Hi, my name is Clea and I need help.
I am addicted to puns and literary references. It probably started back when my father first handed me a wooden quarter-sized disc with the letters TUIT on it. “Have you ever said you’ll do something when you can get a round to it? Now you have one!” He’d smile at this point and point out the obvious: “It’s a Round Tuit!” Maybe it’s genetic.
The condition continued with my last nonfiction book, “The Feline Mystique,” a play on “The Feminine Mystique.” And I’ve certainly indulged it with my mysteries: “Mew is for Murder” plays (or is supposed to play) on both “Murder in the Mews” and “M is for Murder.” “Cattery Row,” which does in fact deal with catteries, on “Cannery Row,” and my new “Cries and Whiskers” on Bergman’s great “Cries and Whispers.”
But, you see, now I’m having problems. I’m deep into Theda #4, and I haven’t yet come up with a good title. Something that immediately says both “cat” and “great work of art” (I’m being somewhat facetious here). If it also says “murder” or “mystery,” so much the better. I’ve been playing with “Claws of Death,” or some other claws/clause pun (I’m a former copy editor). But do you have any ideas? “Gimme Shelters”? “Whisker to a Scream”? (Sadly, “Whisker of Evil” has already been used.)
Come on, how much worse can yours be? If I use yours, I’ll not only send you a signed book, I’ll thank you in the acknowledgments of Theda #4, Title TBA.
Escape Claws?
Maybe, thanks Pablo. A bunch of “clause/claws” puns have been sent to me via email, but maybe this is the one. I’d like to find another title that refers to a great work of literature or a film, though.
I am drawn to the sound of “Bright Lights, Big Kitty,” but can’t really think of how to fit that to my work in process.
OK, someone who didn’t want to post here sent me a bunch privately, including the marvelous “The Sorrow and the Kitty,” which I love but don’t think will quite work- but that’s the right idea. “Tale of Two Kitties” would work if I was focusing on two cats, but…
“Whiskers for the Prosecution”?
Can you tell who introduced me to murder mysteries?
David
You sort of mentioned this one, but not the whole phrase: “From a Whisker to a Scream.” Fits the murder image nicely. Will continue to think . . .
A Purrfect Murder?
How about “The Scarlet Whisker”?
Or “Taming of the Mews”?
Or “Paws and Plausibility” (for an alibi)?
Now if you could just work a Northanger in there, you could have “Northanger Tabby.”
I’m sorry, I love puns and this is such fun… providing I don’t have to write the book to go with it!
Hmm… some good ones, but not there yet. Remember, music is a possibility, too (“Fur Elise”? “Fur Police”? I am a police…)
Well, there’s always “A Little Night Mewsick”!
(I’m a country music person, alas, but there’s always the new Brad Paisley;
“I want to check you for ticks.”
“I want to check you for ticks.” HA!!
I’m shying away from alternative spellings (like “mewsick”). I’d like to stick to real words that evoke both cats and the original works of art.
Hi Clea,
The Purr and the Glory; The Cat is a Lonely Hunter; Purr Boy’s Complaint;
The Great Catsby; A Handful of Kitty Litter — okay, I’ll stop now.
“‘Tis Kitty, She’s a Whore” and “All’s Feral in Love and War” have also come in…and I can’t get “Feline Groovy” out of my head. Keep ’em coming, please!
“The Sound and the Furry” just came in – maybe it is time to re-skim Faulkner?
Have we had Fur From The Madding Crowd?
We haven’t, yet, Pageturners. “Fur from the Madding Clowder”?
Right now, I’m leaning toward “Paws and Plausibility” or “The Sound and the Furry” (which was used by a band and also a sci-fi/fantasy book). But let’s keep going with this.
Any plot hints to prod us along?
Some of these may be rather plot-specific, but how about:
The Burmese Falcon,
The Great Catsby,
The Call of the Can Opener,
To Eat a Mockingbird,
Gone with the Litterbox,
The Scarlet Litter (eww!),
The Cat of the Red Death,
The Kit and the Pendulum or
The Felined Litter?
What about – simple and telling:
Pussy
– surely a best-selling title?
“Of Mice and Musetta”?
David
I’ve toyed with a simple, “Musetta’s Waltz”
But anyway… to answer Jonathon’s very reasonable request: the new book involves contaminated cat food, shelter politics (“Gimme Shelters”?), a new jazz club, and Musetta having her teeth cleaned. Oh, and Theda is going to be accused of murder.
Does that help at all?
I’m terrible at puns, but I find all this hilarious!
Hmmm… My dad has an old Columbia 78rpm disc titled “Scrub Me, Mama with a Boogie Beat”.
That reference might be a little too obscure. D’ya think?
How about Cool Cats in The Jungle?
Yeah. Me neither. Back to my slate and soapstone.
Okay, one last one… for tonight… I hope.
Rhapody in Mew
Well, it would have been better if it had the “s” in it…
Rhapsody in Mew
(Mocha, take your paw off the keyboard… okay, now take your claw out of my knee. . .)
for whom the cat(s) meow?
For whom the tabby meows?
I seem to have a one track mind.
If not
A Little Night Mewsick
Then perhaps
a little cat music?
Claws And Effect
Sadly, “Claws and Effect” has been used recently. Great title, though. I just tried “Hiss and Tell” on my husband and his immediate response was “too negative.” Too negative? Sheesh.
One of these will work.
Unfortunately, “A Tail of Two Kitties” has also been used recently.
How about a Hollywood reference, like “The Cook, the Thief, His Cat & Her Liver”?
Well, since the plot calls for Theda to be arrested (right?), how about “Collared”?
I like them all!
Am now leaning toward either
“The Sound and the Furry”
or
“Hiss of Death”
Any thoughts on these?
Not crazy about either one, to be truthful. BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG KITTY is great. We are talking about cozy, here, right? Some of the titles don’t sound as cozy as they should. As for “Collared” maybe this could be added to somehow since it works for series and plot?
cozy – but dark cozy. I wonder if “bright lights, big kitty” has been used?
A Google of “Bright Lights, Big Kitty” reveals that it has been used, but none of them appear to be conflicting uses.
jeq
Plus, it makes me smile. But does it make any sense?
It does to me! I’ve had a couple of kitties who went nuts for flashlight beams. Especially one. Most cats like laser lights, too.
Jeanne
I had one cat who, on summer mornings, would come and sit near my chair during breakfast. She’d sit patiently, and then start break-dancing around the room.
Eventually, we figured out what she had figured out: In the summer, between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning, the light would shine in the kitchen window at just the right angle to reflect off the metal face of my wristwatch and play across the middle of the kitchen floor.
Towards the end of her life, rendered less active by a bout of vestibular syndrome, she indeed became a big kitty, but she still liked to play with the bright lights.
The Kitty that never sleeps
Not for love or kitty
not for cat or money
the cat and the restless
How about “From Murder to Musetta”
From Here to Eternity
“Slay it with Whiskas”
“Meow’s the Word” for Mum’s the Word
“Swiped Alibi, Tainted Kitty”
O.k. these are pretty terrible. I was laughing so much at the other ones so I thought I would have fun!
Good Luck!
Michele L.
A Saucer of Milk for Table 13
Okay, I thought of another one:
Cry, the Beloved Kitty
except I’m afraid they’d think the kitty was named “Cry.’
Jonathan, I loved your story about your kitty. We had one, Nicky, who used to come in and race about the kitchen every morning. It took us awhile to figure out that he was watching the sunlight reflecting off the fridge door as it was opened and shut– it only worked in the morning. He was the one I referred to earlier, who loved chasing the flashlight beam. He was an odd-eyed white part Persian and we think he was deaf on the blue-eyed side. He could hear; we just were never sure how well. He was fascinated by light, though.
How about “Tin Can Alley Cat”
Hey Clea, saw you over at RedRoom (me too, now!).
Hi Amy (and everyone else)
Bristol – maybe he could hear perfectly well… but chose not to acknowledge everything he heard?
Hi folks – I’m now leaning toward “Probable Claws,” which was submitted by both Phil Mann and Rob Chalfen, independently.
How about Clawst and Found?
Or Claw and Order?
Clawful Behavior?
Maybe Totally Clawsome.
I love claws.
Chris
Puur-suasion