As a longtime journalist, Mabrick Avenue resident Cristina Rouvalis knows how to tell stories. She has profiled the community activist Gisele Fetterman, Pittsburgh Pirates legend Andrew McCutchen, and the late Dr. Freddie Fu, a Pitt professor and global pioneer in orthopedic sports medicine. She has shared the eerie world of mummies, part of a 2019 exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center, and interviewed America’s biggest banjo maker.

But 10 years ago, she had a different story in mind: the saga of Ashley and Jane, fictional sixth-grade classmates, who team up to solve a crime and rescue their favorite teacher, who’s been wrongly accused of stealing money at a school fundraiser. Ashley’s been recently exiled from the cool girl clique. Jane’s a highly intelligent outcast, autistic, prone to wearing cat ears to school.

“I started writing, but I knew I had to find someone who could help me write an authentic autistic voice,” Rouvalis said. When she called Autism Connection of Pennsylvania, based on the South Side, the staff wasn’t sure how to help her at first. But when Rouvalis mentioned that Jane is a cat fanatic (an enthusiasm Rouvalis shares), the voice on the other end said, “I know the perfect person for you.” The next day, Rouvalis received an email titled “Cat-Obsessed Autistic Girl at Your Service.”

That was Rouvalis’ introduction to Lydia Wayman, a writer and autism activist. They bonded over their cats, Rouvalis’ Tink and Wayman’s Lucy, who eventually became characters in the book. What started as a one-time consultation became a two-way partnership: Snoopers & Sneakers was released in January.

The story is set in an unnamed Pittsburgh suburb. (Rouvalis said they had Aspinwall in mind). However, the girls’ beleaguered and well-loved teacher, Ms. DiMicco, was named in honor of Vincenzia DeMicco, a third-grade teacher at Washington Elementary, who was a favorite of Rouvalis’ daughter, Alicia.

Rouvalis and Wayman worked hard to shape Ashley and Jane’s personalities and make them as authentic as possible.

“Ashley isn’t ready to grow up in certain ways,” Rouvalis said. “But she’s got a charm about her. In some ways, Jane is very mature, but also very socially immature,” Wayman noted.“ They’re an odd couple,” Rouvalis added. But when it comes to detective work, they complement each other. “Ashley can talk her way into anything,” Rouvalis said. “Jane can look at security footage for hours.”

Between Rouvalis’ writing assignments, the two worked together, mostly by phone. Once they had a story draft, they began sending it to publishers and gained helpful feedback. The revisions took years.

“It was like Jenga,” Rouvalis noted. “If you changed one thing, you had to change a lot.” The book’s dedication, “To all the cats we ever loved, especially Lucy and Tink,” stayed the same.

Rouvalis and Wayman are considering bringing Ashley and Jane back to solve another mystery. Lucy and Tink have passed on, but between Wayman’s Little Bit and Daniel (the Striped Tiger), and Rouvalis’ Maisey, Athena and Buddy, there’s plenty of cat lore for them to share.

“If we didn’t both love cats, we probably wouldn’t have finished the book,” Wayman said.