A Cat in the Window

At a recent Boulder Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association meeting, a detective described a burglary ring that had been broken up several years ago. The bad guys broke into a number of expensive homes and were not caught for a long time. When finally apprehended, the perpetrators described the techniques they used to identify homes to hit. One of the signs they looked for was a cat in the window.

They would case a neighborhood after dark and when they spotted a cat in the front window of a house, they would target it. The reason—if the owners of the house were out for the evening, the cat would sit in the window and await their return.

In the group hearing this presentation, there were three mystery writers including myself. When we heard this story we all looked at each other. Our immediate common reaction—ah ha, the title for a mystery novel.