late 70s or 80s YA with children and a male tortoiseshell/calico cat

[rhymeswithtruculent]

I'm so excited to find this community!

So: all I can remember about this series (I'm pretty sure there were at least two books) is that it featured a group of 3 siblings, one of whom was named Malcolm; and that the family owned a tortoiseshell or calico cat, whom I think was named Heather. In one book, there was a running joke that Heather was going to have kittens, according to the youngest sibling -- but never did -- and eventually, someone came along and realized that the reason Heather never had kittens was that Heather was a rare male calico (or tortoiseshell).

This was a minor subplot -- the books were sort of adventure/caper-ish in their main plots. Did anyone else stumble across them? Thanks in advance!

Comments

[the_rck]

I think this is Mrs Coverlet's Magicians.

[rhymeswithtruculent]

(!!!!) Thanks so much! I think you might have hit it, though clearly, I had remembered aspects of the plot wrong.

[the_rck]

The cat and the cover of the book are about all that I remember, but I was able to get from my memory of the cover image to the title.

[carbonel]

This one is actually While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away, which is the prequel to Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians.

ETA: There's also a third one: Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives. But I think Magicians is the best of the bunch. All are by Mary Nash.