From Publishers Weekly
Guidall, the veteran audio reader who's read countless Cat Who books, returns for another foray into the goings-on in the tiny town of Pickax, "400 miles from anywhere." Guidall's versatile voice creates a whole town of characters: a glamorous, pretentious interior designer; a fluttery librarian; gravelly columnist James Quilleran (the protagonist); and a new character, elderly Thelma Thackeray, a former Moose County resident returning after six decades in Hollywood. As usual, the mild mystery (who kidnapped Thelma's prize parrots; and was the death of Thelma's brother, an elderly veterinarian, from natural causes or by murder?) takes a backseat to the pleasure of simply spending time in the company of dry, witty Quilleran, his clever cats Yum-Yum and Koko and his eccentric friends and neighbors. Fans of the series will happily settle down with headphones for this 25th entry.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
This is the twenty-fifth volume of these intensely mild-mannered mysteries: it is hard to conceive of a more dulcet whodunit. Local columnist Qwilleran--Qwill, our hero--is immensely wealthy but funnels it through a foundation; lives in Pickax, Moose County, 400 miles north of anywhere; and dates the town librarian (although she's about to throw that over because libraries aren't about books anymore; Qwill's foundation is going to set her up in a bookstore). Thelma Thackeray, in her 80s, comes back to Pickax after a long Hollywood career in food. She's turning the old opera house into a revival movie theater, sparks a few other local delights, but can't seem to get her ne'er-do-well nephew to do well at all. Qwill plugs away at old lies and a death in Thelma' s family. We learn stuff through his newspaper column and his journal entries, and through the responses of his Siamese cat, Koko. All the murders are offstage: the fun part is in food, clothing, and the quotidian joys of small-town life; there's no sex and barely a whiff of technology. How can one fail to be amused by naming conventions that include local weatherman Wetherby Goode?
GraceAnne DeCandidoCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
by Lilian Braun
by Lilian Braun
by Lilian Braun
by Lilian Jackson Braun
by Lilian Braun
