Canapes for the Kitties [Paperback]

Marian Babson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: St. Martin's (1997)
• ASIN: B000OTGEQG
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A cozy village adventure., September 16, 2002

By 

MLPlayfair (Ravenna, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Canapes for the Kitties (Mass Market Paperback)

CANAPES FOR THE KITTIES starts rather slowly, but it never drags. This light and easy-to-read cozy reminded me a bit of Christie in the atmosphere it built up. About a third of the way into the book, it turns creepy and more interesting. Good premise, nice structure, likeable characters (mostly mystery writers!) -- and I love the cats! I wasn't too happy with the outcome -- I thought MY theory of who did it would have been more interesting! But still worthwhile for the nice, fun visit to a friendly village of eccentrics. Nicely done. This is my first Babson. Now I'll look for more!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Playing Cat-and-Mouse With Mystery Authors, September 12, 2001

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canapes for the Kitties (Mass Market Paperback)

Although feline references play a dominant role on the cover and title of Marian Babson's latest cozy, it is a gallery of mystery writers who do the catting about when they move into the same English neighborhood occupied by a collection of rivals.

The kitties do play a supporting role, a duo named Had-I and But-Known, owned by cozy writer Lucinda Lucas, and Roscoe, by Macho Magee (formerly known as Lancelot Dalrymple). But they act as cats, not as characters on a par with their owners, as seen in Rita Mae Brown's series, nor do they offer hints as to who done it, as in Lillian Jackson Braun.

No, like the cats, Babson wants to play with the English literary scene, so her authors are beset by the neighborhood's new arrivals: the venomous critic Plantagenet Sutton, a college professor who collects writers like some collect butterflies, and a husband-and-wife duo seeking to record in camera and prose a year in the life of a charming English village. Not only that, but the characters in Lucinda and Macho's books seem to be acting up as well, resenting their creators' plans to replace them with other series.

Babson is a writer with a long track record, and she capably serves up in "Canapes for the Kitties" a charming, breezy cozy laced with some tart darts thrown at some tempting targets.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you haven't tried this series, you should., September 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Canapes for the Kitties (Hardcover)

Mystery writer Lucinda Lucas is sick of her trio of detectives, "the
sibling spinster sleuths", and decides it is time to eradicate the three
flowers before they turn to weeds. However, word spreads amongst the
writing community of Brimful Coffers that Lucinda plans to eliminate the
sisters. The reaction is extremely negative as old and new feuds surface
over the pros and cons of Lucinda's next story line.

However, someone decides to take the argument one step further by
killing some of the writers. At first, it appears to Lucinda as if her
fictional trio is trying to scribe a different ending than Lucinda has
planned. All the mystery writers, including Lucinda, fail to cope when
confronted with a real series of who-done-its. So it is up to Lucinda's
trio of felines (Had-I, But-Known, and Roscoe) to risk their nine lives by
trying to uncover the identity of the killer before their mistress becomes
the next victim.

No one quite writes cat mysteries each the same merriment as the
marvelously jocular Marian Babson does. Her latest cat who-done-it is a
very humorous tale that effortlessly crosses the line between fiction and
the fourth estate while expeditiously take the reader along for a magic
carpet ride of fun. Anyone who loves witty feline mysteries needs to not
only read CANAPIES FOR THE KITTIES, but all of Ms. Babson's previous works
- her brand of humor makes them entertainingly unique.

Harriet Klausner