The Cat Who...

A Little Background: I came across my first Cat Who mystery at the library. I read a few of these books and enjoyed them but was not exactly obsessed until I found The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, the very first of the Cat Who mysteries published in 1966. I was hooked. Since then I have searched out every Cat Who title at each book sale I came across. There is nothing better than catching up with old friends which is what it feels like when you read these books by Lilian Jackson Braun.

Book Description: The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

The very first in a series of appealing mysteries featuring James Qwilleran. The story opens with hardnosed investigative reporter Qwilleran interviewing for a job at the Daily Fluxion. He is about to be hired as a reporter digging up assignments focusing on art but not as a critic, the paper already has a controversial one. The editor points out that We’ll want you to get around on the beat, meet a lot of artists, shake a few hands, make friends for the paper. Qwilleran can see his future turning into this headline: Journalist Sinks to Role of Glad-hander. It’ll be a nice clean beat, he’s assured and you’ll meet some decent people for a change. You’ve probably had your fill of mobsters and con men. As it turns out, his childhood friend Arch Riker is the features editor and after a good long talk over corned beef sandwiches, Qwilleran accepts the position. Thus begins our ascent into the Cat Who mysteries.

In this story we will meet a lot of interesting and irascible characters, we find out how a very imperious Siamese named Kao K’o-Kung comes to share in Qwill’s life, oh, and along the way we solve a murder or two. This “fluff” assignment turns out to be anything but as Qwill will come to realize.

Book Description: The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers

Have you ever tried to count your cat’s whiskers? I have and it can be a treacherous feat as most cats don’t like to be held for more than 5 seconds, at least that’s how my feline feels about it. It’s akin to clipping his nails or having a bath. Dangerous territory so I like to leave it up to the professionals, groomers that is.

In this 29th outing of the Cat Who series, things are changing in Pickax and not all for the better. Nothing stays the same forever and life after all is about ebb and flow. But one constant and glorious advantage to small town living is being able to know your neighbor. The memorable characters that populate Pickax, 400 miles north of everywhere, are what draw you to the series. But there is change on the horizon.

A new senior center is up and coming, a playful production of Cats is in the works, Polly Duncan is off to Paris with no sign of returning soon, and then there is the mysterious death from a bee sting that leaves the town startled. Koko had predicted the disaster. Is it because he has sixty whiskers, a few more than the ordinary feline? Even more importantly, can it be that Qwill has a new love interest?

This story is a little disjointed when compared to Braun’s previous outings but then we have yet to see the publication of the follow up The Cat Who Smelled Smoke. Perhaps a wrap up would have been provided, alas, we will never know as the publisher Putnam put the kibosh on the book’s publication. It has left us all sadly hanging by a whisker.

About the Author:

Lilian Jackson Braun is not without a little mystery herself. Born in 1913, Braun published three Cat Who novels to significant acclaim between 1966 and 1968 and then mysteriously disappeared. The author was reintroduced to the public in 1986 with a string of best sellers to keep amateur sleuths sated. The series is lighthearted and Braun attributes her success to the fact that “people are simply tired of all the blood.” What turned out to be her last book The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers was published in 2007. Braun’s next work The Cat Who Smelled Smoke was ultimately cancelled by the publisher Putnam. No word as to why.

Braun was the "Good Living" editor of The Detroit Free Press for 29 years. She lives with two Siamese cats and her husband, Earl Bettinger, in North Carolina. Each of her books is dedicated to "Earl Bettinger the husband who..."


Just for Fun: If I could give a face to James Qwilleran it would be Tom Selleck. Here is a side by side comparison of Braun’s Cat Who protagonist and the actor Tom Selleck.

James "Qwill" Qwilleran
Height: 6’1”
Weight: average to slightly overweigh
Age: 40s-mid 50’s
Outstanding Feature: luxuriant moustache
Occupation: journalist and amateur sleuth

Tom Selleck

Height: 6'4"
Weight: Looks just right to me!
Age: 65 (65 is the new 55)
Outstanding Feature: Luxuriant moustache
Occupation: actor, played detective on TV



I rest my case!

Murder with All the Trimmings

A Little Background: It’s amazing what you can find at book sales. Take this little paperback I found by an author I was not familiar with, Elaine Viets. I was attracted to the cover, picked it up and realized it was a cozy mystery – my favorite! I thought it was time to investigate a new series.

Book Description: Murder with All the Trimmings by Elaine Viets

Meet Josie Marcus, like all single moms, she is a juggler. Not only is she a mom to 9-year old Amelia, Josie works as a mystery shopper (oh, the bane of my existence when I worked in hotels). She has a creepy boss, a nice enough boyfriend (that comes with baggage), a mother with antiquated ideas who lives one floor above her, a snoopy neighbor, and an ex-love (Amelia’s dad) who comes visiting after being released from…jail.

It’s just another day as Josie picks up Amelia from school. Unfortunately, it’s a day that quickly heads south when Amelia asks to see her mom’s wedding pictures. To paraphrase, this will turn out to be…a day that will live in infamy. One small problem, Josie and Amelia’s father were never wed. Josie has also told her daughter that her father is dead. Fast forward to later that evening when one not so dead father turns up at Josie’s front door having just been released from prison on a technicality. Carumba!

Mike, Josie’s current boyfriend, is trying to support his ex wife’s new business, a year round Christmas store that’s slightly X-rated. Add to the mix Mike’s surly teenage daughter and his desire for a happy blended family. Listen, don’t start singing The Brady Bunch theme song just yet!

The holidays are in full swing, and the plot thickens as one of the businesses Josie is assigned to “shop” is Mike’s ex-wife’s shop. The religious community is up in arms with the slightly porno Christmas shop and one of the protestors is “accidentally” injured in front of the shop by falling snow and ice from the shop’s roof. If that’s not enough, two people take seriously ill after eating a holiday cake in a competing “legitimate” Christmas shop. What is going on?

My Take: What I especially enjoyed about this tome, was the story could very well be a slice of a real woman’s life. Our lives seem sometimes to be a jumble of this and that and we are always in a multi tasking mode just like Josie. I am constantly amazed at how mom’s always manage to cope. Speaking of which, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the mom’s out there, especially my mom! You’re awesome!

Meet the Author:

Elaine Viets put her journalism degree to good use as a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for twenty-five years. She also hosted an Emmy Awarding winning local light news program called Viets Beat in 1989-1990. Her career sent her on to Washington, DC where sh wrote a syndicated column carried by United Feature Syndicate and later by United Media. She now resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where she writes her best-selling cozy mysteries. In April 2007, Viets suffered a stroke but has recovered and is still writing. The author is an Agatha Award and Anthony Award winner and is a contributor on The Lipstick Chronicles. You can visit Viets at her website and follow her on Facebook.

A Twofer Review: Her Royal Spyness & A Royal Pain

A Little Forward: I came across A Royal Pain while trolling the books at the Friends of the Library. I paid 50 cents for the paperback which was in remarkably fine shape and looked to have all the components I love in a book. First of all it’s a cozy mystery, one of my favorite genres, it’s period and full of “bright young things” that made up 1930’s upper crust England. It also has a heroine that is full of smarts and thinks on her feet. I couldn’t wait to dig in and found it to be quite tasty; so much so that I quickly sped to my local Borders for a second helping. There is a third book, Royal Flush, which I am having a little difficulty finding.

Book Description: Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen

Meet Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie Rannoch better known to her friends as Georgie. Georgie is the daughter of the late Duke of Glenn Gary and Rannoch and 34th in line of succession to the throne. The Duke unfortunately was a bit of a gambler, committed suicide, and left his family in dire straits which leads Georgie to spread her wings from the quiet Scottish countryside to lively, bustling London.

Georgie describes her life thusly:

There are two disadvantages to being a minor royal.

First one is expected to behave as befits a member of the ruling family, without being given the means to do so. One is expected to kiss babies, open fetes, put in an appearance at Balmoral (suitably kilted), and carry trains at weddings. Ordinary means of employment are frowned upon. One is not, for example, allowed to work on the cosmetics counter at Harrods, as I was about to find out.

Twenty-one year old Georgie has a royal title but not the money that goes along with it. She settles herself in Rannoch House in London and goes about getting herself a job at Harrods but is fired on her very first day. But being ever resourceful, she opens up her own domestic agency, with herself as the only domestic.

Her brother, now the third duke of Glenn Gary, arrives in London with news that he is to meet a rather unsavory character who claims to have proof in writing that the family homestead was gambled away before their father’ s suicide. Just a few days later, Georgie arrives home to find the aforementioned “unsavory character” dead in her bathtub and her brother gone missing. She finds herself in the sticky situation of being the chief suspect until her brother returns to London and is arrested for the murder.

We go along with Georgie as she investigates every nook and cranny to get to the bottom of this disastrous turn of events. She knows one thing, her brother is innocent. Along the way we meet her best friend Belinda, and a few quirky but interesting characters including a romantic interest by way of a wild Irish rogue. But is he behind a series of attempts on Georgie’s life? If not, who is?

Book Description: A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen (book two of the series)

The alarm clock woke Georgie at the ungodly hour of 8 in the morning. If all Georgie had to look forward to was become lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria’s one surviving daughter she might as well go back to sleep. Never mind the dear lady was Georgie’s great aunt but picturing years of walking the Pekinese and holding knitting wool was not Georgie’s cup of tea. Her other option was to marry Prince Siegfried of Romania, he of the fishface and limp handshake. There were just some things this minor royal was not prepared to do for king and country.

A summons to tea at Buck House (as in the palace) sets Georgie’s teeth rattling. What could the queen, also a cousin, possibly want? As it turns out, two things; the first to host a young Bavarian princess at Rannoch House and the second to keep an eye on her son the Prince of Wales who is infatuated with a certain Mrs. Simpson.

The young Princess Hannelore of Bavaria turns out to be a handful prone to using American slang from watching too many gangster movies. The young lady also has a habit of zigging when she should be zagging and sets Georgie to wishing she had said no to her majesty. But who says no to the queen?

When the princess is discovered standing over the body of a young man, a known communist, and holding the murder weapon, the police reach the most obvious conclusion. Ridiculous, Georgie says. But when the princess’s traveling companion is found dead, could the police have been right all along? Georgie’s suspicions are aroused and she launches her own investigation. Can Georgie solve the case or will she only succeed in setting off World War II?

My take: These books came alive for me. Perhaps it comes from years of watching Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery but I could picture every word and description vividly. Lady Georgina literally leapt from the pages so kudos to the author Rhys Bowen. I have a few choice words for this series; charming, delightful, intriguing, unique and most of all, fun. Consider this a serious recommendation for lovers of a great cozy mystery.

The Author: Rhys Bowen has been nominated for every major award in mystery writing, including the Edgar, Agatha and the Anthony. She is also the author of the Molly Murphy Mysteries, set in turn-of-the-century New York, and the Constable Evans Mysteries, set in Wales.

You can visit with Ms. Bowen at her website, Twitter or as one of the resident writers at Jungle Red Writers.

I Heart a Good Cozy

What makes a great cozy mystery?

Is it an overstuffed chair set quietly by a fireplace with a spot of tea nearby? Hold that thought. Generally speaking cozy mysteries feature an intelligent female protagonist; she may have re-invented her life as the owner of a new business; she surrounds herself with equally strong and sometimes quirky friends; and she is always stumbling over dead bodies through no fault of her own. Indeed, she is a reluctant sleuth with which the local authorities are none too pleased.

A few of the Literary Gato's friends taking over the place

The beginnings of the cozy genre start with Agatha Christie’s novels. Dame Agatha has been quoted as saying “I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.” Her two most familiar characters are Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.

1940's cover

Cozies are usually part of a series and keeps us emotionally vested. Who doesn’t enjoy visiting with an old friend and catching up on the latest gossip and drama? Our heroine can be the owner of a tea shop such as Theodosia Brown in the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs or someone like Goldy Schultz who operates Colorado’s top catering business Goldilocks Catering “where everything is just right” by Diane Mott Davidson. Just when you think it’s only women characters that drive the genre there is Lilian Jackson Braun and The Cat Who series (so far 30 books in all) featuring James "Qwill" Qwilleran, a small town journalist and his Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum.



The cozy mystery is lighter fare than the hard boiled variety and there is no graphic sex or violence other than the initial murder which usually happens off stage. More than likely these books take place in a small town or village, think Jessica Fletcher and Cabot Cove and you will be right on target. The latest trend in cozies is to provide recipes, scrapbooking tips, sudoku puzzles, knitting patterns, whatever may be related to the theme of the book.

Some authors offer different series within the cozy genre. Laura Childs has three starting with the Tea Shop Mysteries set in Charleston, South Carolina; the Scrap Book Mysteries featuring Carmela Bertrand, owner of Memory Mine, a scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter; and her latest series the Cackleberry Club Mysteries highlighting three 40-plus women who launch a café nestled a little town called Kindred.

Animals also play a part in this genre and offer a different perspective on the investigation. Case in point, Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy series whose heroine Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen is the former postmistress of a tiny town called Crozet in Virginia. Unbeknownst to Harry, she has a few junior detectives on the case and is ably assisted by Tee Tucker the Corgi, and the cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter. As the book jacket states, It Takes a Cat to Write the Purr-fect Mystery. Brown writes the best selling mysteries with her feline partner Sneaky Pie Brown.

Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown

To summarize:

It was a dark and stormy night as I snuggled into my overstuffed chintz rocker, feet propped up on a matching ottoman. The cozy fireplace crackled as I poured myself a cup of chamomile tea from a classic Brown Betty teapot. I was just about to settle in for a good night’s read when there was a frantic knock at the door. The disturbance elicited a small bark from my sleepy Corgi, Penny. I opened the door to find, Miss Nestlebaum, our local Liberian, who besides being drenched in rain, was not looking all that well. In fact she stumbled through the doorway and fell face down on my aunt’s prized oriental rug. It was then I noticed the knife protruding from her shoulder blades and the pool of blood that stained her clothing. As I quickly dialed 911, I was positive Detective Simon was not going to enjoy another one of my phone calls.

Now that is the perfect setting and great beginnings of a terrific cozy mystery!

Cozy up with a good book!

A spot of tea anyone?