Cry Of The Cat (Raven Hill Mysteries, #4)

by Emily Rodda

Even though I've been looking for years, I've never managed to track down all 30 of the Teen Power Inc series. I really hope at some point these are released in ebook format. Or reprinted as paperbacks. I'm not really fussed but I would definitely like to read all of them in some format. Still over the years I've read a great many of them and have recently been rereading the ones I have. (And scouring auctions and used bookstores for missing copies.)

Anyway Teen Power Inc is brilliant. They're lighthearted mysteries featuring a cast of six teenagers who start their own odd job business to earn money. Each book is narrated by a different character. There's Liz who is the mother hen. She is passionate about equality and fairness and helping others. Her best friend is Sunny who is super sporty. She spends a lot of her time exercising and attending taekwondo and gymnastic classes. Tom is the class clown of the group, always ready with a joke and his sketchpad. Elmo is the reporter. He joins the group in the first novel, when the gang accept a job as the new delivery people for the Pen (the local newspaper) that Elmo's father owns. Nick is described as being "cool". He's always ready with the right words and the charm. And last of all is Richelle who is the fashionista and kind of an airhead. Each book focuses on the adventures and mysteries the group fall into when they start a new job.

Cry of the Cat introduces Elmo. Elmo is kind of the odd one out in the group. He's a bit shy and a bit of a loner but he's also passionate about things he believes in and is obsessed with reporting and the local newspaper (the Pen) his grandfather started. He lost his mother when he was young and grew up with his dad and grandfather (at least that's implied by the first book) and his cat, Shadow. His dad works a lot as the editor of the Pen - so prior to joining Teen Power Inc, Elmo spent a lot of time by himself or working. As such, he seems to have trouble relating to people, particularly kids his own age. He clashes the most with Nick and Richelle who tend towards being obsessed with fashion and popularity. But he genuinely likes all of the gang and feels happy to belong.

The start of the novel sees Elmo waiting for his cat, Shadow to come home. A lot of cats in the area have gone missing and Elmo is concerned about Shadow's delay in getting back. But Shadow comes back and Elmo puts it out of his mind. Liz ambushes him the next day and we find out that Elmo admires Liz and likely has a bit of a crush on her. Although he sees Richelle as too perfect, Liz is considered to be warm and approachable and genuine. Anyway so she has found the gang two new jobs - one looking after a local cat while the owners are on holidays and the other working at Purrfection - a cat centric (i.e. mad) store. They meet the owners and Gregory the store's salesman/golfer boy. The gang find the owners overbearing and while they don't like Gregory as such, they feel sorry for him working in such conditions (he's constantly berated by the owners)

Although this was mainly the same length as the others, it felt shorter. It was a bit simpler - not that the others are particularly complicated or that but it did seem less somehow in terms of the mystery. The character development was slightly more than the previous books - except maybe The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Anyway so Shadow goes missing, Elmo panics and the gang all pull together to track down Shadow. In the process they stumble onto more trouble (and I really just want to say "damn those meddling kids" - Scooby-Doo anyone?) and find there's more to the disappearances of the cats than just being lost.

It's a cross between middle grade and young adult whatever you call that. I liked Elmo but didn't really love this one. For my own personal rating I'd give this two stars. But it's not actually bad and I've no doubt the target age group would rate this 3 stars - ergo 3 stars.