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Summary: Country Landcape Offers Mystery, Mirth
Review: "The Cat Who Went Underground" by Lilian Jackson Braun hosts a conglomeration of puzzle pieces, the seemingly tranquil backwoods scene, which eventually reveal murder when fitted together. The eccentricities of Mooseville' s fine residents are detailed in familial anecdotes, liberally seasoned with a hint of humor, generously heaped with countrified sentiment. More mirth than mystery, the usual object of 'whodunit' is replaced by the all-important concept of motive. While the murderer's identity is immediately made apparent, conditional circumstances complicate the catly conundrum. Wit, deductive reasoning, and general observation are the detective's timeless tools, be it Holmes and Watson in London, or Qwill and Koko in Mooseville. A thoroughly enjoyable read, sure to please devoted "Cat Who" enthusiasts charmed by setting, standard citizen's small town secrets, and the solace of solving a serial murder mystery.
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Summary: This book was very well written
Review: "The Cat Who..." series is about a journalist named Qwilleran & His two cats Yum-Yum & Koko. In this series, Qwilleran (beter known as Qwill) is a journalist who has inherated a fortune from his good friends, takes his cats everywhere. In this particular book, he decides to spend his summer in the wilderness in a cabin he has also inherated. Of course, his faithful companions, the Samaise pair come along too. There is one problem in this small town; the carpenters keep disappearing or dying. Is this a curse or a mass serial killer? You'll find out when Koko uncovers the mystery. I thought this book was entertaining even if it was slow at times. I would recommend this book to expecially cat lovers & murder mystery goers.
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Summary: The Cat Who Went Underground
Review: Another interesting mystery with Qwilleran, the middle-aged writer for the Daily Fluxion and his Siamese cats Koko and Yum-Yum. This time Qwilleran decides to take the summer off and stay at his log cabin by the lake with his cats. Pickax is too hot and his girlfriend Polly Duncan is away for the summer... During his time there, Qwilleran engages some renovation work on the cabin. Before he becomes too involved in the renovation, Qwilleran discovers that his handy man is missing. Soon, he notices that a number of handy men in the surrounding area are also missing. Koko saves the day by digging up and solving the mystery...
Rating: 
Summary: The Disappearing Act
Review: I rate this book the best of the Cat Who series because, if you've ever lived in, or vacationed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or Northern Wisconsin, you'll know this book is right on target. LJB obviously spent summers up there, as she has astute (and humorous) observations about the nautre of the people.The mystery was fun (as always) and hearing about the residents of Pickaxe is like hearing about old friends. Koko and Yum Yum are as hilarious as ever... I'd recommend this book to anyone who just wants a fun read.
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Summary: Best of the Series
Review: I rate this book the best of the Cat Who series because, if you've ever lived in, or vacationed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or Northern Wisconsin, you'll know this book is right on target. LJB obviously spent summers up there, as she has astute (and humorous) observations about the nautre of the people. The mystery was fun (as always) and hearing about the residents of Pickaxe is like hearing about old friends. Koko and Yum Yum are as hilarious as ever... I'd recommend this book to anyone who just wants a fun read.
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Summary: for Moose County and 4 for mystery
Review: In this 1989 entry of the long running Cat Who series Qwill decides to pack up the cats and move to the cabin in Mooseville for the summer. Apparently he forgot what took place up there the last time he tried to spend the summer there (The Cat Who Played Brahms). His visit begins with a nonfunctioning heater that leads him to the Glinko Network, the local monopoly on handymen. From then on Qwill's vacation is filled with mysterious visitors, disappearing carpenters and a reminder that he isn't a lucky sailor. The recurring theme of UFO activity in the area comes into play and Qwill is also forced to take a second look at the world of the occult via horoscopes, psychic readings and eerie happenings. As always Qwill and Koko manage to solve the mystery, which this time involved clearing Qwill as chief suspect. The mystery this time was a bit darker than earlier entries in the series with the murder being discovered to be as much victim as villian. Many of the familiar cast was present from earlier stories with welcome updates on their lives. Two favorites, Qwill's latest lady friend, Polly Duncan and his former housekeeper, Iris Cobb were missing from this adventure. This is another 'must read' for fans of the series that would also be enjoyed by those who are just fans of the cozy mystery genre.
Rating:
Summary: for Moose County and 4 for mystery
Review: In this 1989 entry of the long running Cat Who series Qwill decides to pack up the cats and move to the cabin in Mooseville for the summer. Apparently he forgot what took place up there the last time he tried to spend the summer there (The Cat Who Played Brahms). His visit begins with a nonfunctioning heater that leads him to the Glinko Network, the local monopoly on handymen. From then on Qwill's vacation is filled with mysterious visitors, disappearing carpenters and a reminder that he isn't a lucky sailor. The recurring theme of UFO activity in the area comes into play and Qwill is also forced to take a second look at the world of the occult via horoscopes, psychic readings and eerie happenings. As always Qwill and Koko manage to solve the mystery, which this time involved clearing Qwill as chief suspect. The mystery this time was a bit darker than earlier entries in the series with the murder being discovered to be as much victim as villian. Many of the familiar cast was present from earlier stories with welcome updates on their lives. Two favorites, Qwill's latest lady friend, Polly Duncan and his former housekeeper, Iris Cobb were missing from this adventure. This is another 'must read' for fans of the series that would also be enjoyed by those who are just fans of the cozy mystery genre.
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Summary: The Disappearing Act
Review: My book, The Cat Who Went Underground by Lilian Jackson Braun, was a phenomenal book. Like many of her other novels, it was very suspenseful and mysterious. I's about this man named Jim Qwilleran, who lives with his two cats, KoKo and YumYum. They decided that they wanted to take a vacation and go to the old Moosevill cabin that they rented for three months. Suddenly everything goes wrong, and it's up to Qwilleran, KoKo, and YumYum to sniff out the problem! Jim hired a carpenter to add an addition to the old cabin, he hired Clem Cottle. When he goes
missing other people do too. Who is doing this? Read the Cat Who Went Underground to find out!
All of Lilian Jackson Braun's books are feline mysteries. I,myself, have read one of her other books caled The Cat Who Saw Red, and enjoyed it.
I,personally,recomend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery! By,
Brigette
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Summary: WHO'S KILLING THE CARPENTERS?
Review: Number 9 in "The Cat Who ... " series. Qwill and the cats return to the cabin for the summer. Residents warn him that local carpenters tend to disappear without finishing their jobs. When Qwill loses two carpenters, he doesn't accept that they are just irresponsible people who took off. He wants to know what really happened. This book is a little more disturbing than most in this series, but shouldn't cause any nightmares among us sensitive types. The characters are perhaps a little less developed or a little less realistic than in some of the books. But still, it's a good book and keeps you wanting more.
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Summary: WHO'S KILLING THE CARPENTERS?
Review: One of the big drawing points of the Cat Who series - the main reason, I believe, why it has such a seminal, loyal following - is its sense of escapism. Whether we're exploring a strange new subculture (the city episodes) or revisiting a comfortable slice of rural-village America (Moose County), Lilian Jackson Braun's ability to create a fleshed-out little pocket of the world into which we can vicariously retreat is unparalleled on the mystery circuit. And it is the sad lack of that so vital talent that is the central failing of The Cat Who Went Underground, in which semi-retired journalist/billionaire Jim Qwilleran decides to escape Pickax life for a while and spend the summer building an addition to his Mooseville cabin, except that he has a small problem in keeping carpenters on the job, namely that they all seem to wind up dead, unfortunately near his premises. What'll strike long-time readers unfavorably is that this Mooseville is not the same placid vacation town they saw in The Cat Who Played Brahms; THIS Mooseville is a dreary, trashy little hamlet most out-of-place in Moose County filled with (rather bland) crooks and swindlers, thus much of the book is dominated by a sense of being trapped in vapid surroundings amongst people whom you'd rather not know. Braun's first foray into straightforward "deep" criminal psychoanalysis, moreover, is awkwardly handled and more than a tad cliched, and the supposedly grand drama of Qwill getting stuck on a remote fishing island with photog Bushy Bushland and historian Roger MacGillivray during a hurricane quite simply does not work; disasters are supposed to intensify character traits and induce raw, honest interaction between the principals, and Bushy and Roger don't have much distinct character to speak of. We do find one interesting soul in Russell Patch, a distant, mysterious traveler, but her presence in the story an utter puzzle; Braun introduces her, has her utter some psychic misgivings about her rental (she's staying where the murder in Brahms took place), then scutters her off, all to no end whatsoever. And what's all this nonsense about Qwilleran actually starting to believe in UFOs and astrology?! The subtle mystery of Qwilleran and Koko's sixth sense lends the perfect plausible touch of the unknown to the series, but such an ham-handed, out-of-place extreme as a hard-bitten investigative reporter giving credence to low-brow tabloid hokum? Pah! The only real high points of the book are Iggy, a slow-minded, easygoing carpenter who barks half of his dialogue in capital letters and never has a reponse to anything beyond his simple grin (Qwilleran gets more piquish and argumentative as complications mount, but Iggy, despite Qwill's best efforts, is never rankled or even much concerned, so the "confrontations" between the two are always fun), and a few tense moments when Qwill is considered a murder suspect, but, beyond that, Underground's a bit of a bust. I suppose that I'm doing the book a disservice by judging it as a Cat Who mystery and not as a work by itself, but the fact is that anyone introduced to the series through Underground would come away with an inaccurate perception of Braun's chef d'oeuvre as a whole.
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