The Ninth Life by Clea Simon

He's drowning and he's not going to make it.  Then someone grabs him and helps him on to land.  She's a young human with pink hair and is skinny, but she's his friend now.

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 1st.

This is a new series about a cat named Blackie that is helping his human solve a mystery.  Who killed her friend and mentor who was investigating a case?  And why?

The story is set in the squalid underworld of the homeless children living on the streets.  You can feel the cold, the hunger and the terror of being small and hunted.  No one is your friend, everyone is using you.  Survival of the meanest works here.

Care, with the pink hair, wants to get away from the drugs and the gang but it's hard to do.  She was learning how to investigate but then her teacher is killed.  Can she find out who and why without getting killed herself?

This was a good read.  Care and Blackie will be back since this is the first book in a new series.  After all, some of the bad guys have been captured or are dead but the figure head at the top is still alive.  There's still danger out there...