The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts

Author: Lilian Jackson Braun
Genre: Mystery

4 Stars

 

 

Mrs. Cobb is a friend of Jim Qwilleran (Qwill).  One night she hears noises in her antique-filled farmhouse and calls him for help. When he gets there, she's dead.  Everyone thinks that she has been frightened to death, but no one seems to know how or why.  Since they don't want to leave the farmhouse unattended, Qwill moves in with his cats, who set about finding the murderer.

I really liked this book; I liked the mystery, I liked Qwill, I liked the cats. What I didn't like:

Qwill, who is a billionaire, is Morally Cheap. By that, I mean the guy has money, but he doesn't want to spend it. He has to buy a suit for a funeral, and doesn't want to pay the tailor. Does he think the tailor is free? Does he think the tailor has no employees to pay? He has the money, he should at least not begrudge the guy a living. I sure hope he's not this cheap in the rest of his books (I'm not saying give the money away, I'm saying recognize other people have to make a living).

His girlfriend(?): She could be his girlfriend, but I don't know. She's a librarian and wears grey tailored suits. I've yet to meet a librarian who dresses like that. That's odd enough, but then she drives a separate car to their 'dates' because she doesn't want people to know. Really? They're both in their 50's and they have to hide it like one of them is married or something? If I was dating the richest guy around, I'd want everyone to know so that he wouldn't be chased by other women.

He eats at places that have 'meat you have to gnaw at but has really good flavor'. I'm sorry, but if the meat is chewy, it DOESN'T have really good flavor. It's a bad cut of meat and the people don't know how to cook. He's got the money, he can afford to eat at a decent restaurant. And a restaurant with 'chewy' meat wouldn't be in business long.

Other than that, a good book.

www.amazon.com/The-Cat-Talked-Ghosts-Who/dp/0515102652