A timeworn costume shop - A missing enchanted gown - A treacherous romance - A mysterious death - A new adventure Ruby Sullivan, matriarch of The Magpie’s Nest costumers on Queen Street, Perth, must recover a gown of green velvet, crystals and ostrich feathers that has been stolen from her shop. A dramatic and superstitious sort, she believes Esmeralda (her name for the gown) is enchanted. Her suspicions about Esmeralda link it to a death at His Majesty’s Theatre in the 1960s, coinciding with when Vivien Leigh was performing there. Ruby fears the gown will strike again, and readers join her on her quest to find the culprit, tripping through the streets of Perth, Barcelona, Montreal and London. It’s a wild ride that delves into superstition and coincidence, and the very fine line separating the two. Who will be the next to fall under Esmeralda’s spell? The Cat’s Miaow is the sequel to 2014’s The Magpie’s Nest, described by The West Australian newspaper as “written in snappy, sassy prose and a delight from start to finish”.
