Garfield’s Babes and Bullets

Sam Spayed is a self-styled private investigator who slips into a trenchcoat-draped noir persona while solving the professor's death. He approaches the case with wit and a hint of bravado, treating hints as both clues and stage props for his fantasy. Although a cartoon cat, he embodies the archetype of a hard-boiled gumshoe, chasing coincidences and petty clues alike.

Tanya O'Tabby is the elegant client who hires Sam, presenting a blend of vulnerable emotion and wary suspicion. She believes her husband's death was murder and tests Sam's resolve with a mix of charm and secrecy. Her motives and emotions remain ambiguous as the case unfolds.

Professor O'Tabby is the victim whose death kicks off the investigation. He is portrayed through colleagues as driven and remote, with a susceptibility to coffee-driven insomnia that unknowingly ties to his fatal crash. His life becomes a puzzle that the investigation attempts to solve.

O'Felix is the late professor's former advisor, consumed by jealousy and ambition. He murdered O'Tabby by spiking his coffee with sleeping pills to cause a fatal crash, and he tries to hide behind a veneer of respectability. His actions reveal the dangerous consequences of academic rivalries.

Kitty is Sam's newly hired secretary who becomes entangled in the case as the clues point toward her. She spills coffee on Sam during a phone call, becoming the focal point of suspicion. Kitty admits she previously worked for O'Tabby and had once provided him with sleeping pills, but she insists she did not kill him.

Jon Arbuckle is Garfield's owner who interrupts the fantasy toward the end, asking Garfield what he's doing in the closet. His casual intrusion anchors the transition from noir reverie back to the everyday world. The moment cues the return to reality as the credits loom.

Lt. Washington is the police lieutenant who oversees the investigation and interacts with Sam at the morgue and campus. He represents official procedure and steady restraint opposite Sam's over-the-top detective show. He grounds the case in procedural clarity.