The Cat Who Said Cheese

1996, possibly first edition, from G. P. Putnam's Sons
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Said Cheese
Original price $22.95, purchase price $1.00
Hardcover in good condition with worn dustjacket
B-

I'm missing the 1995 entry, The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, which I think is about trains.  (I got it from the library ages ago.)  This book mentions Polly recovering from surgery, so presumably that happened in Whistle.  This is set in September and October, I'm guessing the Fall after Breakfast, so this is probably still 1990.  The death of one of the Fitch twins is supposed to have happened three years ago, but it's actually more like four and half.

Since I don't remember Whistle too well, I can't tell you if it was the drop in quality that this book is, but I suspect so.  Not that it's a bad mystery or anything, but the thing of "Mr. Q" being the most popular man in the county is beginning to get annoying.  He of course gets the highest bid in the bachelor & bachelorette auction.  Everyone raves about his writing.  The new banker's bimbo wife of course loves his moustache.  And so on.

Also, there's a "foreign-looking" woman whom everyone gossips about, and it turns out she's being stalked, so the nosiness has a particularly unpleasant undertone.  She, Onoosh, returns I think, as do some of the other restaurateurs and other "foodies" introduced here.  The cheese is mostly literal, although Bushy does unsuccessfully try to take pictures of Qwill's cats again.  (They have no problem with video though, so you'd think he could get stills that way.)

The Cat Who Tailed a Thief is coming up in 1997....