I can make you disappear.
Oh, goodness! Did that sound like a threat? I don’t mean you’ll be sleeping with the fishes, I mean like I can wave my hand, and suddenly, you’ll be invisible. Even to yourself. Yep, I’m that good!
You know what’s even more fun? My kittens can make you disappear.
I like to think I was always a good magician, but when Bippity, Boppity, and Boop got into the act, that’s when we started booking international shows.
But a good act takes practice. So every morning, I give the kittens their gooshy food, and then we pop into Q Tea Pie bakery for my breakfast and whatever little treat Q has cooked up for the kittens. Then it’s time to tinker with new magic props and rehearse all our tricks and cues.
You can’t imagine how clever these kittens are, or how well-behaved. They’re so quick to learn! Especially Bippity. Honestly, I sometimes wonder whether they plkmkmlcv m,acslkdax,kloi m,
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Bippity! Boppity! This is not the place for a wrestle-battle! Shoo!
Sorry about that. As I was saying, the kittens always seem to know what I need. They’re so sweet and loving, and so clever, it’s hard to believe they’re sdbh mkoik iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Yes, your rump is very beautiful, Boop, and your purrs are—oh yuck! You’re slobbering all over the m,mlkoiuvtfykoimlk n,m m,
Right. Moving on.
We usually work until at least lunchtime. Sometimes, I lose track of time, but it’s only because I love magic so much.
I try to stop by every day to visit with Ms. Fi and her cat, Hylia. You’d think Hylia would hate to have her home invaded by three little balls of black fluffy chaos, but… Yeah, no. I’m pretty sure she hates it. Somehow, though, she also seems to love it. She’s always grooming them. Ms. Fi and I eat biscuits and sip tea and watch them while we chat. She knits and I fail to.
Most of my evenings are spent at Mugsy’s Club. It’s half friendly local pub, half gloriously campy theater. If I have a show, the kittens and I will get ready under the supervision of Mugsy’s goofy pitbull, Brutus. If not, I’ll be sitting at the bar, jabbering away with the bartender, Becca. She’s one of my two best friends. Our other best friend is Pete, our local sheriff. He joins us as soon as he gets off work.
I met them the night I arrived by ferry on this little New England island nine years ago, barely an adult and all alone in this world. They bought me a margarita and made me feel like I’d finally arrived at a home I never knew I was missing. I’ve loved them, and Corvin’s Crossing, ever since.
THE BLACK CAT DETECTIVES
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: May 2026
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
A charming cozy mystery with a delightful twist: The detectives are three kittens with magical powers, determined to solve a most purr-plexing case.
Precocious kittens Bippity, Boppity, and Boop are exceedingly loyal to their human, the twenty-eight-year-old up-and-coming magician Mila. She saved them from starving to death in a dingy Corvin’s Crossing alleyway and has been nothing but loving ever since, even though her own life is in shambles.
So when Mila’s sketchy boyfriend and business manager turns up dead at the end of her big magic show—she’s the prime suspect. With evidence mounting, there’s nothing stopping the sheriff from hauling away Mila to the human pound. Unless the kittens can solve the crime and clear her name.
The kittens will have to use their dubious control over the laws of physics and every whisker of know-how they’ve got to catch the real killer if they want to save their happy home with Mila. This is one meow-stery more tangled than any ball of yarn they’ve encountered yet.
Meet the author
Kit Gray draws inspiration from their lived experiences of queerness, disability, neurodivergence, fat positivity, and petting three cats with two hands. Their life has been an adventure, from facilitating equine therapy for trauma survivors to counseling at-risk youth with the aid of an inordinately large subwoofer and beyond. Their debut novel, a cozy mystery featuring three kittens with the ability to bend the laws of physics, who must solve a murder to save their rescuer from the human pound, is forthcoming from Crooked Lane in May 2026. Elise is a Not Quite Write Prize winner and Best-of-the-Net nominee. Their short work has appeared/is forthcoming in The Advocate, Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror, The Not Quite Write Anthology 2025, The B’K, Five Minutes, Knee Brace, All Existing, and Quibble, among others. Find out what they’re working on now at elise-scott.com.