Rating: 
Summary: Not up to Ms. Braun's subtle humor and masterful writing
Review: I have read every one of the preceding books in this series and loved them all. Ms. Braun has a wonderful sense of pace, character, plot and subtle humor that is completely missing from this book. I am unable to read beyond the first chapter because the writing is pedestrian and feels to me like someone's notes for a novel, rather than the carefully crafted final version. Ms. Jackson has always drawn me in right away with her special tone and storytelling ability. This current volume completely lacks all of the qualities that have made me a faithful follower of Koko and his chosen person Qwilleran. Disappointment only begins to describe my reaction to this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Delightful
Review: I love it! I am a big fan of The Cat Who series and this is another in a long line of terrific books, great mysteries and cute cat antics. Koko makes me laugh and Lilian Jackson Braun has a great way of writing about him. Such as, "Even before he unlocked his front door, he knew there was a message on the answering machine. Koko was announcing the fact with yowls and body-bumps against the door panels. Given the condo's quality of construction, it was doubtful how much battering the door could take." I love these books... one of the neatest things Koko does is to boot people out of the house!
Rating:
Summary: Delightful
Review: I love it! I am a big fan of The Cat Who series and this is another in a long line of terrific books, great mysteries and cute cat antics. Koko makes me laugh and Lilian Jackson Braun has a great way of writing about him. Such as, "Even before he unlocked his front door, he knew there was a message on the answering machine. Koko was announcing the fact with yowls and body-bumps against the door panels. Given the condo's quality of construction, it was doubtful how much battering the door could take." I love these books... one of the neatest things Koko does is to boot people out of the house!
Rating:
Summary: THIS SERIES IS THE BEST IN MYSTERY SINCE HOLMS!
Review: I loved this book and all the other books in this series! I am a big fan of cats and have three of my own, including one Siamese! Braun gives these cats so much character and verve, and it's realistic how much help these kitties give Mr. Q! I recommend this book and all the books in the series for anyone even slightly interested in cats and mysteries! You won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: Great.... I recommend it to EVERYONE... even non cat lovers!
Review: I think this book was a VERY excellent one... I thouroughly enjoyed listening to this! This is a perfect mystery story and has very smart cats involved in the story. I would recommend this book to anyone... even non cat lovers! I love the rest of Lilians books as well.... two of her other books I recmmend are: The Cat Who said Cheese and The Cat who Played Post Office They are just as good as this one!!!Laura
Rating: 
Summary: Euthanize these 'cats'
Review: It was some years ago that I read one or two of the "Cat Who..." books, and surely they must have had more to recommend them than the current installment, "The Cat Who Tailed a Thief." Otherwise, I'd have remembered never to pick up another. The NY Times reviewer is wrong about this one; not even the "kitty porn" is sufficient to compensate for the lack of suspense, character development, and decent dialogue. The evildoers are evident in the first chapter, yet by the end nothing is revealed of the 'why' or 'how' of their crimes. Two people die in the book, for heaven's sake, and more exposition is given to the petty theft of a doll and other knickknacks. I'd recommend that cat lovers like myself look to authors such as Cleveland Amory for their feline fix, and seek their mysteries elsewhere
Rating:
Summary: Koko and Qwill do it again!
Review: It's winter in Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere, and there's a petty pilferer around! But when a charity jar with almost $2,000 is discovered missing, the investigation really gets going. Soon some of the pilfered items show up in the work locker of one of the community's best-loved young men, leading Qwill to suspect a frame-up. But there are plenty of other twists and turns in this book, including a mugging that turns into murder, a suspicious wedding between a young gentleman and a middle-aged widow (with plenty of money), and finally another murder. Of course, Kao K'o Kung knows what is really going on long before Qwill figures it out, but then, if you've read this far in this series, you should be used to that by now.
Rating:
Summary: Qwill donning a kilt is the least of catastrophes here.
Review: Let me lay this on the table plain and simple - The Cat Who Tailed a Thief is unequivocally the worst of the Cat Who series. That's all there is to it. Plot setup - stolid Moose County banker brings home flashy Fran Drescher-wannabe wife, her winning ladykiller cousin, and plans for a big architectural restoration project from Down Below, rash of petty thieveries erupts in Pickax soon after, chaos ensues. Not for a minute - not for a MILLISECOND - are the identities of the thieves, their motives, their modi operandi - ANYTHING - in doubt - nor does Lilian Jackson Braun make any noticeable effort to make them any sort of mystery to the reader. Look, Qwill's not Columbo and Braun's readers deserve better than an InstaMix mystery. The plot doesn't thicken or build; it just continues.
It follows, then, the success of the book depends on the charm and familiarity of the close-knit, small-town America Moose County setting that has so endeared the Cat Who series to reade!rs. Unfortunately, neither town nor townsfolk breathe much atmosphere into the tale this go-around; events stall in a lifeless snowbound Pickax for most of the book, and the citizenry that might seem like old friends to long-time readers are ill-squeezed into a disjointed string of confusing, isolated cameos that serve no purpose but to disrupt the main narrative. A newcomer to the series would be hard-pressed to keep track of exactly who these strangers are or what exactly their place in the plot is. The only step forward is the introduction of Wetherby Goode, the jocular weatherman at WPKX (the chronically incompetent radio station that has remained one of the series's funniest running jokes). He's a bit too outgoing and forward for the local norm, though; let's hope that Braun doesn't jam him into the Standard Moose County Male character mold (a la Roger/Lyle/Bushy/Big Mac/Larry et al.) and exile him to Token Fleeting Personal Acknowledgement limbo (a fate that befell the p!otentially interesting Onoosh from The Cat Who Said Cheese), or, worse, use him as chalk-outline fodder (as with some unfortunate Down Below transferees with whom Braun didn't quite know what to do and a few of the more colorful Moose County natives. See, THAT's why no one in Pickax seems alarmed at the high rate of fatal crimes in such an otherwise peaceful rural area; the killers perform the social cleansing necessary to preserve Moose County's current placidity-through-homogenity).
It would be unconscionable to close this review without first spewing vitriol at the Putnam's horrible book jacket, which divulges every single plot "twist" (if that is the word) up until the last thirty pages and continues Cheese's misguided trend of not using Jill Bauman's wonderful art for the hardback cover. In every aspect, The Cat Who Tailed a Thief is a thoroughly disappointing and disheartening effort; even the eponymous Koko and his methods of expressing his extra-sensory talents seem! a tad duller in this outing. Pray that The Cat Who Sang for the Birds breaks Braun's slump.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Finest Cat Who... Books made
Review: Lilian Jackson Braun is my favorite mystery writer. She always keeps gross and explicit things out of her books and trails the adventures of Jim Qwilleran and his two Siamese Ka'o Ko Kung (Uh, Koko for short), the male cat, and Yum Yum, the female. In this particular book, Qwill is in for many surprises and Mrs. Braun did a great job. The suspense builds until the last couple of chapter where the climax and falling action leave you too ecited to put the book down. An elaborate plan by a criminal and his kleptomaniac "wife" leave Moose County in a swirl of confusion until Qwill reveals the real intentions of the dashing decorater. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: I can read a "Cat Who" book in one day!
Review: Lillian Jackson Braun has been a favorite author of mine for years and I wait with bated breath each new year to buy the next hardcover book (which is the only author I'll buy in hardcover)! Love the kitty personalities!
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