The Cat Who Talked Turkey

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: 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: Too Easy
Review: This can be a pleasant read for real fans of the "Cat Who..." series, but there isn't any mystery about it. The writer never
developes any tension in the story, and the villains just appear
and drop out without any real development, and this book is
just an easy story to read about the same ol' characters as in
the past, and nothing much really happens.
It is like reading one of the more simple cartoons; not much to it,
but it's familiar, so you can give it a glance, then move on to

something more substantial.
For the true fans only.

Rating:
Summary: MAYBE IT'S TIME TO QUIT
Review: I have read every single Cat Who book and, in fact, own them all. Some are better than others, but none even come close to being the "turkey" this one is. Where was the author's editor? Asleep at the wheel? Where was the publisher's input? Obviously non existant. If this author didn't have so many books to her name, this one would never have made it into print. I wanted to give it a zero, but one star was the lowest allowed. I suggest you save your money--and a trip to the library. The book is badly written, has no plot, wanders from one subject to another, and is so boring I had a hard time even getting myself to finish reading it. The only reason I did finish is because I kept telling myself that maybe it would get better. It didn't.

Rating:
Summary: Another lame effort
Review: This book is similar to other recent entries in the series-- disappointing. I agree with the other reviewers- the plot is lame, the "mystery" nearly non-existent. Once again, the main characters don't do anything to solve the mystery.
How many clues does Koko find? None!

This book is not worth adding to my collection. If you want to read it, get it from the library.

Rating:
Summary: where was the plot?
Review: I know these books have been declining in quality for several years. I don't even read them anymore for anything other than amusing characters and something to do for an afternoon. But this one was amazingly formulaic.

There was no plot. Not even a remotely interesting one. The ghost writer (since the original author is blatantly no longer writing these) brought in characters from several books ago and introduced boring subplots in places no one cares about. Not only that, but the obvious marketing of the other two recent short books (The Private Life of the Cat Who & Short and Tall Tales) was absoutely ridiculous. To completely reprint a section from each of those books and claim it's part of the story is not 'creative'. It just shows that the author is a talentless hack in it for the money.

Don't bother reading this one.

Rating:
Summary: A Total Turkey!
Review: I agree with several other reviewers that this book was ghostwritten. After recently rereading most of the series, I checked this out of the library & was severely disappointed. The writing style isn't consistent, characters don't act "in character", even the standard re-describing past events doesn't fit any of the other books. Even Koko could've written a better book! The only reason I gave this a "1" is because "0" wasn't an option.
If you must satisfy your curiousity, check it out of the library.

Rating:
Summary: The Cat Who Talked Turkey
Review: I think this was written by someone else, not Lilian Jackson Braun. It was terrible. Had no flow, was not interesting. Save your money, don't bother with this one!

Rating:
Summary: This book is clearly GHOSTWRITTEN!
Review: Having compared this to all of Ms. Braun's previous titles in the series, I can say with utter confidence that this book was ghostwritten. Even "going downhill," she could never have descended to this level of poor writing. The structure, plot, and even word use are horrible. The diction is NOT consistent with any of the previous novels. Dialogue is shoddy and also inconsistent.

If you are a Cat Who fan, avoid disappointment, and don't buy this book. Don't even make the mistake of reading it if it's lent to you.

Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: What a huge disappointment! I am a long time fan of the Cat Who books, and although they have been declining in quality in recent years, still look forward to each new addition to the series. I enjoy the rambling tales of Jim Qwilleran's life in Moose County, with just a touch of mystery to keep things interesting. But this book has no plot, and the rambling doesn't take you anywhere. It's such a shame.