The Cat Who Turned On and Off

1968, 1986 copyright but lists the books through 1996, Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Turned On and Off
Original price $5.99, purchase price $3.00
Worn paperback
B

At some point I lost the copy from the box set, so I had to replace Book #3.  It's an important one in the series in that it's the first one where Yum Yum is around a significant amount, and it introduces some recurring characters: Iris Cobb, her son Dennis, and lawyer Robert Maus.  Also, Arch Riker has more to do than in the first two books.  We even meet his wife Rosie.  She's a junker, which Qwilleran initially thinks is the same as a junkie.  There is actually a drug angle to the story, although Koko's still clean, only turning on appliances.  (However, he will eventually sniff glue.)

The story is again lightly '60s, with one young lady calling Qwill (as he's now known to his friends) "groovy."  He's dating another younger woman with nice knees.  (Seriously, Qwill has a knee fetish.  I guess that's sort of '60s, with miniskirts around everywhere.)  This time it's grieving but not inconsolable Mary Duckworth/Duxbury, a rich but kind antique dealer.

The setting of Junktown is more interesting than the neighborhoods of the first two stories, and the mystery is stronger and better handled.  I didn't feel like the cats were as memorable though, Yum Yum in particular.  I have issues with the female cat, but I'll go into those more later in the series, since I'm cutting her a bit of slack for being a newbie.  Also, the narrator and/or Qwill is a bit harsh about how Cluthra and Iris aren't his type.  Still, I think the book is slightly better than the second one, if not quite enough to be a B+.

These first three books got good reviews, but Braun took a hiatus, until 1986.  According to this obituary, http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20110607/NEWS/110609883 , "she stopped writing the mysteries because the genre had begun to include more sex and violence. Also, she had a full-time job with the Detroit Free Press that she found satisfying."  Her mysteries are certainly cozy, without much gore, despite all the murder.  And "sex" is never more overt than "the pair on the daybed were blissfully unaware" on the last page of this novel.