The Cat's Meow: A Jimmy Flannery Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Campbell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"The fifth Jimmy Flannery mystery should delight old readers and win new ones," said PW. This time out, sewer inspector Jimmy tracks rumors of a black Mass held at St. Pat's and becomes embroiled in Church and city politics, with the ever-present possibility--this is Chicago--of scandal.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 199 pages
• Publisher: Signet; 2nd edition (March 6, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451164318
• ISBN-13: 978-0451164315
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,674,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anyone familiar with Chicago should really enjoy this, January 13, 2005

By 

M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Cat's Meow: A Jimmy Flannery Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a quick read mystery involving an old priest who has served most of his life at a church slated for closing (as soon as the old guy dies). His cat Ignatius dies suddenly, and then some odd things start to happening. Is the old priest losing it, or is there really something odd -- like black masses -- going on in the church at night. A sewer worker who is well-connected in the old Democratic Machine (the political organization that ran -- and probably still does -- Chicago for years) starts poking around in this. He thinks maybe it has something to do with the high school adjoining the church (kids' pranks? something involving the school's staff?) or maybe something to do with the priest's housekeeper or maybe the well-known fence he sees at the rectory isn't really there because he's getting instruction in the Catholic faith. Set in a particularly cold spell, the author convincingly creates a Chicago atmosphere -- complete with that Southside Irish Chicago accent (and yet spelling each word correctly -- but you could nevertheless hear someone speaking Chicago-ese).

I think what I liked best was the way the author created a sense of place through the characters, their dialogue, and the descriptions of Chicago. This is a mystery that could be read in one evening -- briskly plotted and relatively short.