This is a fun book noting escapades of a once street cat who now lives with Eddie (Edgar) Allen Poe. I am the owner of three cats so I could fully imagine how Edgar Allen Poe's cat, Cattarina related to her master. The story is told by Cattarina from start to finish and what a finish it is. Cattarina weaves her tale revisiting her life as a "street cat", a cat who fiercely loves her master and is willing to risk her life to help her master solve the mystery of recent murders involving the removal of prosthetic eyes. Being Cattarina cannot verbally communicate with her master, she finds other ways to lead Edgar (Eddie) to the exciting conclusion of "who dun nit". The pace really picks up quickly at the end of the book.
I am looking forward to more Cattarina Tales! ( )

I was always a fan of Poe, and have several cats myself, so was looking forward to reading this book. I found it to be very well written and a fresh take on a well known historical figure and his fabulous feline. Cattarina's perspective was completely convincing, and I enjoyed the twists and turns of the mystery. This is a story I will read again and again, and I am looking forward to the next story from Cattarina. ( )

A Cat of Letters

"There are no coincidences, only cats with impeccable timing."

Philadelphia, 1842. A series of most unusual and gruesome murders has left the city on edge. In a fortnight, the bodies of two women have been discovered: each with their throats slashed - and their expensive, prosthetic glass eyes stolen right out of their sockets. Speculation runs the gamut: could "The Glass Eye Killer" be building an automaton, one stolen body part at a time? Maybe he's making a patchwork doll? Or perhaps it's something about these fake eyes (both pale blue) that triggers the madman to kill? Either way, with little to go on, it appears that the local police won't soon unmask the killer or his depraved motives.

Little Cattarina - "Catters" to her Eddie - is thrust into the middle of this human mystery when she stumbles upon a wayward glass eye while prowling the floors of Shakey House, a local pub. Much to her surprise and delight, the pilfered eye drags Eddie (as in Edgar Allen Poe) out of his funk. The Glass Eye Killer inspires him to begin a new story, which will eventually be known as "The Tell-Tale Heart."

("It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! He had the eye of a bird, a vulture -- a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell on me, my blood ran cold; and so -- very slowly -- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and free myself of the eye forever.")

As the mystery begins to eat away at Eddie - and draws the attention of the constables, who briefly focus their suspicions on him - Cattarina sets out to catch the killer, thus clearing Eddie, proving her worth as a hunter, and saving all of Philadelphia. Such a big burden for a feline to shoulder! Luckily, Cattarina is up to the task. She may be a "kept" cat, but Catters hasn't lost her street smarts.

The Tell-Tail Heart: A Cat Cozy is charming, well-written (and edited! I've become accustomed to spelling and grammatical errors in ebooks, but there are few to be found here.), and an all-around fun read. Normally I go for darker fare - dystopias dominate my fiction shelves - but I quite enjoyed the change of pace. Probably I won't make a habit of cozy mysteries, but between the unusual perspective (Cattarina is the narrator) and the Poe connection, this one really sucked me in.

The murder mystery is engaging enough, but it takes a backseat the Cattarina's unique voice, which is both believable and easily relatable. For example, when Catters frets about her inability to communicate with Eddie verbally, using human language - particularly when it comes to wife Virginia's declining health - her frustration is palpable. The feline politics, particularly the feral cats' prejudice against "kept" cats, is highly entertaining as well. ("It's not like that. Eddie and I have an evolved symbiotic relationship that transcends-" Cattarina protests at one point.)

The historical fiction (if it could loosely be called that) aspect is equally intriguing. Initially, it's a little weird to hear THE Edgar Allen Poe referred to in the familiar "Eddie." As The Glass Eye Killer case unfolds, it influences the development of Poe's latest story in unexpected and quite grotesque ways. (Recall that the story begins with a pale blue eye, but ends with a tell-tale heart beating beneath the floorboards.)

Shaughnessy offers a glimpse into Eddie's home life with his beloved Sissy and her mother Muddy. As with his writing, Sissy's health ebbs and flows; Catters worries about her almost as she does Eddie's happiness. The real Virginia Poe contracted tuberculosis in January 1842 - not long before the events in The Tell-Tail Heart - and died five years later, at the age of 24. Knowing this, the already-likeable Sissy becomes a much more sympathetic and tragic character. If, as the title suggests, this is indeed the first book in a series, it will be interesting (and not a little sad) to see how events in the Poe household develop.

Buy it for: fans of cozy mysteries; cats; cozy cat mysteries; and Edgar Allen Poe.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/05/26/the-tell-tail-heart-a-cat-cozy-by-monica-sh... ( )

I don't usually read "cozy" mysteries.
This one sounded real cute
because the main character is Catterina,Edgar Allan Poe's cat and muse!
I received it as a free ebook from LibraryThing to review.
Catterina is a silent,cogent observer of the scene to put it mildly!
Her narration is spoken in the parlance of the times,1840's
Philadelphia. "Catters" is what her owner "Eddie" calls her. Being a cat
(tortie)she is able to slip in and out of places with ease. This
allows her to follow suspects,keep up friendships with feral cat
pals and eventually aid the police in solving some gruesome murders.
This adventure helps immensely with Poe's writer's block and he turns
this murder mystery into a best selling story!
Bonus: In back of my ebook there is The story I read in jr. high,
The Tell Tale Heart plus a preview of another cozy cat featured mystery! ( )

I really enjoyed this novel. It is set around Edgar Allen Poe and you find out how he created the story with the help of his cat, Cattarina, who is the narrator. I liked the novel being told from her perspective and found it to have very amusing encounters as she makes her way around the city to discover who the murder is. The novel includes Poe's family as we know he lived with his sick wife and her mother and the author takes a good effort in trying to be accurate with the things we know about Poe from history, which I really liked and felt made the story more credible. I was swept along with Cattarina and followed her from place to place trying to solve the murder before she did - I must confess that I was close but did not get there first! I really liked this telling of the Tell-Tail Heart and will look for more from this author. ( )

Cute concept. The story is written from the point of view of a cat. Not just any cat, but the cat of Edger Allen Poe. The cat's name is Cattarina - can't you just see Poe naming his cat such a lovely and mysterious name? The story is short and quick which is fun to read on a dark and stormy night - just to heighten the mood. The cat and Poe are in sync mentally so as you read from the cat's perspective it is as if Poe is the cat at times. As you can tell from the name it is a play on Tell-Tale Heart and hence a mystery. a very good mystery which if you love Poe you will love this book, in fact I would dare say that Poe if he had thought of this might have written it himself. I really was amused. ( )

Having finished "The Tell-Tail Heart," I CATegorically rate it a 9 out of 10. I would have given it a "10," but cats only have 9 lives. I see this book as a CATalyst between horror and humor. The main story is horrific, as Eddie intended. But, Cattarina provided a CATharsis, in a kitten-like way.
I look forward to more of Cattarina's adventures as Eddie's muse. ( )

This story is full of enjoyable characters but none better than the narrator herself Cattarina, Mr Poe's cat. She speaks of the life as a cat living in the Poe household and the interesting adventure that leads to the writing of the Tell Tale Heart. Whether it was seeing connections and guiding her companion Eddie in the right direction or taking matters into her own paws this was a tale worth reading.

I found this story short but it kept me reading until the end and I await eagerly for the next in the series if there is to be one.

Lastly, I received a free copy of this ebook from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review ( )