Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | PB MYSTERY BRA | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
When his cat Koko develops an odd obsession, Jim Qwilleran will have to sniff out the cause in this mystery in the New York Times bestselling Cat Who series.
Having inherited millions, Jim Qwilleran and his two feline companions, Koko and Yum Yum, are preparing to settle down into a life of purr fect luxury in Pickax. That is, until the son of a rich banker and his wife are found murdered. To the police it looks like a robbery gone awry. But then Koko develops an odd appetite for glue. Qwill doesn't spot the clue until his beloved Siamese's taste for paste tangles them in a web of love, danger, and their stickiest case yet!
Author Notes
Lilian Jackson Braun was born on June 20, 1913. After starting out as a copywriter for Detroit department stores, she worked for The Detroit Free Press for nearly 30 years. In the 1960s, her cat died in a fall from a 10th-floor window in Detroit. Neighbors later told her that someone pushed the cat. To work through her feelings, she wrote a short story based on the incident. The result was her first three novels, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, and The Cat Who Turned On and Off. After an 18-year break, she published The Cat Who Saw Red. During her lifetime, she wrote 29 titles in The Cat Who... series. She died on June 4, 2011 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the age of 97.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this tame, nonmysterious mystery, bucolic Pickax City, in Moose County (``400 miles north of everywhere'') is first disrupted by vandalism, then by murder. When Harley Fitch, vice-president of the Pickax Bank, and his wife, Belle, are found shot to death, police chief Brodie, a bagpipe-playing Scotsman, thinks that vandals, from neighboring, low-class Chipmonk are responsible. After three of the suspects die in a car accident, the case is effectively closed. But Jim Qwilleran (``former journalist, now heir to the Klingenschoen fortunea big man about 50, with graying hair, bushy moustache and doleful expression'') doesn't agree. Involved though he is in starting up a newspaper, juggling several platonic romances, redecorating his house and spoiling his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, he finds time to snoop around. He doesn't discover anything, except for the spotted pasts of the deceased. Eventually, the killer attacks Qwilleran and his identity is made known; there are no clues, no logical way for the reader to figure out whodunit. The author's device of introducing every scene with stage directions, and her reliance on stereotypical characters, may bore even the readers who find Koko and Yum Yum as irresistible as Braun ( The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare , The Cat Who Played Post Office ) does. Mystery Guild featured alternate. (September) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A nondemanding yet ingratiating eighth adventure for Koko and Yum Yum, indefatigable feline detectives, and their newspaperman owner, the biggish, 50-ish Jim Qwilleran, ""now heir to the Klingenschoen fortune."" When Pickax City police-chief Brodie first seeks the trio's help, it's to identify and deter a band of vandals; a few days later, however, there's a double murder to contend with: Who killed young, rich, ne'er-do-well Harley Fitch and his allegedly trampy bride Belle? Their bodies were discovered by Harley's clever, likable, also young and rich brother David and his wife, the socially well-connected Jill (she used to be Harley's girl), who stopped by to give the couple a lift to play rehearsal. Then: the boys' horrified mom has a massive stroke and dies; their father commits suicide; and Koko takes an extreme dislike to a local bookbinder; a maker of snowshoes; a paperhanger; and, surprisingly, brother David, whom everybody else likes, moustache notwithstanding. The Cain/Abel denouement occurs in the Fitch mansion library, and uncovers an overbearing mom; a young woman who changed her romantic inclinations twice; a staged burglary, and another name for one of the corpses. The author's deceptively innocent style turns smartly tart in outlining a middle-aged man's love-life. There are also edifying bits on how to make a pair of snowshoes; rebind a book; run a small-town newspaper. Overall: a most pleasant read. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Koko has taken to sniffing glue and licking envelopes while Yum Yum has taken a dislike to her toilet facilities. The two inscrutable Siamese cats return in the latest installment of Braun's entertaining series of ``cat'' mysteries (the last one being The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare, Jove, 1988). Residing now with Jim Qwilleran, in Pickax City, Moose County, in the apartment above the carriage house of the Klingenschoen estate, the cats live the life of Riley; it doesn't hurt that the local chief of police believes they can solve crimes. And there is quite a crime: Harley and Belle Fitch, son and daughter-in-law of the owner of the town bank, are murdered. Qwilleran, with his journalist's itch, cannot help but speculate on what might have happened and snoops around in his polite and persistent way. Although Braun uses standard plot conventions, her setting, characters, and sense of the absurd guarantee a thoroughly enjoyable read. Recommended for both cat-loving mystery lovers and mystery-loving cat lovers. SWM.
