The Cat Who Tailed a Thief

1997, 1998 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief
Original price $6.99, purchase price 50 cents
Very worn paperback with split spine
B-

The hero-worship of Qwill is getting ridiculous, with one woman offering to give up her spot in line at the bank.  When he finally wears a kilt, everyone thinks he looks wonderful.  And of course the banker's bimbo wife, soon widow, is after him.  It's pretty obvious that she and her "cousin" are the guilty ones in the mystery, but it's not a bad book.  I am getting tired of the local anecdotes that Qwill tape-records, but at least there's a sort of pay-off this time, with the tape recorder revealing information.

This is set the winter after Said Cheese, so 1990 turning into 1991.  It seems a bit early for cell phones (I identify them with the mid to late '90s), but that's a minor quibble.  I did find it odd that Koko and Yum Yum allow a picture of them to be taken for the front page of the newspaper, but they're cats and allowed to be fickle.

This is the last Cat Who I own, although I've read some of the later ones.  So it turns out, after all, that I can't say when the series jumped the shark.  Perhaps it's best to bid adieu to Qwill and the gang while the writing's still pretty good.

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....

The Cat Who Came to Breakfast

1994, possibly first edition, from G. P. Putnam's Sons
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast
Original price $19.95, purchase price $2.90
Hardcover in good condition with worn dustjacket
B

This is set in June, and the 9th falls on a Monday.  It should be 1990 now, but maybe Braun thinks it's 1986.  (June 9th wouldn't fall on a Monday again until 1997.)  Qwill and Arch have been friends for about fifty years, since kindergarten, which does fit, since they must be 56 now.

The title refers to the many-named island that Qwill and the cats visit.  I think The Cat Who Came to Providence would've been better.  (The names are Breakfast Island, Grand Island, Pear Island, and Providence Island.)  Or better yet, something playing off the domino theme that's my favorite aspect of the book.  

Qwill stays at the B & B run by one of his favorite young couples, Nick (short for Dominick) & Lori Bamba, who now have three small children.  (She was Qwill's secretary when he first came to the area.  There actually hasn't been quite enough time for her to have a six-year-old.)  I enjoyed the setting, although the mystery felt a bit recycled.  (More offstage incest, secret marriages, eccentric rich people, etc.)  Overall, a solid entry, although I am getting tired of how everyone-- even tourists!-- has read and adored Qwill's newspaper columns.  I do like how Arch & Mildred are so suited for each other, much more than Qwill & Polly, deliberately or not.

The Cat Who Went Into the Closet

1993, 1994 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Went Into the Closet
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Worn paperback
B

Unlike all the "drug" titles, this title has no subtext.  Koko literally goes into (and out of) closets, digging up clues.  Euphonia Gage is murdered offpage, while Qwill is renting the house she willed to her grandson Junior.  She was first introduced in I think Knew Shakespeare, which was set in 1985.  She's 88 here.  Qwill has been in the area for about five years, and he's been through six winters.  This seems to be set the October to December right after Wasn't There, so it's still 1989.  However, Braun has Halloween, Nov. 27th, and I think Christmas Eve all falling on Saturdays, and this doesn't come close to the 1989 calendar.  In fact, the only way Halloween can be on a Saturday and Christmas Eve "on a weekend" is if it's a four-day weekend and you're counting Thursday, as happened in 1987 and 1992.  (Nov. 27th is on a Friday.)  Usually, she's not this sloppy.

Other than that, the book is up to her usual standard, although the introduction of 68-year-old Celia Robinson doesn't bode well.  (Yes, another character with the last name Robinson, right after Blume's.)  Celia is all right in herself, but the problem is she thinks Qwill is hilarious and he considers hiring her as a replacement for Mrs. Cobb.  As I recall, she was much more sycophantic in that role than Mrs. Cobb (who adored Qwill but also had her own life), but at least that doesn't impact the series yet.

In this book, I enjoyed Qwill & Hixie's road show of "The Big Burning of 1869," as well as the dog-mushing subplot, though I could've done without hearing that the female musher is appealing like a 12-year-old girl.  Qwill worries that Polly might be jealous, since she's supposed to be jealous of every woman "younger and thinner."  This doesn't explain why Qwill thinks Polly is jealous of Mildred.  Well, Mildred has a lot more personality, and I'm happy that she's not wasted on Qwill but instead finds happiness with good ol' Arch.  (Qwill is best man, his second time for Arch.)

Koko also shows signs of jealousy, this time of a cat named Oh Jay.  This paperback edition came out in March 1994, right before O.J. Simpson's ex-wife was murdered, and I wonder if Braun would've chosen another name for the strange cat if the book had been written a year or more later.

The Cat Who Wasn't There

1992, 1993 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Wasn't There
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Worn paperback
B

The "there" where Koko isn't (neither is Yum Yum of course) is Scotland.  Qwill and other Moose-Countyites (plus photographer Bushy from Lockmaster) travel together, although their guide is soon killed.  There's a running semi-joke in these books about Qwill's mother being a Mackintosh, and people tell him he'd look good in a kilt, although he hasn't yet succumbed.  So Braun gets to present even more Scottish history than usual.  Oh, and the community theater is doing Macbeth this year.

Lady Macbeth is played by Dr. Melinda Goodwinter, who's returned after three years (more like four), following the deaths of her parents.  She wants to marry Qwill and resents Polly.  Meanwhile Qwill is very protective of Polly (except when they argue) because of the stalker.

This picks up right after Moved a Mountain, and continues to September of that year, which is a record for a time span in these books.  Oh, and we find out that Polly is a Virgo.  (Qwill is a Gemini.)  If Mountain is a whisker better than usual, this is a whisker worse, although not as bad as Read Backwards or Went Underground.  I did like the idea of Qwill buying capes for five women, who all end up at the same awards ceremony, and some other nice touches.  

The Cat Who Moved a Mountain

1992, Jove Books edition from later that year
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Worn paperback
B

Booklist said that this entry is "as good as, even a whisker better, than earlier ones," and I agree.  It's not enough better to move Braun into the B+ class, but I enjoyed Qwill's mountain retreat and the new cast of characters he meets.  (One-shots if I remember correctly.)  He's now completed five years in Moose County, which makes this 1989.  The story is set in June, and we find out that his birthday is May 24th.  (It doesn't say, but he must be 55 now.)  Qwill needs to decide whether he'll stay in Moose County, but it's clear that, although his visit causes justice to be done, the Potato Mountains (state not mentioned but far enough away that no one has ever read his newspaper columns) will never be his home.

His stay is cut short not only by flooding but by someone stalking Polly.  He actually confesses love to her!  (Over the phone.)  We don't know how she reacts, but Qwill's love life will be more of a focus in the next book....

The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal

1991, 1992 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Worn paperback
B

Although this is flawed, I found it a generally satisfying entry.  To begin with the flaws, I found some of the information in the first couple chapters rendered redundant when Braun fleshed it out in flashbacks later on, and good editing could've avoided this.  Secondly, she's still got a chronology problem.  Qwill has been in Moose County four years, which would make it 1988.  And the story begins on Saturday, September 10th, which does in fact work for 1988, but there's a missing year somewhere, since the previous four books fall under '86.  (See timeline for Cat Who Lived High for more information.)  Thirdly, she's got two obnoxious characters, and one murders the other, so there's not much of a mystery, and the people of both Moose County and Lockmaster to the south don't seem particularly upset.  It's more of a concern to them that Iris Cobb's son Dennis is the prime suspect, and then he dies, too.  (At thirty, when he should be in his mid 20s.)

You could also quibble that this is yet another Cat Who with a Shakespeare connection, but that's fine with me.  I liked the stuff with the actors, as well as with the racing crowd, and the twists on Polly's jealousy, with Qwill showing his own jealous streak.  Braun teases the reader with the possibility of Qwill marrying Polly, but none of them seem in any hurry.  I'm certainly not invested in it, but I don't mind it. 

Best of all, this is the one where Qwill moves into the apple barn.   It wasn't too interesting, architecturally or otherwise, when he was living above his mansion's garage.  But I share the townsfolks' fascination with Dennis's renovation.  And designer Fran contributes tapestries that foil the murderer, thanks to the cats and an unlikely assistant.  Bootsy by the way, is a "yearling" and Yum Yum (introduced full grown in '83) is about five.  Sigh, chronology.

The Cat Who Lived High

1990, 1991 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Lived High
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Very worn paperback with broken spine
B

Qwill, wanting to avoid another Moose County winter, accepts the invitation of Amberina, one of the "Weird Sisters" of Junktown, back in Turned On and Off.  And, yes, like that '60s title, this one has a drug meaning, although it's mostly to do with living in faded luxury in a penthouse. 

Since this is the November of the same year as Went Underground, it's probably 1986.  Qwill (in the fake-out beginning where he seems to have died) is very specifically 52.  He claims it's been three years since he lived in Junktown, but he's also supposed to have moved to Moose County three years ago.  Here's what we're looking at so far:
1982-- Could Read Backwards (Aug/Sept)
1983-- Ate Danish Modern (Feb/Mar), Turned On and Off (Dec I think)
1984-- Saw Red (I forget, spring?), Played Brahms (June), Played Post Office (July)
1985-- Knew Shakespeare (Nov)
1986-- Sniffed Glue (spring?), Went Underground (June/July), Talked to Ghosts (Oct), Lived High (Nov)

So really, he's only been in Moose County two years, five months, but it has been about three years since Junktown.  He reunites with not only Amberina but Mary Duckworth, Robert Maus, and a couple others from On and Off and/or Saw Red, not surprisingly since the plot is again art-related.  (In fact, the murderer victim and her suspicious ex-husband bought the Lambreth Gallery of the first book, and there's a passing mention of Mountclemens.)

It's fun to be back in the Big City, for the reader I mean, not for Qwill who misses everything and everyone Up North.  He does help Koko save "an estimated two hundred persons."  (Braun has some sort of prejudice against the word "people," and it's a quirk that's particularly prominent in this entry.)  And he meets "The Countess," an eccentric old woman who owns the building the penthouse is in.  She's 75, which actually works out with the 1986 date, since she had her debut just before The Crash of '29.

In both this book and the previous one, I really appreciated Arch's loyal friendship to Qwill.  He's still engaged to "the lovely Amanda," but the bromance is more believable. 

The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts

1990, Jove Books edition from later that year
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Very worn paperback with broken spine
B

This is set in October of the same year as Went Underground, since Arch asks Polly about her summer trip to England.  Qwill is "fifty," yet the "same age" as 55-year-old Mrs. Cobb, who's the murder victim this time.  Her son Dennis Hough, who appeared briefly before, arrives and seriously considers a move to Moose County.  He's about 24.  Robotic ex-principal Homer Tibbitt is 94.

Although the murderer seemed pretty obvious (he's the most unpleasant person in the story), the book still works, better than its predecessor.  I would've liked to have seen more grief from Qwill over the loss of his former landlady/housekeeper/friend, but he does tend to be emotionally reserved, except when it comes to the cats.  He hypocritically disapproves of Polly's fondness for her new kitten, Bootsy, forgetting that he feeds his cats gourmet food, and calls Yum Yum his "little sweetheart."  (And as for Bootsy being a silly name, it's honestly no worse than Yum Yum or Koko, Gilbert & Sullivan notwithstanding.  In fact, Bootsy Collins is an awesome name.)

The book ends with the opening of the next book, as Qwill gets a phone invitation to spend the Winter in a penthouse Down Below....

The Cat Who Went Underground

1989, Jove Books edition from later that year
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Went Underground
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Very worn paperback with broken spine
B-

Although this is by no means the worst in the series, it is the worst since the first.  While I liked seeing Qwill deal with the frustrations of both remodeling and rural living, the book does have more striking flaws than usual, if none so glaring as would occur a decade or so later.  He's both 50 and "fiftyish" in this entry, set two summers after his inheritance, and in fact he returns to Aunt Fanny's cabin, for the first time since Played Brahms.  It should be 1986, and if so, Braun is correct that the Fourth of July fell on a Friday.  Qwill does make a "Pentagon shredding" joke that would be a bit prescient at that time of year, but maybe he isn't referring to Ollie North specifically.

The story seems to be moving along, with lots of interesting characters, including Mooseville neighbor Mildred, who would make some man a good wife if only her worthless husband weren't still alive (in jail).  She's smart, considerate, and a great cook, with a sense of humor.  But we know Braun isn't really shipping her with Qwill because she makes Mildred superstitious.  As for Polly, she's away in England, mostly sending postcards.  Meanwhile, Arch and Amanda continue to be on-and-off engaged.

The story falls apart a bit in the penultimate chapter:

1. For no reason except misguided chivalry, Qwill discourages curious Yum Yum from joining his friend Nick and Koko in the basement.  For cripe's sake, she's a cat, not a fragile flower!
2. Even though Qwill could have Nick stay in the cabin, hidden with his gun, while Qwill confronts the killer, he instead sends Nick on his way and then invites the killer over for pastry!
3. Then he lets the killer confess and drive off, before he regretfully calls the police.
4. There's no need for the killer to have a personality named "Louise."

Still, (with the exception of the final quibble) these are all consistent with Qwill's personality, annoying but human.  Braun has not yet had him, or anyone, do anything drastically out of character.

The Cat Who Sniffed Glue

1988, 1989 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Sniffed Glue
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Very worn paperback
B

I can't remember when this is supposed to be set, but Qwill is "about fifty" and the weather is nice enough to walk around in.  It must be fairly soon after Knew Shakespeare, since Arch Riker starts publishing The Moose County Something.  (They hold a contest for a new name, and the placeholder wins.)  Arch is still charmed by grumpy Amanda Goodwinter, and they become engaged.  Meanwhile, Qwill is seeing Polly Duncan (they were snowbound at her place in the last book), and even bought her a car for Christmas.  (So this must be at least January '86.)  She has a jealous streak, and there are a lot of women for her to be jealous of in this entry, including Cokey Wright from Danish Modern.  The cats are also jealous, Koko especially (he still resents Ms. Wright's nickname), which seems to contradict Lori Bamba's theory that cats go for humans of the opposite sex.  (Is Koko gay?  Or misogynist?  What is Braun saying?)

The mystery involves the Fitch twins (who appeared briefly in earlier books) and, yes, glue, although the drug angle is a red herring.  The novel has acts and scenes, including an intermission, but is otherwise not in play format.  The Fitches are going to be in a play with Qwill, and the director is decorator Fran Brodie, another of Polly's rivals, as well as daughter of the sounding-board chief of police.

Although Braun is still at the top of her form (again, the mystery might be obvious in retrospect but is handled well enough), I can see the first signs of rot, due to Qwill being "one of the most eligible bachelors in town."  When Qwill visited the library in the previous book, "four friendly young clerks rushed to [his] assistance.  Young women were always attracted to the man with a luxuriant moustache and mournful eyes....Furthermore, he was the richest man in town."  Too much time is spent on Qwill's attractiveness, due to his wealth or not, and although Braun is keeping it just in bounds for the moment, it will eventually bring him to Gary Stu status.  He'll be beloved by every one in town (except for the murderers), and it'll be grating.  But for now, it's OK.

The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare

1988, Jove Books edition from later that year
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Paperback in pretty bad shape
B

In this book Qwill has been living in Moose County for about 18 months (more like 16 or 17), and we actually get calendar dates, like Monday, Nov. 11th.  That date fell on a Monday in 1985, for the first time since '74 and, with the R.R. reference in Post Office, this seems a reasonable year.  (The references to videotape in this book and the next show it's unlikely to be 1974 or earlier.)  True, he's "age fifty or so," and Qwill was "over forty-five" in Danish Modern, but maybe he was 47 or 48 then.

Speaking of Danish, Harry Noyton returns, only to die in a car accident with Gertrude "Gritty" Goodwinter, wife of newspaper-printer Senior (who's bumped off), mother of newspaper-publisher Junior.  (Speaking of Goodwinters, Dr. Melinda has left town, but Qwill gets a new love interest, Polly Duncan, of whom more later.)  This is not the only Cat Who to reference Shakespeare, but this time it's mostly Hamlet that Koko's dropping clues about.  The mystery seemed pretty obvious this time, especially after rereading Shakespeare a year and a half ago, but I'll cut Braun some slack since I was still entertained.

A slimmed-down Hixie also reappears, and while she's still unlucky in love, she's unsinkable and will become a fixture, including on the revamped newspaper....

The Cat Who Played Post Office

1987, Jove Books edition from later that year
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Played Post Office
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Very worn paperback
B

The paperback of Brahms came out in June, while this was published in December.  Brahms was set in June, while this is set in July.  In fact, much of the book is a flashback after Qwill is run off the road while bicycling.  He has amnesia at first but Arch Riker visits and brings Qwill's memory back, allowing Braun to smoothly provide background information from Qwill's childhood to the recent present.  Qwill is described in the book as "fiftyish," but I think he doesn't turn 50 till a later book.

Qwill moves out of both the nameless city "Down Below" (in the lower, more urban half of the nameless state) and out of the forest cabin, and into Aunt Fanny's mansion in Pickax City, per the terms of the will.  He has to live in the county for five years, or lose his inheritance.  He's uncomfortable with wealth and his new luxurious lifestyle, so he plans to set up a foundation to distribute much of his money once he gets his hands on it.  (He's living off the not inconsiderable interest in the meantime.) 

During his brief visit to Down Below, he senses that Arch is unhappy, but Mrs. Cobb is the one to tell him that Rosie Riker is getting a divorce and buying Mrs. Cobb's antique shop.  Mrs. Cobb moves into the mansion and becomes Qwill's chef/housekeeper/Edwina-McMahon.  (She thinks he's hilarious.)  Arch pays Qwill a couple visits, and hits it off with cranky scene-stealing interior designer Amanda Goodwinter.  It's a book with a lot of Goodwinters, not just Amanda and Dr. Melinda, but Junior and his father Senior at the very Victorian local newspaper, and the brother and sister lawyers Alexander and Penelope.  There are a few shocking scandals with the last pair, partly to do with a missing housemaid named Daisy.

Five years ago, Daisy did a wild mural in the servants' quarters, including initials of men she was involved with.  One is R.R., which Qwill notes could be either a President or a movie star.  So this must be set at least in 1981.  Qwill points out that it's the last quarter of the twentieth century, and in the last book Aunt Fanny was a "donut girl" in World War I, but that doesn't really help narrow it down much.

Braun has a lot to juggle, but I don't see her phoning it in yet, even with two books in one year.  So far the move to the country and Qwill's wealth haven't done any harm to the series.  The title this time refers to Koko's habit of bringing Qwill pertinent pieces of mail, including a five-year-old postcard.

The Cat Who Played Brahms

1987, Jove Books edition from later that year
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Played Brahms
Original price $3.50, purchase price $1.95
Very worn paperback
B

Here it is, the game-changer, the book that moved the series to Moose County, although at first it just seems like Qwill is taking a vacation in the cabin that belongs to his "Aunt Fanny" (his late mother's old friend).  Back in the city, Qwill is starting to be bothered by changes, both at work and at the press club, apparently due to technology and women entering the work force.  Aunt Fanny herself is a go-getter, running the county because of her wealth and blackmail.  She dies-- murder of course-- and leaves everything to Qwill, although the inheritance isn't revealed until the end.  She's 89 and Qwill is about 40 years past 7.  It's June and he's been living at Maus Haus awhile.

Braun does a nice job creating the atmosphere, including hints towards future mysteries.  Koko plays audio cassettes, which has to be the most dated aspect of the book, even at the time.  (Tapes still existed but were rapidly being replaced by CDs.)  Love interest Rosemary is eased out of the series without being maligned, it's just clear that she doesn't have the sense of humor that Qwill needs.  Dr. Melinda Goodwinter is first referred to as plain, but then Qwill notices her stunning eyes and lashes, as well as her flirty charm, so she'll clearly be the replacement love interest, at least for awhile.  And there are lots of other new characters of course, yet it's no more obvious that we're going to be with them for awhile than that the Junk Street gang wouldn't become regulars.  We will, however, hear of an important sale on Junk Street in the next book....

The Cat Who Saw Red

1986, 1987 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Saw Red
Original price $2.95, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback with split spine
B

This is the last of the box set I wrote about back in July.  It feels like a longer gap than 18 years between Books 3 and 4, although it's set not long after the events of On and Off.  Mary Duckworth is leaving town, but she recommends Qwill move into the building owned by Robert Maus, so he leaves a tearful Mrs. Cobb (luckily not forever) and meets new people, including husband-hunting chubby Hixie, whom we'll also see more of.  (I think Mary disappears for good.)  Arch is around, as boss and best pal, which is good because Qwill meets up with his old girlfriend (from ages 17 to 20), Joy.  She's not too joyful though because she's a potter married to another potter who resents her greater talent, resents it enough to kill her.  He's pretty obviously the murderer, but the method, gorier than usual for the series, will probably surprise you.

I liked the glimpse into Qwill's past, as well as his realization that he's been in love with who she was, not who she grew up to be.  Also, Koko is further developing his mechanical aptitude, even typing!  It may be the 1980s in the outside world, but Qwill still hasn't given up his typewriter.  He's 46 in this adventure by the way.  This time his assignment is restaurant critic, which is a problem because his doctor has put him on a diet.  Yet he still manages to think unkind thoughts about Hixie's weight.  He always holds women to a higher standard, although he does get points for dating Rosemary, a woman with grandkids in college!

A few words about Yum Yum.  She's described on the back of this and many of the other books as "a lovable Siamese adored by her two male companions."  That's about it, no special talents or qualities.  Qwill calls her his "little sweetheart," and talks to her with (something like) "a tenderness that no woman in his life had ever heard."  Also, she and Koko can be jealous of human outsiders.  It's a weird dynamic.  And then you've got Koko pretending violence towards her to get Qwill's attention, and her usually letting Koko eat first.  I was grateful to Rosemary for pointing out that it might've been Yum Yum who boobytrapped the apartment with yarn.  Qwill replies, "I bow to your feminine intuition.  Forgive my chauvinism."

So he's at least moved into the 1970s, right?  We'll revisit the issue of chronology as the series goes on.

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.

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern

1967, 1986 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern
Original price $3.50, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback
B

In the second Cat Who, it's six months after the February and March of Could Read Backwards, and Qwilleran is "over forty-five."  He's still working at the Fluxion newspaper, but now he's been given the assignment of running a Sunday supplement on interior design, which he knows no more about than he does about modern art.  He's adopted Koko, although it was implied in the first book that Mountclemens's sister might take the cat.  Koko is eating wool, including a Danish modern chair.  (Hence the punning title).  Jim visits a "psycatrist" who advises him to get a second cat.  Conveniently, a female Siamese has been orphaned by the death of her rich human.  And so we meet Yum Yum.  (Jim renames her because the cat lady knows Gilbert & Sullivan.)  Speaking of names, one character calls Jim "Qwill" but it is not yet the common nickname it'll become later.

The mystery is again secondary to other plots, and too much of the solution is delivered to Jim (by phone calls as well as by Koko) without him figuring it out, but Jim does get a more interesting love interest, Cokey Wright, the witty young female architect.  There are more memorable supporting characters overall.  The LGBT element is subtler and impacts the plot less, but there is innuendo about the leanings of handsome, young male designers.  It's a less obviously '60s book than Read Backwards, although a couple characters are "Negroes" and a woman gets a Reno divorce.

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

1966, 1986 Jove Book edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards
Original price $2.95, bought newish for unknown (see below)
Very worn paperback with cover torn off
B-

A quarter-century ago I was working in a bookstore.  They would sometimes fail to sell items, so they would then tear off the front covers and sell them marked down.  (I can't remember if the books were available to the general public or just to staff.)  I saw a box set of the first four Cat Who's.  I'd never heard of the series, but at that point there were only five books out.  I've never been a big mystery reader, as you've probably guessed by now.  (I like the genre but it's not one I've spent much time with compared to, say, children's fantasy.)  So I think the only two reasons I bought the box set were it was about a cat, and it was cheap.

I liked the series.  I still like the series.  I own quite a bit of the series.  Yet it did jump the shark at some point.  (Braun died at 97 last year, the final book never published.)  One of the things I'm looking forward to with this blog is figuring out when exactly she put on the Fonzie water-skis. 

But this is long before that.  This is the book where we meet mustached reporter Jim Qwilleran and the clever Siamese title character, Kao K'o-Kung, AKA Koko.  It also introduces Qwilleran's friend Arch Riker, more about him later.  Most of the other characters will have short lives in the series, whether or not they're killed off.  The most interesting is Koko's first human, Mountclemens the vicious art critic.

At the beginning of the book, Jim has just moved to a new city, having survived alcoholism and a bad marriage.  He gets a job as art reporter, although he knows nothing about art.  He interviews the local artists, most of whom have a mutual hatred with Mountclemens.  And, with Koko's help, he solves the mystery, which isn't handled as well as it could be, although not as clumsily as in some of the later books.  Koko doesn't show up till almost a third of the way in, and then he has to make Qwilleran realize that he's revealing clues.  (One character observes that the cat is smarter than Jim.)

Qwilleran's romance is middling as well, with some of it happening offpage.  Zoe is neither the best nor the worst of Jim's various ladies.

What I like most about the story is seeing Braun establish the setting (all of it abandoned a few books later), particularly the '60sness of it.  I'll talk about the gap between Books 3 and 4 when we get there, but there's not any way to retcon these earlier books as being the 1980s, so I'll just assume that there's some weird rip in the time-space continuum that makes Jim horrified by mechanical pencil sharpeners and confused by a Happening.

As for that LGBT label, one of the female suspects is mannish and has a crush on her childhood friend Zoe.  I can only hope her first name was not as anvilly in '66: Butchy.  I also hope that she got over Zoe and met a nice girl named Femmy.