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“Yes, Max, the gnomes,” said Harriet. “Why, isn’t this mystery big enough for you? Or important enough to occupy your highly intelligent mind?” Since she made air quotes and rolled her eyes, I guess she didn’t think all that highly of my mind—such as it was.

“No, it’s not that,” I was quick to assure her. “It’s just that…”

“Max has mice on the brain,” Dooley explained.

“Oh, God, when are you going to stop talking about your mice!” Harriet cried, even going so far as to stomp her paw on Tex’s semi-smooth lawn.

“They’re not my mice,” I said. “And they pose a big problem. They keep eating our stuff.”

“Probably because they ran out of beetles and roaches,” Dooley said, nodding in my direction. “Isn’t that right, Max?”

“Look, can you guys please focus on the problem at hand?” Gran said, starting to get a little impatient. All this talk about mice and roaches clearly wasn’t gripping her. “This is a serious problem and I think it’s the perfect first case for our neighborhood watch, of which I’m the founding mother and you’re now the founding cats.”

I didn’t really want to be the founding cat of anything, but I had the distinct impression I didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter. When Gran’s mind is made up about something it’s very hard to dislodge the idea.

“I’m also nominating Scarlett, of course,” she said. “And maybe Rock and Dick.”

“What’s the big to-do?” asked Marge, stepping into the backyard from the house. She was dressed in her dressing gown and looking a little disheveled, with bed hair and sleep wrinkles on the side of her face. Like her daughter Odelia, Marge is fair-haired and slim, and a genuinely good and kind person. Her eyes now widened as she took in the backyard, and she actually clutched the sides of her head. “Oh, no—the gnomes!”

“Yes, the gnomes,” said Gran grimly. “Tex is not going to be happy.”

“Happy about what?” asked Tex, as he joined the conference. He dragged a hand through his white mane as he took in the crowd that had gathered in his backyard. He was smiling, probably the only member of the Poole family who’s always in a happy mood, even when just having rolled out of bed and not having had his morning coffee.

“Your gnomes, Tex,” said his wife of twenty-five years. “Someone took your gnomes.”

Tex’s amiable face fell, and his lower jaw drooped. “My gnomes!” he cried. “Oh, no!”

Honestly I couldn’t really see what all the fuss was about, but then humans often develop these strange attachments to inanimate objects. And it was just such a case with Tex, who’d suddenly gotten it into his nut that collecting garden gnomes was a good idea. I didn’t see the attraction, and even found the colorful little fellas slightly creepy, but humans will be humans, and clearly gnomes held a certain kind of strange fascination, as Tex wasn’t the only one who liked to litter his backyard with the quaint creatures.

“What’s going on?” now asked Odelia as she and Chase stepped through the hole in the hedge. Odelia was looking even more frumpy than her mother, and Chase was dressed in boxers and a T-shirt as usual, showcasing his muscular physique.

“Someone stole your father’s gnomes,” Marge said.

Chase suppressed a smile, indicating he didn’t think the news was especially worrisome, but quickly rearranged his features in the recommended look of concern your small-town copper knows how to perfect when faced with these trifling matters that are nevertheless of great concern to the ordinary citizenry that pays his salary.

“Don’t you worry about a thing, Tex,” said Gran, clapping her son-in-law on the back. “I’m launching my new neighborhood watch, and your gnomes are my first case.”

“A neighborhood watch?” asked Marge. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. With this crime wave sweeping our town I think it’s high time someone stepped up and did the right thing.”

“I think you’ll find that the police department has matters well in hand, Vesta,” said Chase, who clearly wasn’t a big fan of Gran’s new initiative.

“I’m doing this to help you, young man,” said Gran, taking the diplomatic approach for once. “I know you have your hands full and this will take some of the pressure off.”

“Mh,” said Chase, not convinced.

“Oh, and I’ve recruited your cats,” said Gran, addressing her granddaughter. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“By all means, recruit away,” said Odelia, yawning. Then she crooked a finger in my direction and said, “Max? A word, please?”

Meekly, I followed her back through the hedge and into our own backyard.

She crouched down next to me, not looking entirely happy. I could already tell what was going on before she opened her mouth.“Is there something you want to tell me?”

I nodded guiltily.“The mice,” I said quietly. “They were at it again last night.”

“This can’t go on like this, Max,” she said. “You have to do something. Because if you don’t, I’ll be forced to take steps, and you know what that means, right?”

I nodded once more.“Traps,” I said, even more quietly than before.

“Humane traps, of course, but traps all the same.”