Customer Reviews

The Cat Who Played Post Office

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Jim Qwilleran wakes up in the hospital and can't remember much. He keeps thinking he has forgotten to do something. It is a nagging thought in the back of his mind. He knew it was something important. He longtime friend Arch Riker shows up and fast forwards Qwill through his life. Luckily he remembers...the cats!

As it turns out the bike wreck that landed him in the hospial was no accident. His investigation (led by Koko) of a former housekeeper of the mansion, who vanished mysteriously five years before, leads to much mystery and intrigue.

I loved this edition of "The Cat Who..." books, especially where Koko played piano. A piano playing cat is a rare find. This book will not disappoint you.

In the 6th book in The Cat Who...series, James Qwilleran aka "Qwill", is just settling in to his new life as a millionaire in Pickaxe City (400 miles north of everywhere). He has moved his two beautiful Siamese cats (KoKo and Yum Yum) into the old Klingenschoen mansion and is settling in for a five year stay to fulfill the requirements of Aunt Fanny's will.

As the book begins, Qwill is lying in a hospital bed, suffering from amnesia caused by a bicycle accident. His old friend, Arch Riker, flies into town to assist Qwill in regaining his memory, and succeeds in bringing Qwill out of his fog. While beginning to heal, Qwill starts to have vivid dreams of the moments leading up to the mishap, and eventually remembers that it was no accident...a truck had purposefully run him off the road! While trying to piece together who may have meant to harm him, Qwill begins some renovations to his new home. During his explorations of the mansion, Qwill stumbles across the room of a former employee, Daisy. Her room was completely painted with a graffiti style mural of daisies, and it arouses Qwill's keen curiosity. He begins to ask questions about the former employee of Fanny, and finds that Daisy disappeared rather abruptly. And when everyone that Qwilleran speaks to about her begins to have "accidents", he becomes suspicious that someone will kill to keep Daisy hidden forever.

This is my favorite cozy mystery series! I had read all of the books in the past, and wanted to read them again for a second time. This time around, I have chosen to listen to them on CD, as I love the voice of George Guidall. I am happily rediscovering how Qwill became a resident of Moose County, and how many of the series regulars join him from "down below". In this installment, Qwill hires Iris Cobb as his house manager. She cooks for him (and the cats), and is in charge of cataloging all of the antiques in the old mansion. For those that have not read the series, I do recommend reading the first several first. Many others can be intermixed, but this book offers good insight as to how Qwill became associated with Moose County. This is a great series by my favorite author!

The first book in the series is called "The Cat who Could Read Backwards". Enjoy!

At first when I started to hear the tapes, I was thinking that the narrator's voice was not dynamic enough. But by the middle of the first tape, I was ok with it. I've just gotten so tired of listening to Los Angeles radio stations in the car (we sit in traffic a lot out here) that I thought it would be nice to be entertained by something I really love. I was glad I did. Even if you've read the books in the past, it's fun to let the narrator do the reading for you. AND... something I thought was neat and that made me laugh was... when the narrator would be talking about Koko and Yumyum and a noise they were making, he would sound EXACTLY like my own Siamese cat. So it made it funny, because I knew exactly the "language" he was referring to. (He must have studied Siamese cats before attempting this narration!)

Anyway, I will probably buy more "Cat Who" books on tape. I don't anticipate L.A. traffic to be letting up anytime soon. And for some strange reason, listening to it in the car makes me feel like my own cat is in there with me. I say if you live in a city with heavy traffic... buy the tapes!

This 6th book in the series opens with Qwill, the new heir to the Klingenschoen fortune, trying to remember just who and where he is. As he remembers flashbacks cover the events leading up to the accident that lead to his amnesia, or was it an accident? Along the way Qwill, with the guidance of his cats, solves the long ago disappearance of a housemaid and encouters a scandal involving a the oldest most respected Moose County family.

Qwill's relocation to Moose County has been eased by friends, both old and new. His long time friend Arch Riker has come up north for a visit, a former land lady, Iris Cobb has relocated to Pickaxe to become his housekeeper. Qwill's romance with Dr. Melinda, begun in the previous book, is continuing. Other Moose County residents, both from the eariler Cat Who Played Brahms and new to this book appear.

This 'cozy' mystery will appeal more to those already familiar with the series although it could be enjoyed on its own merits by a mystery fan. A reader new to the series could also begin here.

This is number 6 in "The Cat Who ... " series. Qwill (now wealthy) and the cats settle down in Moose County. Mrs. Cobb, the antique dealer from an earlier book, joins them to manage the household. Qwill believes a murder has taken place and is determined to find out what happened. Like all the books in the series, this one is a page-turner.

These are great stories Lillian Jackson Braun does a wonderful job of writing. I hope to one day have all the Audio Tapes in the series. Amazon.com is a great company to do bussiness with.

This book starts off very interestingly with Qwill not knowing who or where he is due to falling off his bicycle on Ittibittiwassee Road. This provides some very interesting reading material at the beginning because his best friend Riker comes to his hospital room and has to refresh Qwill's mind on his past. So, consequently, the reader is filled in on a lot of Qwill's life up to that point. Some of which we already knew, some we didn't! This whole book is, of course, interesting and Koko and Yum Yum are adorable. This paragraph from the book will give you a good idea about the cats... "'CHFFF!' The Siamese were still under the table. Yum Yum was looking for a shoelace to untie, and Koko was listening to the guests' voices with rapt concentration."

The Cat Who is the best serries ever full of humor wit and complexity,
James Macentosh Qwilerin is a off beat repoter/Billion air with his 2 cats Koko and Yumyum who are no shorter than extra ordinary.
This is the best book serries I have ever read and would recomend it to any one over 10.
Trevor Oliver
12 Years old

This is number six in Lilian Braun's long running 'The Cat Who' series and marks the beginning of Jim Qwilleran's transplantation to the far northern town of Pickaxe. Qwilleran has managed to become the heir of the community's wealthiest resident and must stay in Pickaxe for five years in order to inherit. As we all know now, he lasted a lot more than five years, and may still be north of everywhere enjoying the foibles and gossip that play such an important part of the world's coziest cozies.

Qwill has just moved into the Klingenshoen mansion with his two Siamese cats - Yum Yum the delectable and arch-detective Koko. Koko, through various manipulations of his owner's behavior, manages to arouse Qwill's curiosity about the disappearance of a housemaid a few years previously. In the process of investigating, the newspaperman introduces us to many of Pickaxes residents for the very first time. When he isn't being his by trucks, that is. It is interesting in retrospect to meet these characters again, who often started out one way and then became something else as Braun added layer after layer to her confection of characters and mysteries (and cats).

I can only read so many of these in rapid succession before I have to stop. Lilian Braun has a tendency to let her characters run in a groove with very little development over a number of volumes. She makes up for this by using Qwilleran to create witty dialogue, but there are only so many Pickaxe witticisms that one can read before feeling a desire for something with a bit more meat to it. This volume is a change of pace (if you've been reading in sequence). There's a bit less sarcasm and a bit more story and that makes this one of the best of her early books.

Don't look for a complicated mystery here. Braun's villains tend to be obvious, and more often than not the means are just as visible. You read these tales for lightweight enjoyment and the zany characters that chitchat their way through the pages. And, of course, you read them because you can't resist Qwill's owners, the Siamese masterminds.

I am a big fan of the Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun. In fact, this was the first book I actually read from the series. I think I read this first book within the span of a day, and that was as a pre-teen. All the books in this series are full of captivating, edge of your seat suspense. Jim Qwilleran (Mr. Q, and Qwill) has inherited a mass fortune, but must inhabit Pickax county for a period of 5 years in order to obtain his new found wealth. In this story, he has just moved into the Klingoshen mansion with his 2 cats, Koko and Yum Yum. Koko has a crazy knack for sniffing our murder and mystery no matter where he is. And once again, his nose proves to hold the key, only this time by sorting Qwill's mail (only bringing those letter HE deems important). The antics of Koko and Yum Yum will make you laugh, while at the same time, setting the stage for a truly remarkable novel. I give this book (and the series) 50 stars.