The Dusenbury Curse

Crime Cats, Volume 2

Children - Mystery
182 Pages
Reviewed on 05/19/2017
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Author Biography

Wolfgang Parker is the accidental author and illustrator of the "Crime Cats" children's mystery series. He wrote the first volume, "Crime Cats: Missing," as a gift for his nineteen nieces and nephews and soon found people of all ages enjoyed reading the adventures of the Chicken-Boy of Clintonville and his cat detective partners. The series has won 5 awards and sold over 8,000 hard copies so far!

He lives in a haunted house in Clintonville, with his girlfriend, Kitty, and their cat, Sascha.



    Book Review

Reviewed by Rosie Malezer for Readers' Favorite

The Dusenbury Curse is the second adventure book in the Crime Cats series, written and illustrated by Wolfgang Parker. Eight-year-old Jonas Shurmann has a special gift: he can converse with cats. As Orville Dusenbury agrees to board two superheroes, CatBob and Neil Higgins, at the Dusenbury Mansion, things start to go awry. Orville is not happy that he constantly has to clean up CatBob’s pee, but little does he realize that the feline is marking the Dusenbury Mansion to keep it safe from the evil forces at work in the form of the White Phantom and the Phoenix. When CatBob is found unconscious on the streets by Jonas, Jonas and Orville make their way to the old amusement park nearby, but what they find chills them to the very core.

Wolfgang Parker’s incredible tale of deceit, mystery and action is perfectly balanced in this second installment of the Crime Cats series. Each of the character plots is clearly set out, showing their relationship to all the others in the story. I could not help but chuckle each time new cats heard Jonas speak for the very first time, utterly shocked and in disbelief that any human could understand them, let alone be understood. The curse, which goes back over 100 years, is well-written and quite believable, not to mention hysterically funny in all the right places. As evidence of the curse unravels, the reader is also taken on an educated journey about felines, their behavior and beliefs, and how they interact with humans. Not only does The Dusenbury Curse deal with humor, love, hatred and superstitions, but it also teaches some valuable lessons about trust. I very much enjoyed Wolfgang Parker’s delightful tale, and recommend The Dusenbury Curse to readers aged 7-12 who enjoy their adventurous animal tales of mystery and intrigue with a side order of pure hilarity.