Are you looking for a gift to please your favorite cat lover? A novel for a friend, or a cat care handbook to help guide that novice pet parent? Perhaps you’d like a new title in your favorite genre?
Check out these award-winning tomes below, for everyone from small tykes to seasoned seniors.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
ABC CATS / 123 CATS by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Isabella Kung
Lesléa Newman and Illustrator Isabella Kung’s award-winning ABC Cats and 123 Cats make learning easy.
Beautiful illustrations and rhyming spreads will appeal for animal lovers of all ages.
From curious to elegant, grouchy to inquisitive, rowdy to tangled, these felines interact with oversize alphabet letters or numbers with rhyming verses. offer a cat’s-eye concept book that makes the ABCs and 123’s go down easy—and the sturdy board book pages are allow for many a repeat viewing.
“Adorable cat with eyes of gold.
Baby cat just two weeks old.”
from ABC Cats, by Lesléa Newman
ABC Cats and 123 Cats are winners of the 2022 MUSE Medallion in Childrens/Young Adult Book from the international Cat Writers Association.
Available at Barnes&Noble and Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore!
BOOKS FOR ADULTS
GENRE: COZY MYSTERIES
CLAW & DISORDER by Eileen Watkins
From award-winning author Eileen Watkins: Expert groomer Cassie McGlone knows how to handle even the feistiest of felines, but their owners are a different tale.
Around the quaint town of Chadwick, New Jersey, are two families in need of Cassie’s help. Wealthy perfectionist Gillian Foster is orchestrating the restoration of her family’s nineteenth-century home and wants her purebred Himalayan, Leya, boarded at Cassie’s Comfy Cats. Meanwhile, the elderly Tillmans are in dire straits, hoarding possessions and a clowder of cats in their run-down house. Perhaps Cassie can persuade the couple to surrender a few of their furry friends.
Claw & Disorder, the fifth book in Eileen Watkins’ award-winning Cat Groomer Mystery series, received the 2022 MUSE Medallion in Mystery Fiction from the international Cat Writers Association.
Available at Barnes&Noble and Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore.
CAT’S PLAY by Molly Hunt
From award-winning author, Molly Hunt: Lynley faces ghosts when she moves into a dead millionaire’s mansion to care for his clairvoyant cat.
Eccentric recluse Roderick Payne has bequeathed his vast estate to little Friends of Felines cat shelter, but the gift comes with a catch. The first stipulation, to care for the dead man’s cat Winnie, is simple for Lynley Cannon, cat shelter volunteer and self-appointed cat lady. The second, however, proves more difficult.
Friends of Felines must “find Payne’s killer,” but since he died of natural causes, that will be a trick.
Cat’s Play is Book 9 of Molly Hunt’s Crazy Cat Lady mystery series and a past winner of the international Cat Writers Association MUSE Medallion.
Available at Barnes&Noble and Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore.
PETECTIVES: RAINBOW BRIDGE by Robert J. Smith
From Award-winning author Robert J. Smith, comes another novel in his Petectives series, The Rainbow Bridge.
Is someone planning a one-way, all-expense paid trip there for cat detectives Yoshi and Gatsby? Things are getting tense for the world’s greatest cat detectives. Wild coyotes are roaming the streets, a fast talking cat psychic claims he can speak to the dead and the neighborhood is being plagued by robberies committed by literal cat burglars. All of that is nothing compared to what might be the biggest challenge of Yoshi and Gatsby’s careers: their humans have just adopted a dog! Humor, action and mystery combine into a story that both pet lovers and mystery readers will love.
Rainbow Bridge is Book 5 of Robert J. Smith’s Petectives series, and winner of the 2022 World’s Best Cat Litter-ary Award from the International Cat Writers Association.
Available at Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore.
ROMANCE/ HUMOR
WHO NEEDS MEN; I’VE GOT CATS by B.J. Bang
Have you been searching for the perfect soulmate, but find all you meet are duds: too boring, too geeky, too loud and boisterous, too conceited and impressed with themselves, or just not very bright, don’t listen, and don’t want to do what interests you?
This is true for both men, women, and gay couples. Finding that special person is just not that easy, and it is sometimes downright impossible. And that’s where this funny cat book comes in helping this successful gal find the love and respect she wants for a true soulmate experience. Who Needs Men, I’ve Got Cats offers a solution to all that. A humorous parody about dating, a well-educated, well-traveled gal finds her perfect match, a cat.
Winner of the International Cat Writers Association’s 2022 MUSE Medallion award for best Specialty Bound Material.
Available at Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore.
SCIENCE FICTION
CAT LADIES OF THE APOCALYPSE edited by Lyn Worthen
Here are stories about cats and their women – their badass women! Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse wanders through dystopian worlds with stories of survival, technology, magic, and sheer determination.
In these pages, cats help their women find a better life, protect and defend and fight for the women who have sheltered and protected them – and vice-versa.
Contains stories by Mia Moss, Hannah Hulbert, L.C.W. Allingham, Audrey McLennan, Hannah Trusty, Annie Reed, Caryn Larrinaga, Karli Sullivan, Misha Herwin, Joy Kennedy-O’Neill, Leigh Saunders, J. Ivanel Johnson, Carol Gyzander, Joanna Z. Weston, Kathryn Carson, Meyari McFarland, Sidney Williams, Joe Borrelli, Virginia Elizabeth Hayes, Wayland Smith, and C.J. Erick. Edited by Lyn Worthen
Available at Barnes&Noble, Amazon, or at Books2read
TIME’S RELATIVE by Debbie De Louise
From Award-winning author Debbie De Louise: It’s the fall of 1998, and librarian Samantha Stewart is looking for a new job. After seeing an ad for a high-paying position at a company called Virtual Software that entails research and travel, Sam investigates the company and learns that its president has gone missing, and that it’s currently being run by the vice-president Greg Parsons.
Soon, Sam finds herself involved not only with Greg Parsons, but also Philip Montmart, a chain-smoking detective with a vendetta for his wife’s killer, and a strange, time-traveling woman and her feline accomplice.
Time’s Relative received the 2022 MUSE Medallion in Science Fiction from the international Cat Writers Association.
Available at Barnes&Noble or Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore.
HUMOR/CAT CARE ANTHOLOGY
MAKING BISCUITS by Deborah Barnes
From award-winning author Deborah Barnes, comes Makin’ Biscuits – Weird Cat Habits and the Even Weirder Habits of the Humans Who Love Them, an entertaining compilation of candid and personal anecdotes from cat lovers worldwide.
The anthology delves in the feline psyche, answering those age-old elusive questions, such as, why does my cat zoom from one room to another for no reason? With story submissions from well-known celebrities to everyday people, some stories will have you laughing out loud, some will tug at your heart, and some will leave you scratching your head in wonderment. It also provides well-researched advice, tips, and solutions to ensure your cat lives an optimally happy and healthy life befitting his feline nature.
Makin’ Buiscuits is a past winner of a MUSE Medallion from the international Cat Writers Association.
Available at Barnes&Noble or Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore.
MEMOIR/CAT CARE
CATWOODS: STORIES AND STUDIES OF OUR FELINE COMPANIONS by Leah Alford
The award-winning Catwoods is about a couple who rescue, adopt, and love cats in their deep woods home in the southern US. These cats are all such original characters that they make every day blissful, giddy, poetic, or even somber, the way the moods and phases of real life unfold.
This heavily researched volume covers cat coat color and cat genetics, color in nature, cat behavior and affection, multi-cat home dynamics, feral cats, spay and neuter, radial hypoplasia cats, black cat rhapsodies, and more.
Catwoods is a past winner of a MUSE Medallion from the international Cat Writers Association.
Available at Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore.
NONFICTION/CAT CARE
The COMPLETE GUIDE TO ADOPTING A CAT by Laura Cassiday
This award-winning cat care book is by Laura Cassiday, a certified cat behavior consultant. The author used her extensive experience working at the Maryland SPCA to write the definitive guide book for anyone who has recently adopted (or is considering adopting) a new cat.
Using input and interviews from over 40 shelter and rescue organization experts, this book covers every topic and question a new cat owner will need to know to successfully integrate their new cat into their home and life, including bringing your new cat home, cat nutrition and health are.
Available at Barnes&Noble and Amazon, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore.
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Do you know,
What is an Independent Book Store?
An independent (or indie) bookstore is a bookstore that is independently owned, and not part of a large chain or a huge online retailer (such as Amazon). After Amazon was founded, almost half of indie booksellers went out of business. As a result, some towns and small cities no longer have locally-owned bookstores.
Indie booksellers support the local economy and help make a town unique. If you value physically coming together with others to enjoy books, support your local bookstore.
Thanks so much for featuring my science fiction book that won the Cat Writers’ Association’s muse medallion.
This is a great selection of books. thank you!
Thanks for the comment!
Thank you for including me in this comprehensive list. I’m familiar with many of these books and all are great reads.
Very glad to showcase this fantastic book, Mollie Hunt!
Great article. Very helpful!
Thank you!
It’s such an honor to be included with so many amazing cat authors, with my Makin’ Biscuits book. We love your blog and look forward to reading your posts. Warm Purrs, Deb Barnes and the Zee/Zoey gang.
We’re so pleased to feature this wonderful book, Deb Barnes and the Zee/Zoey gang!
Thank you so much for including Catwoods in this post! The kitties and I feel honored to be on your site, and in the company of so many other fine cat books!
So glad to be able to highlight your great book, Leah Alford!