Friday from the Archives: “Cats Are Sneaky That Way or Cats’ll Get Under Your Feet?” by Elizabeth Daniels Squire in NCLR 1996
Journalist Elizabeth Daniels Squire (1926-2001) and her husband, Chick, resided on a farm in Weaverville, NC, where she first started writing mystery novels, Kill the Messenger (1990) being her first, influenced by her expertise in journalism. In her second novel, Who Killed What’s-Her-Name?” (1994, rev. by Janet Lembke in NCLR 1995) she created the absentminded but smart and witty sleuth, Peaches Dann, who would go on to be featured in six more novels. Her short story The Dog Who Remembered Too Much won the Agatha Award for Best Short Story in 1995. She was a member of the North Caroliniana Society, Sisters in Crime, and a past chairman of the Southeastern chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. In November 2006, she was the first mystery author to be inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. Chick and Elizabeth Daniels Squire are sponsors for the NC Writers’ Network Squire Summer Writing Workshops.
Like her novels, in our 1996 issue featuring “Carolina cats and their writers,” Squire discusses the mystery of cats – her cats in particular – and how they helped to inspire her famous leading heroine, Peaches Dann, as well as the fictional cat named Silk that appears in a few of the novels. Squire remarks, “Cats seem to know they can teach a mystery writer like me a lot about her trade. They dramatize how most of us have hidden sides, and that special abilities don’t necessarily show at a glance. Anyone who’s seen both a cat and a dog react to a rattlesnake knows that.” She goes on to tell a story about her experience with happening upon a rattlesnake and how her dog barked and barked at it, while the cat stared the snake down, keeping it in its place.
Cats have always been mysterious creatures. One can never know what they are truly thinking, especially when they’ve decided to dart right in front of your feet and have the audacity to look annoyed when you trip over them. However, like Squire said, “It’s the unpredictability of cats that’s interesting, right?”
This story isn’t found online so make sure to add the 1996 issue to your collection today!
