Rating: 
Summary: Still worth the visit
Review: Ms.Braun*s latest returns us to Pickax for another visit with Koko, another bit of mayhem. As always, the book*s real appeal is less solving the mystery, and more in watching Jim Qwilleran, his brilliant cats, his lady fair Polly Duncan, and the daily lives of the townspeople. I always look forward to what happens to Homer Tippet, Celia, Robinson, Junior Goodwinter, and other assorted Pickaxers over the series. Even the deceased Iris Cobb is mentioned. The gradual development, the library gets a computer and two cats, the growth of the arts college, compel in a small-town way. The actual Murder, of an old woman tending her small farm, propels the plot without dominating the book. Koko himself, the brilliant cat who always provides the clue that reveals the case, is less prominent than previously, but no less important.
Rating:
Summary: continues to keep you on the edge
Review: outstanding book. she is very unpredictable. makes you want to move up north.
Rating:
Summary: Traditional Lillian Jackson Braun!
Review: The author never lets you down. As usual Koko and Yum Yum behave "just like cats". Anyone who is owned by a cat can see the similarities. It;s nice to be able to depend on being entertained every time you read a "Cat Who" book. I would reccommend all of her titles to anyone looking for a nice cozy evening with literary cats. Looking forward to her next book.
Rating:
Summary: Traditional Lillian Jackson Braun!
Review: The author never lets you down. As usual Koko and Yum Yum behave "just like cats". Anyone who is owned by a cat can see the similarities. It;s nice to be able to depend on being entertained every time you read a "Cat Who" book. I would reccommend all of her titles to anyone looking for a nice cozy evening with literary cats. Looking forward to her next book.
Rating: 
Summary: Assez-passable, but is this really Braun?
Review: The Cat Who Sang for the Birds has me boondoggled. I don't dislike it; it undoubtedly constitutes a step forward from the previous two installments. And yet there are deep-seated flaws - suspiciously uneven writing and conspicuously uncharacteristic elements - that will so confound longtime fans that the mysteries IN the book are far overshadowed by the mystery OF the book.
The mystery is a given; though the details of the crime itself aren't immediately clear, once the (eventual) perpetrator comes on the scene, we know there is no possible way that this irreconcilably crass, obnoxious, ornery cuss is gonna be permitted to leave the novel unindicted. I'm afraid that a throwaway mystery has now become a Cat Who series standard.
The success here rides on Moose County's natives; contrasted with the homogenous faces of the last few attempts, we have a more developed, diverse, and interesting mix of characters this time around - jocular radio weatherman Wetherby !Goode, the perfect accomplice for Qwill to pump for information and with whom to share sneaking suspicions; amiable, good-hearted yet naive heiress Elizabeth Hart, engaging Qwill in the grandfather-confidante talks that made her so endearing in her first appearance; dying-to-grow-up editor Junior Goodwinter, in a fleet cameo after a long absence; and, of course, chuckheaded underachiever Derek Cuttlebrink, amusing just through his good-natured obliviousness to his own simplemindedness. The chemistry and interaction here is much more fruitful, convincing, and satisfying, and in effect makes Pickax seem much more like a community.
And yet there remain characterization missteps, most notably the passel of dead-ends at the Art Center. Ironically, these "artists" are devoid of any creativity or life - with the treatment the art world got in the early installments, the retread here seems anemic and redundant. They never add anything to the story; they just remain isolated in t!heir own sterile little world, as if they wandered in from another series all together. It all leaves one wondering how Braun could get the older, familiar characters so right - and yet drop in another set so ill-fittingly one-dimensional?
See, we have things that are very, very good and those that are out of place all smooshed together in one incongruous package. Which leads me to this hypothetical question - did Lilian Jackson Braun truly write the entire text of this novel? My answer is no, not based on the evidence Sang for the Birds provides. First, there is the unusually youthful slant, from the anti-DWI fake high school car crash to the perils of Derek and "Butterfly Girl" Phoebe to the Art Center personae. This tack, for Moose County, is all wrong; an older, wiser cast in a quaint, close-knit small town from days gone by was one of the series's earmarks and made the books a refreshing backlash against today's loud, go-go-go, teenage-obsessed media. Braun featured! a share of young characters before, but she always presented them with mature dilemmas and responsible consciences; here, the kids seem particularly jejune and their problems bubblegumish, and the lapse reflects the overall unfamiliarity with how to culitvate the mood that set the Cat Who series apart.
Braun did it largely through the little details. Take Qwill's rencontres with the locals - we got just enough background to set the person's place in the community and relationship to Qwilleran, yet not so much that it broke the sense of well-worn familiarity between Qwill, the residents of Pickax, and the reader. There's no sense of that balance here, as Qwill's mental narration launches into long recounts of awkward background overkill, as if the author her(or him)self had to be reacquainted with the characters. That trend resurfaces throughout the book, with the laborious dredging up of old series in-jokes like Mrs. Fisheye and Ronald Frobnitz. One could even take the !examples of good characterization (since they are all previously introduced charas) as evidence of a new author who must make up for lack of experience by recalling and resurrecting what was best about the series in an overt effort to convince us that, yes, this is a bona fide, full-fledged Cat Who book. The lack of subtlety is painfully noticeable, and the purpose behind such easily decipherable.
The most telltale sign, however, is the erratic behavior of her hero. Even in the sub-par installments, Qwilleran was always Qwilleran - an inquisitive, sardonic, sensible, sympathetic, steady center. Here, though, we run into two big goofs. The first comes when he commissions a portrait of Polly, a serious misstep - Qwilleran and Polly's relationship always held a defining note of mutual respect and quiet love. Neither would ever show such overt adulation for or romanticization of the other. And I cannot abide the second - I'm sorry, but when the book ends with our favorite do!wn-to-earth pseudo-curmudgeon actually considering collaborating on an animated feature starring cartooned crows, I must take issue.
There are several good ideas in the novel - Mary Coggin, Koko's bird garden, the uprising against computers in the library and its subsequent solution, the spell-off - that could only have come from Braun; her touch is not totally absent. But the mistakes here are of the sort that Braun would never commit. She might be grooming another author to carry on after her retirement - a theory quite plausible in light of the story's elegiac overtones. There's considerable talk of tombstones and graves, and the poem by "James Mackintosh Qwillleran" on the jacket (the first appearance of any such work) seems like nothing but an epitaph. Most suspiciously wistful is the ending reassemblage of the steadfast quartet of Qwill, Polly, Arch, and Mildred, reminiscing of good times past and looking forward to resuming comfortable habits and finally winning t!hose ever-elusive little victories, as if reassuring the reader that, hey, no matter what happens, they'll be all right and they'll trudge on. It's the end of an era either way - and, in either case, the world will be a little less bright.
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Summary: The Cat Who Books are lots of fun!!
Review: The cat who Sang for the Birds is a wonderful another wonderful book by Lillian Jackson Bruan!! As usual her books are high class and full of a good mystery!!!
Rating: 
Summary: My First Time
Review: The Cat Who Sang For the Birds was my introduction to the series and I've been transported to 400 miles north of anywhere many times since then. Its the relaxed style and wonderful characters that keep me coming back for more.
Heaven is Pickax!
Rating:
Summary: My First Time
Review: The Cat Who Sang For the Birds was my introduction to the series and I've been transported to 400 miles north of anywhere many times since then. Its the relaxed style and wonderful characters that keep me coming back for more. Heaven is Pickax!
Rating:
Summary: A fan favorite just in time for Valentine's Day
Review: The early Spring should bring with it a gentle serenity to the citizens of Pickax City, Moose County, especially since the new art museum is opening. However, some of the leading citizens are irate because across the street from their newest attraction sits the dilapidated eyesore of a homestead belonging to the Widow Coggin. Newspaper columnist Jim Qwilleran interviews the feisty elderly woman. However, shortly afterward, she dies in a strange fire that has the markings of arson. Following the fire, some nude sketches are stolen from the museum and a young artist disappears. Qwill, who has a full personal agenda, is nudged by his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, to begin to investigate the weird happenings "four hundred miles north of everywhere". The twentieth entry in "The Cat" series should please fans of Lilian Jackson Braun's long running series, but everyone else will prefer walking the dog. The story line provides much insight into the various relationships of the recurring characters, but the sleuthing is microscopically small. Still, those who religiously follow the series will want to learn more about their heroes, heroines, and felines. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Praise for the Birds
Review: The further adventures of Koko & Yum Yum. This outing they are spending time in the gazebo bird watching & Koko is doing his usual bit of dectecting by trying through his cat-like ways to let Quill know who the real culprit is. If you like 'cozy' types of mysterys-this one is for you. Another cat has been added to the 'tail' this one in the library where Polly works. There should be plenty of CATastrophies to keep us coming back for many more installments to come.
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