Short Cat Tales" includes thirteen stories not only about cats but the lives of some eccentric characters, many of them cat owners but not always! One story, 'Cat Lady" is a bittersweet drama, whose protagonist realizes at the end, she may be related to the helpless young widow to whom she delivers meals and who appears to be a cat hoarder but is actually unwantedly "given" the cats. Dark humor can be found in "Here, Kitty, Kitty," which involves a young woman who is ill-equipped in more ways than one to try and catch a stray cat, and the result shows how pitiful she is. In the humorous story "The Cat Writer," the main character, a children's book author, doesn't even own a cat but has a cat she created for her books, to thank for her "fame and fortune." She must therefore rectify the situation.