Honey West and T.H.E. Cat “A Girl and Her Cat”

Official Solicitation:

When an exotic green-eyed Asian doctor hires Honey to recover a stolen sample of a new influenza vaccine from a rival scientist, the blonde bombshell private eye—suspicious but bored—takes the case. But when she’s attacked not once, but twice, on her way from Long Beach to San Francisco to track downher quarry, she knows there’s more—much more—to her femme fatale client than meets the eye.

Along the way, Honey’s one-time paramour Johnny Doom—ex-bounty hunter and current Company agent—reenters the picture, and the gorgeous doctor’s insidious—and deadly—grandfather deals himself in. But when Honey questions whether Johnny’s playing her game, or just playing her for a patsy, she joins forces—as only Honey can—with the one man in Frisco who can help her recover the stolen vaccine-cum-bioweapon and prevent a worldwide epidemic—former cat burglar-turned-bodyguard Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat: T.H.E Cat!

Join writers Win Scott Eckert and Matthew Baugh, and cover artist Douglas Klauba, for A Girl and Her Cat, a groovy, racy 1960s romp.

I finally made it down the stack (do ebooks wind up in 'stacks'?) to this one.

The two main characters from two of the mid-sixties best 'one season wonder' television shows team up in this novel by Win Scott Eckert and Matthew Baugh.

Honey West is an ocelot-owning, judo using private eye who also happens to be a total knockout. She was played by Anne Francis.

T. Hewitt Edward Cat is a former circus aerialist (who never used a net) and cat burglar who abandoned his life of crime to become a bodyguard. He was played by Robert Loggia.

If you're a fan of either show (I'm much more familiar with Honey West thanks to its runs on MeTV) or sixties spy stories in general, there's a lot to like packed into this book. Along the way there are references to or cameos by several well-known genre characters. If you're familiar with them and like this sort of thing, you're in for a treat. Eckert and Baugh know their stuff when it comes to these classic characters and it shows.

Unfortunately, due to the pesky nature of copyrights, most of these other characters can't be named outright and if you don't know who they are, I can see where it could be a bit frustrating for the reader. That said, the scenes are handled well enough to not mar the flow of the story. It's a small nit to pick and really, it's hard to believe anyone interested in the book wouldn't already have enough of a passing knowledge of other characters from the same time frame to not pick up on who they are.

Moonstone Books published another winner with this one. Their track record with classic characters (they've also published books and comics about Buckaroo Banzai, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Zorro, the Green Hornet, the Lone Ranger, The Phantom, and many more - quite of few of which have also been written by Eckert and Baugh - like I said, they know their stuff) has been pretty darn good in my eyes and this is no exception.

I think it's too late to get the hardcover, but the ebook is easy enough to come by for both Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook tablets, so do yourself a favor and take a short stroll thru the swinging, sexy, sixties.