Rating: 
Summary: Time to retire this series.....
Review: Lillian Jackson Braun has given her readers a lot of pleasure in the "Cat Who..." series, but it it obvious that she is now writing by rote and no effort at mystery is evident in this latest ho-hum book in the series. This book demonstrates that a very popular formula can pall on even the author eventually. I think she has exhausted the possibilities here - although the residents of Pickax are charming as ever, this is just a compiliation of characteristics with no exposition to anyone who has not read the series previously. It's time to call it a day and for Ms. Braun to rest on her well-deserved laurels.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened?
Review: I think the title of my review sums up my feelings fairly well. I loved the first few "Cat Who ..." stories, enjoyed most of the later ones, but this book just left me scratching my head.
Firstly, this was 180 pages, with really big type. Not that I have a problem with big type, but in this case it meant that the story was barely breaking a hundred pages of a normal paperback-book sized book. And of those, there was so little of the actual story! This wasn't a murder mystery, this was "a day in the life of a man who owns two cats and lives in a barn in the middle of nowhere". Qwill writes a little, feeds the cats, gossips, feeds the cats, hears about a murder but pays very little attention, goes on a date, gives the cats a treat, and so on, and so on ....
It was unbelievably dull.
There was no character development at all! Nothing interesting ever happened, the so-called 'storyline' was painfully slow, and I found myself really not caring. What happened to the Qwill we all knew and loved? The one whos mustache would bristle at the sign of foul play, the Qwill that investigated mysterious cases and challenging murders? The interesting Qwill! He's vanished, and in his place, we have a sad, boring man, who is not at all interesting to follow around, and who's contribution to solving the murder ON HIS PROPERTY was, what--- puzzlement?
I'm dreadfully, DREADFULLY disappointed.
If you've read the whole "Cat Who ..." series, then my feeling is that you can skip this one; you won't have missed anything, I promise. If this was to be your first "Cat Who ...", I really suggest you put this one back, and try something closer to the beginning; you will enjoy it far more, I can assure you.
Rating:
Summary: Turkey is the right word for this book
Review: I have read all of Ms. Braun's books and this is by far the most boring. She has all the qualities and characters of Pickax, but the murder mystery seems an after thought~ stuck in there after the book was written. She seems much more concerned about telling about the history of the "Great Storm of 1912" than interesting her mystery readers. It's about time Quill and Polly got a life, else her readers will.
Rating: 
Summary: Loosely-woven plot
Review: Lilian Jackson Braun takes us back to Pickax to visit James Qwilleran and his friends. She creates a wonderful setting of small-town ambience with the creation of a new bookstore in Pickax and the 200th. birthday celebration of the neighboring town of Brr. Oh, and by the way, there is a murder which Qwill solves in his spare time, with the murderer confessing to his crime during a casual conversation. Author Braun creates warm and wonderful characters, including the two felines Koko and YumYum, and that is indeed where her strength lies. The murders in these books seem almost an intrusion on the gentle life of Pickax and are probably unnecessary. Perhaps the cats could work on less lethal mysteries and the results would be better. Also, it seems that the introduction of a group of turkeys in this book is done in order to give the book a name.
Readers are advised to seek out the earlier books in the series, which are much better-written.
Rating: 
Summary: There But For The Feathers...
Review: I'm not sure what is more embarrassing. Admitting that I like Lilian Brown's the Cat Who... stories or confessing that I actually own all of them. They really are pleasant reading - as long as you never try to read several in a row. But we are long past the moment in time when a new reader is going to come into the series and feel the least bit of a connection. To quote the prophet, 'You had to have been there...'One of the more glaring problems with the latest novels it that they have become parodies of the cozy genre in which the belong. They are sooo cozy that the books are hardly mysteries. Instead, they are little pastiches of the adventures and foibles of their hero Qwilleran and his two dainty cats, the dainty Yum Yum and her psychic companion Ko Ko. So the entire mystery here, which is about bodies cropping up and suspicious relatives, occupies a maximum of 30 of the book's 181 pages. The rest is Qwill eating, feeding the cats, Qwill flirting with his steady Polly, feeding the cats, Qwill acting or writing, feeding the cats, calling wild turkeys, feeding the cats... Well, you get what I mean. Occasionally Ko Ko issues his death yowl and another unfortunate dies. After which, Ko Ko pulls a book off the shelves as a clue. And then even more feeding of the cats. Obviously, you don't read these books because of their compelling, dark crimes or meaningful character development. You read them to munch popcorn with or to lose an hour or two in a world even sillier than the one we live in. Even so, I continue to like them in small doses. I'm not sure if I can really explain why. Now I have to go feed the cats...
Rating:
Summary: Review for The Cat Who Talked Turkey
Review: In Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat That Talked Turkey the scene is set in Moose
County, when Jim Qwilleran decides to help the town of Brrr get ready for its
200th birthday. Jim Qwilleran, who goes by Qwill, is a journalist, and not just a
journalist but a very rich journalist. He was the surprise inheritant of millions
when an old lady died and left him her fortune. But Qwill did not enjoy being
rich so he donated a fair amount of the money to charity. Qwill lives in a
hexagonal barn that has been turned into a house. His only companions are his
two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. Qwill's cats are very peculiar, as he
sometimes thinks them to be physic. They have helped him to solve various
mysteries. In this case Qwill is caught up in the excitement of all the
preparations for the party. One of his missions is to get an old lady to donate
her historic mansion to the town so that it can become a museum. Braun gives
the story an interesting twist when the lady turns out to have a mean
granddaughter who was planning on inheriting the mansion for herself. The
granddaughter, Alicia, or Lish, finds out what is going on and secretly plans her
revenge. In this kind of abrupt book, Braun has humans and cats team up to
stop crime, even though they don't really get involved. Qwill and his cats have to find out what she's up to before it is too
late!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Enjoyable!
Review: Maybe negative reviews generate other negative reviews, but this book doesn't deserve the low ratings it's received. I've read all the "Cat Who" novels, enjoyed them all, and found this one to be just as pleasing and interesting as the others. People have called it dull and boring; I didn't find it so, although "dull" and "boring" are relative terms. I don't think people read the "Cat Who" series for page-turning high adventure, but rather for pleasant, charming and relaxing entertainment, of which this offering has plenty.
Rating:
Summary: No Mystery Here
Review: For The Cat Who fans: there was no mystery to speak of in this new addition to the series. If you enjoy dropping in on Mr. Q and his cats, then the story will meet your needs, but if you're in need of a great mystery, sadly, you will have to look elsewhere. This was as cozy as a cozy could be. I've never read a cozier cozy--meaning the good guys win, but there was no struggle to do so. The entire mystery was stated point blank. Mr. Q did not even get concerned when a body was found on his own property. There was good potential here, but it was not developed. I have no idea what role the turkeys played. I gave the book 3 stars soley because it entertained me. Ms. Braun has a great sense of humor. If you are new to The Cat Who series, start with a different book and come back to this one once you fall in love with the characters and town.
Rating:
Summary: Will reach both prior and new fans
Review: Lilian Jackson Braun's latest offering in her 'Cat Who...' mystery series will reach both prior and new fans with the ongoing investigations of one James Qwilleran and feline pals Koko and Yum Yum. Here the manager of Qwill's estate decides to invest in re-building a small town's bookstore: an event which proceeds happily until murder strikes. It's up to Qwill and his band of feline investigators to uncover the perp - and his connection to doomed bookstores.
Rating:
Summary: Qwill Pleasantly Develops the Local Communities
Review: The Cat Who Talked Turkey is the best of the famous Lilian Jackson Braun books that I have read in many years. The book is at its finest when it is describing James Mackintosh Qwilleran's (Qwill) many civic activities to entertain and enhance the lives of his fellow citizens in Moose County. When the book veers into crime and punishment, the book is at its weakest. As the story opens, there are several important developments. Since the late Eddington Smith's used bookstore burned down shortly after his death, there's been no bookstore in Pickax. The Klingenshoen Foundation (beneficiaries of Qwill's inheritance) decides to build the town a new one, and Polly Duncan (who directed the library for twenty years and is a regular companion for Qwill) will run it. The town of Brrr is about to be 200 years old and decides to hold a birthday party. Qwill is asked to develop a one-man show about the great storm of 1913. Soon after, a well dressed stranger is found shot to death, execution style, on Qwill's lakefront property. In the course of pursuing these events, Qwill finds himself drawn into helping a widow decide how to dispose of her family home and antiques, preparing for a wedding and writing quite a few columns. Cat lovers will adore this book because it has a bigger role in it for Koko than just any other book in the series. Cats work themselves into the story in other ways, including what sort of cat should work at the new bookstore. Koko shows more than his usual psychic abilities . . . and even manages to talk turkey. The murder mystery seems like an afterthought in the story, and receives as little attention as it possibly could. The denouement is quick, surprising and unconvincing. If you can overlook the "mystery" that doesn't really function like one (more like a side bar about a crime), you will think this is a four or five star book. As writers, it's easy to get stuck in a rut. Ms. Braun has such talent for describing Qwilleran's life that it seems like a shame that she feels the need to work crime into the stories. I hope she will reconsider the need to include crime in each of her stories. Is there something that's hard for you to do that you could stop . . . and achieve more? If so, what are you waiting for?
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