Mystery bookstore owner Penelope Warren and her intrepid feline co-sleuth, Mycroft are on the case, after the discovery of a baby Seismosaurus Rex fossil in Empty Creek, Arizona, leads to the murder of a young scientist.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Allen (Baseball Cat, 1997) strikes an unrelievedly upbeat tone in this chatty cozy, the fourth Big Mike tale. Empty Creek, Ariz., bookstore owner and former Marine, Penelope Warren and her rotund Abyssinian cat, Big Mike, are on the trail of the person who shot fossil hunter Millicent DeForest. They are exploring the scene of the crime, where dinosaur bones abound, when someone, presumably the killer, triggers a dynamite-aided landslide that buries the bones and clues. While the police begin excavating, Penelope digs up background on the academic Millicent and fossil hunters in general. She discovers that five Russian dinosaur skulls were recently stolen in Moscow and that a parade of international visitors has suddenly come to Empty Creek: a Japanese man atoning for his failure as a Yakuza; an Israeli selling what he claims are fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls; and a Russian couple who incessantly quote Dostoyevski. The police at the site unearth an old human skull with a bullet hole in it, and Penelope suspects the two murders are related. Then she and her lover are shot at as they float over the site in a balloon. Not until the Israeli is shot and Big Mike calls her attention to the man's fake Dead Sea Scroll fragments, is she able to link the evidence and nab the killer who wants exclusive rights to the fossil remains. Plotting suffers (and reader interest wanes) as the story's thick cast of characters and local goings-on cause crime-fighting in Empty Creek to take a backseat to local gossip and innuendo.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Another over-the-top outing with bookdealer/sometime police assistant Penelope Warren. Penelope and her ever-present cat Big Mike live in Empty Creek, Arizona (Baseball Cat, 1996, etc.), where most conversation evokes the talk on third-rate sitcoms, an annual calendar features local women in the nude, and Sunday brunch at the Double B bar is the week's social highlight. There's even a long-running feud between the Hackers and the Mahoneys. This time around, paleontologist Millicent DeForest is found shot to death in the desert outside town, near some dinosaur bones. An explosion follows, then later the discovery of the remains of Cornelius Hacker, who disappeared more than 20 years ago. Buster Mahoney vanished back then, toofrom a psychiatric facility. Penelope is relentless in digging for answersher efforts intensified by the appearance in town of several exotic visitorsbut, of course, it's Big Mike who brings about the solution. Relentlessly arch, overlong, unfocused, and a waste of this writer's talent. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Mystery, fun humor and great characters!,
By PattiBooks@aol.com/Patti Herwick (Akron, Ohio) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dinosaur Cat : A "Big Mike" Mystery (Hardcover)
Dinosaur Cat is number 5 in Garrison Allen's 'Big Mike' mystery series and like all the books features Mycroft and his human Penelope, mystery book store owner in Empty Creek, AZ. The story revolves around some dinosaur bones and a body found in the desert around Empty Creek. After an mysterious explosion destroys all the evidence before Penelope and Big Mike can reach the crime scene and the media decends on Empty Creek Penelope and Mikey must do their best to find the likley suspects and the list is long. The choice ranges from and influx of foreigners from Russia's most voluptuous wannabe ballerina to a Japanese fossil peddler. Penelope and her sexy romance writing friend Laney are also trying to get all the 'hunks' of Empty Creek to pose for the 'Men of Empty Creek Calendar'! After all the women had done it the year before it's the men's turn now...Blackmail does work! Don't miss this next installment in the entertaining series created by Garrison Allen, you'll wish you knew of a place like Empty Creek that you could visit .Let's hope Mr. Allen will allow us to come back again soon.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good reading,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dinosaur Cat : A "Big Mike" Mystery (Hardcover)
Empty Creek is a small desert town north of Phoenix. It is a quiet place, populated by eccentric residents, who would never dream of leaving. Major crime is rare, but occasionally happens. When it does occur, Penelope Warren and her feline assistant Mycroft take time off from their bookstore business to investigate. Their latest case centers around the discovery by prospector Red the Rat of a dead body near some fossil bones. As Penelope and Mycroft inspect the murder scene, they hear a warning shout just before an avalanche buries the area. When they try to restore the scene, they uncover a human scull with a bullet hole in it. Soon, someone fires a shot at Penelope and her boy friend. Not to soon after Penelope theorizes that the two murders, though a quarter of a century apart, are linked. Still Penelope tries to uncover who did the killings and why even as she continues to place herself in danger. Though Garrison Allen paints a mystery that is expected to be taken seriously, he populates his tale with irascible, jocular, and memorable characters that provide welcome relief. Going inside the mind of that great feline thinker Mycroft adds a lively dimension to the terrific tale. The take charge, intrepid heroine is a fabulous role model for the next millennium woman. The frontier setting genuinely juxtaposed into modern times provides a special ambiance. With all this going for it, DINOSAUR CAT is a gold medal in a 24 karat series. Harriet Klausner
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Book Of This Series,
This review is from: Dinosaur Cat (A "Big Mike" Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)
I consider this to be the most interesting and best written of this series of books. It's an action, mover and it has about the right amount of focus on the cat "detective". The cat is really not involved in the solving of the mystery or anything of the sort, but he is a most "fetching" character and all the references to him and insight into cat nature are the best parts of the book. I think the human characters are a bit stilted but are passable. The plot is good, about murders connected to a dinosaur fossil and the controversy over who should have control of the fossil. A well done mystery.
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