The Cat Who Said Cheese (The Cat Who... Series #18)

by Lilian Jackson Braun

Overview

In this mystery in the bestselling Cat Who series, a murder sends Jim Qwilleran and his cats, Koko and Yum Yum, on a trail that will demand all their feline intuition and mustachioed insight...

With the Great Food Explo approaching, there’s a lot of scrumptious activity in Moose County. Residents can’t wait for the restaurant openings, the cheese-tasting, and the bake-off, among other festivities. But there’s nothing as tasty as a morsel of gossip, so when a mysterious woman moves into the New Pickax Hotel, the locals—including Qwill—indulge in lots of speculation. But then a bomb explodes in her room, killing the hotel housekeeper—and now Qwill and his kitty sidekicks, Koko and Yum Yum, must put aside the fun and figure out who cooked up this murderous recipe...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101214275
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/01/1997
Series:	Cat Who... Series , #18
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	80,329
File size:	511 KB

About the Author

The history of Lilian Jackson Braun is perhaps as exciting and mysterious as her novels. Between 1966 and 1968, she published three novels to critical acclaim: The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, and The Cat Who Turned On and Off.  In 1966, the New York Times labeled Braun, “the new detective of the year.” Then, for reasons unknown, the rising mystery author disappeared from the publishing scene. It wasn’t until 1986 that Berkley Publishing Group reintroduced Braun to the public with the publication of an original paperback, The Cat Who Saw Red. Within two years, Berkley released four new novels in paperback and reprinted the three mysteries from the sixties. Since then, G.P. Putnam’s Sons has published seventeen additional novels in the Cat Who series. Braun passed away in 2011.

Hometown:

North Carolina

Date of Birth:

1916

Date of Death:

June 4, 2011

Place of Birth:

Massachusetts

Place of Death:

South Carolina

Education:

Graduated from high school at age 16

Editorial Reviews

One of the best in the 19-title Cat Who . . . series (one of which is a short-story collection), this latest adventure finds newspaper columnist Jim Qwilleran more likable and his feline sleuthing partners, Siamese Yum Yum and Koko, more intuitive than ever. The small town of Pickax City is about to celebrate the Great Food Expo when a stranger moves into the community's dismal, but only, hotel. Both events engage even the reticent Qwill, as townsfolk get ready for restaurant openings and a pastry bake-off while trying to find out more about the mysterious woman. Qwill gets the jump on everyone when he runs into the woman at his summer cabin, but before he can learn much about her, a bomb explodes in her hotel room while she is out and kills one of the staff. When the woman then vanishes, Qwill suspects she is a fugitive fearing for her life. While the police investigate, attention is redirected toward the Food Expo, in which Qwill participates as both food judge and bachelor auction prize. But the hotel bombing and the mysterious woman are never far from his thoughts, nor from the inspired cogitations of Koko, who neatly untangles a web of eccentric characters and mistaken identities. Mystery Guild and Readers Digest Condensed Book selection; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternate. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Cat lovers purr at the mention of Braun's best-selling series (e.g., The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, Putnam, 1995), which features a pair of feline detectives. Here, the cats match whiskers with a murderer during a food festival.

Library Journal

The year-round residents of Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere, are enlivening the postsummer doldrums with plans for a fall Great Food Explo--and with gossip about a mystery woman registered at the Pickax City Hotel. Philanthropist/journalist/amateur detective Jim "Quill" Qwilleran, with his two Siamese gourmand/sleuth cats Koko and Yum Yum, becomes involved not only in the cheese-tasting part (20 different varieties) but also in solving a bombing at the hotel and subsequent murder of one of the witnesses. While the author retains familiar human characters and introduces a few new ones, Quill's famous felines continue to hold center stage. An ingenious plot, colorful characters, and delightful humor ("There are disadvantaged cats out there who don't know where their next mouse is coming from!" ) commend this eighteenth (and hopefully still counting) book in Braun's popular series of cat mysteries to literate ailurophiles, both old and new.

Barbara Duree

Praise for Lilian Jackson Braun and the Cat Who series

“A master of mystery.”—People

“Upbeat prose and amiable characters.”—Publishers Weekly

“The mix of crime and cats [is] catnip to readers who like both.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“Braun keeps both paws on the side of charming.”—Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

A billionaire journalist enjoys his life in small-town America with his two outgoing Siamese cats. All is not as serene as a Norman Rockwell illustration, however, as the town’s population just happens to have a nasty murder now and then. As Qwilleran, the journalist, pursues a case that focuses on cheese (literally), we meet charming locals straight out of a Hallmark TV special. All the murders are bloodless. Sex is nonexistent. An easygoing listen is given dimension by George Guidall’s stylish and witty voice. This is the perfect audiobook for fans of this series and those who are tired of sex and gore. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

AUG/SEP 03 - AudioFile