Strays

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

In the first days of the Clinton administration, Ransom, a DC private eye specializing in Republican dirty tricks, falls on hard times. He finds himself investigating the murder of a local celebrity—Bob the Weather Cat.

Ransom finds it hard to take himself seriously, but he tries for the sake of a client, a rich little old lady with a grudge against feline-haters.

Chosen as one of the best short stories of 1993, “Strays” pits Democrat against Republican, cat haters against cat lovers, in a town newly changed by a pivotal election—and the death of a kitty in a yellow rain slicker.

“Strays,” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch was first published in Danger in D.C.: Cat Crimes in the Nation’s Capital, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Ed Gorman, Donald I. Fine Inc., 1993.