Chapter 1

TOTO THE NINJA CAT AND THE SUPERSTAR CATASTROPHE DERMOT O'LEARY

CHAPTER 1 Toto knew she had one chance, just one shot at catching the canine ringleaders of an illegal dog-bone syndicaté. They'd been stealing London's pooches' FAVOURITE TREATS for the last six months, and this was their BIGGEST SHIPMENT YET. If she didn't bust them tonight, who knew when she'd get another chance. The dog-bone-stealing had, of course,

been met with outrage. Unlike cats, who just 'cat up' and get on with it, dogs are far more vocal when they are unhappy. So, London's dog population had been howling at all hours of the night and digging holes everywhere with nothing to put in them. No one in the capital, animals and humans

alike, had been able to get a wink of sleep from the noise and everyone was getting cranky. The pressure was on Toto to solve the crime, and FAST! 'Dogs are supposed to be man's best friend and loyal to a fault, but here they are, stealing each other's bones and all for what? Payment in BISCUITS, I imagine, she muttered to herself. She was waiting impatiently for her brother Silver to get back to their hiding place -a rooftop overlooking the warehouse that he was currently in the process of scoping out. They believed this was where the bones were being stored, before being shipped out of London by the gang. This was her seventh mission since Larry, her boss and head of the UK

branch of the ANCIENT ORDER OF INTERNATIONAL NINJA CATS, had taken her on as his deputy. She loved being an official NINJA CAT, with a little assistance from her trusty brother Silver, who acted as her guide cat, as Toto was almost totally blind. Together they had: Taken down the GANG OF RATS running a protection racket on the South Bank of the Thames Tracked down the GUINEA PIGS who were responsible for a massive fraudulent shipment of cucumbers (apparently, they love them- who knew?)

Shut down an illegal ANT CIRCUS, which was VERY hard to see, even for Silver Uncovered corruption at the heart of a beauty pageant for PUGS Solved a mystery involving a GANG OF EELS who were master safe-crackers ...slippery! And now they were on the cusp of smashing an illegal dog-bone-dealing ring. Larry trusted them- they were succeeding at all the cases he threw their