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- Hardcover: 229 pages ; Dimensions (in inches):
1.21 x 8.77 x 5.76
- Publisher: Putnam Pub Group; ; (January 29, 2001)
- ISBN: 0399146652
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Book Description
October arrives in Moose County on the heels of a long
drought, and the citizens of Pickax worry about wildfires.
Their fears are realized in an unexpected manner, with a case of arson-and
the shooting of a volunteer fire-watcher as he is reporting the blaze.
The
crime wave continues as the president of the curling club is pushed to his
death down a flight of stairs, and it's up to Qwilleran & Co. to sniff out
the rat who is responsible for it all.
"Upbeat prose and amiable characters ...the cat's meow of cozies." -Publishers
Weekly
Moose County journalist
and philanthropist James Qwilleran, better known to fans of Lilian Jackson
Braun's evergreen series of feline-inspired thrillers as the owner of a couple
of remarkably prescient Siamese cats named Koko and Yum Yum, is comfortably
ensconced in his winter residence in Pickax at the beginning of The Cat
Who Smelled a Rat.
But he and the other citizens
start hoping for snow when a series of arson fires threaten their safety as
well as the historically significant shafthouses that sit atop the long-closed
mine sites scattered throughout the county.
Qwilleran and his pets take quite a while to connect the fires with the
death of a local builder in a seemingly unrelated accident.
But his leisurely jaunt to the conclusion of this lightly plotted adventure
leaves plenty of room for the author to do what she does best, which is sketching
the picaresque characters who people Pickax and dwelling on the small-town
charms of a place where everybody knows everything about everybody.
The cats are quicker to solve a crime than the local constabulary. Only
Koko could find the clues hidden in an antique pitcher and an old-fashioned
glove box, and only a cat lover could consider this a mystery or even a romance.
There's no suspense, very little drama, hardly any blood, and not even
a hint of sex between Qwilleran and his lady. But Braun's fans are legion,
so we know she must be doing something right. --Jane Adams
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