The Cat Who Went Underground

Rating:
Summary: A sub-par installment of Braun's engaging series.
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.

Rating:
Summary: Humor, strange characters mark latest cat "cozy" mystery
Review: We wanted to try a more recent (1989) entry in Braun's "Cat Who..." series, this one written some 23 years and 7 or 8 novels since the inaugural "Cat Who Could Read Backwards" published in 1966. We thought this one might be a bit more modern, but that was not to be the case as our leading man Jim Qwilleran, and his main cat Koko, solve another light mystery set in rural Mooseville, a northern backwoods. Apparently Qwill has inherited a large fortune since the first outing, making his decision to spend summer vacation in a dumpy cottage in a dumpy little town rather questionable. Don't expect much of a mystery, as unrelated humor, extraneous characters and irrelevant happenings, dominate the tale. The plot itself is little more than a short story about carpenters disappearing (a connection nobody but our hero can discern), culminating in a dead body discovered by Koko in the sandy crawl space under Qwill's cabin. All too conveniently, the books contrived ending depends upon a literal list of victims graciously provided by the perpetrator and discovered by you know who.

There are some funny passages in the book -- the transportation of the fat lady, the machinations of the repair firm Glinkos, the strange speech habits and big teeth of "underground builder" Iggy -- provide some mirth. And there are interesting characters and events galore -- the nursing home woman that hears cat scratching, the reclusive neighbor woman Russell who hardly talks, the storm that maroons our hero, the UFO sightings, etc -- unfortunately, none of which have a whit to do with our plot. And believe us when we say that the cats eat better than any human we know -- Qwill even takes them home lobster meat on one occasion!

Our 3-star rating is really 4 for good writing, 1 for story line. Is the book light and pleasant -- yes. Are the characters engaging and funny -- mostly. Are Qwilleran and Koko and Yum Yum (the latter two, the cats) likable and clever -- mostly. If that's good enough -- go for it; but mystery buffs per se better stay away.

Rating:
Summary: Humor, strange characters mark latest cat "cozy" mystery
Review: We wanted to try a more recent (1989) entry in Braun's "Cat Who..." series, this one written some 23 years and 7 or 8 novels since the inaugural "Cat Who Could Read Backwards" published in 1966. We thought this one might be a bit more modern, but that was not to be the case as our leading man Jim Qwilleran, and his main cat Koko, solve another light mystery set in rural Mooseville, a northern backwoods. Apparently Qwill has inherited a large fortune since the first outing, making his decision to spend summer vacation in a dumpy cottage in a dumpy little town rather questionable. Don't expect much of a mystery, as unrelated humor, extraneous characters and irrelevant happenings, dominate the tale. The plot itself is little more than a short story about carpenters disappearing (a connection nobody but our hero can discern), culminating in a dead body discovered by Koko in the sandy crawl space under Qwill's cabin. All too conveniently, the books contrived ending depends upon a literal list of victims graciously provided by the perpetrator and discovered by you know who.

There are some funny passages in the book -- the transportation of the fat lady, the machinations of the repair firm Glinkos, the strange speech habits and big teeth of "underground builder" Iggy -- provide some mirth. And there are interesting characters and events galore -- the nursing home woman that hears cat scratching, the reclusive neighbor woman Russell who hardly talks, the storm that maroons our hero, the UFO sightings, etc -- unfortunately, none of which have a whit to do with our plot. And believe us when we say that the cats eat better than any human we know -- Qwill even takes them home lobster meat on one occasion!

Our 3-star rating is really 4 for good writing, 1 for story line. Is the book light and pleasant -- yes. Are the characters engaging and funny -- mostly. Are Qwilleran and Koko and Yum Yum (the latter two, the cats) likable and clever -- mostly. If that's good enough -- go for it; but mystery buffs per se better stay away.