Rick Bylina

Kill All Cats Rick Bylina

Ron Black is a 35-year-old night security guard living a moribund existence. Past deeds need to stay buried for him to remain a free man. When the elderly cat lady next-door dies along with her thirty-eight cats, Ron feels the investigative heat from Detectives Moore and Porter. His alibi: "I was at work." The police disrupt Ron's life, which he shares with Brisbane, his cockatiel. He squawks surprisingly relevant quotes learned from watching crime show reruns 24/7-some of which don't help Ron's situation. Ron picks up clues about what happened next-door from conflicting comments by his odd neighbors: "She was popped." "Poisoned." "Chopped up." The neighbors include Ron's estranged great-uncle Kirk, a disgruntled scientist, who had worked at the pharmaceutical company where Ron is the night guard. When Ron's only friend, Jean, disappears, the police double-down on him as a suspect for this crime, too. The next day, the police infer his arrest in twenty-four hours for the crime at his neighbor's house. Despite the pressure to save himself, he is compelled to find his friend. Sprinkle a bit of an Agatha Christie closed-room mystery with the situational humor of Evanovich for a high-level concept as Ron tries to "...control what he can control." And just when you think it's all over, another layer of horror reveals itself, and Ron didn't even see it coming.