Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town

Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town by Li Chen. Paperback Graphic Novel. Penguin Random House 2025. RRP $17.99. ISBN 9781761353406

Reviewed by Debra Williams

From the publisher. ‘Detective Beans is back to solve all the mysteries that you need solved, and even the ones you don’t need solved. He’s that good.’

This full-colour graphic novel is a collection of short stories. Beans is a kitten who is a detective, but without any real cases to solve. They are usually little ones, but Beans thinks they are important. Along with his sidekick Biscuits, Beans noses and snoops into all manner of things. In between playing Scrabble, having sleepovers and trips to the beach, there’s always time for crime solving…. such as…who ate Mum’s donuts, which pigeon pinched the King chip, who belongs to the mysterious handbag found in the park…Beans is Eveready, in fact, so ready, he wants to start a detective school-if he can find any students, that is!

This is a cute book, described as hilarious, aimed at a readership of 7+. However, some of the language and concepts used would be more suited to older readers. Author Li Chen has been working as a full-time comic artist since 2012. Her work can be found on her Instagram account @exocomics.