Cat Burglar and the Golden Egg is now available on Amazon Kindle!
Bernard, the burglar cat, is a nod to one of my all-time favorite mystery series: the Burglar novels by Lawrence Block. Like Block’s books, Bernard’s story let me play with the line between crime and fun, but with whiskers, a tail, and a whole lot of mischief.
Told in first-person from Bernard’s perspective, the series begins with Cat Burglar, Burglar Cat, where an ex-circus cat, trained in sleight of paw by a greedy magician, sets out on a life of feline crime. The book wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. But it gave me something far more valuable than polish: joy. At a time in my life when reality was bleak, writing Bernard gave me a sense of play, of purpose.
I learned from that book, and poured those lessons into the sequel, Cat Burglar in Paradise. It’s a much better story. Tighter, more thoughtful, and still full of Bernard’s charm. But despite the improvements, the books never found much of an audience. Sales were slow, and eventually, I stopped writing for others. I even shelved the nearly complete draft of the third book (Cat Burglar and the Golden Egg) and an outline for a prequel (Circus Cat, Burglar Cat).
Which, honestly, is a shame, for a lot of reasons I won’t go into now… but one reason stands out: the philosophy of the Golden Egg.
Cat Burglar and the Golden Egg was written during one of the hardest periods of my life. I was homeless, wandering, and uncertain of everything. But in that fog, I tried to write a path forward, not just for Bernard, but for myself. The Golden Egg became a personal code, a philosophy to live by. It was my attempt to imagine a better future, and to map a way toward it. Not based on fleeting feelings or short-term gains, but on principles that could stand the test of time.
And honestly, I think that’s something a lot of us need right now.
So, after sitting in the shadows for far too long, Cat Burglar and the Golden Egg is finally stepping into the light. The book is now available on Amazon Kindle for just 99 cents. I don’t expect to make any money from it, I’ve spent more time and heart on this story than I could ever earn back. But if just one person reads it and finds something valuable in the philosophy of the Golden Egg, then it will have been worth it.
To celebrate its return, I’m making the book free for five days. If you’re curious about one of my older novels, or if you’re just in the mood for a strange little story with a big heart, now’s your chance to read it for free.
Thanks for reading. And if you do check out any of Bernard’s adventures, I hope they bring you a fraction of the joy it brought me while writing it.
