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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Koko Solves Another Case, July 15, 2008
Jim Qwilleran, or Qwill, has recently left the big city to move to the city of Pickax in Moose County. Life is good. He is decorating a new space and has a lovely young decorator who seems to making plays for him. This is causing problems for Qwill's relationship with Polly Duncan, the town librarian.
Qwill joined the local theatre group. The play practice is going smoothly until one of the actors is murdered with his wife. Qwill begins to investigate the murder and finds out many new details about Pickax residents and Moose County.
The Cats, Koko and Yum Yum, begin to act strangely. Little does Qwill know they are working behind the scenes to solve a crime and repair a relationship.
I enjoyed this Lilian Jackson Braun novel. I plan to read them all. If you like enjoyable mysteries with cats you will love this book.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Squunk Water Anyone?, May 11, 2005
As I started this, the eighth book of this series I found that the author had decided to use a slightly different tact from that of her previous books. At the beginning of each chapter there are what amounts to stage directions that tell the reader about the location of the action to come and the characters involved. For someone who jumps into the series with this book these directions might be helpful but I found them very distracting.
The story itself revolves around the murder of the scion of a local family of bankers and his wife, of whom the family did not approve. Everyone immediately assumes that a gang of local hoodlums committed the murder but Jim Qwilleran is not so sure about that. By the time the dust has settled, Braun has killed off seven residents of Moose County as she continues to thin the population of this remote area. Through it all, Qwilleran senses that there is more to this mystery than meets the eye but he continually overlooks the clues that his cat Koko is trying to give him. To add to Qwilleran's woes, Yum Yum is behaving strangely and he is having serious women troubles.
The mystery is a little heavier in this book than in the previous installments and the clues are much harder to read. Until the very end, neither the reader nor Qwilleran will know whom the killer or killers are despite Koko's clues. It all just seems so improbable. Still, since the mysteries in these books are secondary to the story of Jim Qwilleran, his cats and the people of Moose County the odd solution to this particular mystery is not too disappointing. The reader should also be wary of fake leads that appear throughout this story.
As is normal for these cat books, the characters are very well developed and interesting. Most of the people to be found in this book have shown up before but we are introduced to the bookseller Eddington Smith, who like Barney Fife carries a pistol with no bullets. We are also introduced to Smith's cat Winston, who dusts the booksellers inventory with his tail. Also intriguing is the bottled water Qwilleran likes so much and the reason that is finally given for it's pleasant taste.
Lilian Jackson Braun can weave a story like few other authors. Her mysteries are light and entertaining with just a little sex rolled in to keep things interesting. Even if you aren't a mystery buff, once you start reading this series you will not be able to stop because you will get very attached to the people and the cats. If there were really a Moose County I think that I would move there.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
for Moose County content and 4 for mystery, January 10, 2004
This 8th volume of the popular Cat Who series focuses on the production of 'Arsenic and Old Lace' that is being staged by the Moose County Theater Club. The play is cancelled when one of the cast members and his wife are murdered. In typical small town fashion everyone else in the book are related to, had dated, gone to school with, taught, worked with or in someway were related to the couple. Qwill, the richest man in Moose County (which is located 400 miles north of everywhere) and his cats Koko and Yum Yum, are soon on the case. This sleuthing does not come without peril to the trio but in the end they of course solve the crime. This is a bit more of a mystery than others of the series (at least I didn't figure it out early as I usually do in this series). There is also more violence involving Qwill and the cats than usual. In light of this I think that this would be a better choice for a non Moose County groupie. For those of us who are fans of the series we get to visit with many of our old friends including Alacoque Wright who was featured in an earlier book. Qwill has also found himself with a surplus of lady friends, a situation that he does not find to his liking! The cats are very much involved in the action here, more directly than in some other books in this series. The book is divided not into chapters but into acts and scenes like a play. This is one of the best of the series, both for those who are already fans of the series and those who are not (yet).
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