1988; 249 pages. Book 7 (out of 29) in “The
Cat Who” series. New Author? : No.
Genres : Small Town and Rural Fiction; Cozy
Mystery; Cat Fiction. Overall Rating : 6*/10.
Welcome to Pickax City! One hundred or so miles north of Minneapolis,
and out in the middle of frozen nowhere.
Smack dab in wonderful Moose County.
They have a saying up here and
it’s certainly true: "Country folks is different and Moose County folks is more
different.”
Changes are coming to Moose County.
Senior Goodwinter, the owner and publisher of the local newspaper, The
Pickax Picayune, still uses a printing press from the early 20th
century. It’s inefficient but he likes
it. He’s getting old, though, and the locals are wondering if his son and publishing heir apparent, Junior Goodwinter, will
modernize things.
Some locals would love that,
and some of them wouldn’t. In any event,
it would cost considerable money to upgrade the printing press. And it’s a well-known secret (is that an
oxymoron?) that The Pickax Picayune has been losing money for many years now.
Hey, that newcomer Jim
Qwilleran is rich. Maybe we can talk him
into funding the upgrade. And he likes
to talk to his cats, Koko and Yum Yum. So perhaps we can convince them to suggest it to Qwill.
What’s To Like...
The Cat Who Knew
Shakespeare is the fourth book I’ve read by this author. My previous one was in 2019 and is reviewed here. Amazon lists this as a “Small Town & Rural Fiction” novel, and
I’m gradually coming around to seeing their logic in listing Lilian Jackson books in this genre.
Amazon also puts this series in their “Amateur Sleuths” genre, but it’s not a spoiler to
say our protagonist, Jim Qwilleran does absolutely no sleuthing here. There are several deaths along the way, the circumstances of which Qwill occasionally muses upon, but he never does any investigating.
That doesn’t mean the
storyline is boring, though. In addition to
those fatalities and the uncertain future of The Pickax Picayune, the following plot threads arise: a.) who is the quiet
out-of-towner masquerading as a historian?
b.) what is the purpose of
Senior’s frequent trips to Minneapolis? c.) who is Hixie covering up for? d.)
Will Qwill’s housekeeper, Mrs. Cobb, leave his employ for love? e.)
What’s in the metal box?, and perhaps most importantly, f.)
Why does Koko insist on repeatedly pushing books by Shakespeare off the shelves in Qwill’s library?
The Cat Who Knew
Shakespeare was published in 1988, and I chuckled a couple of times at the
“signs of the times” that pop up.
Everybody carries a portable radio with them, to search for a book at the library, you make use of the card catalogue, cassettes
are the most popular way to listen to music at home, and a portable tape recorder is essential when
interviewing someone. I enjoyed the
usual smattering of French phrases,
and both Qwill and I were leery of the pork
liver cupcakes.
The ending is so-so. One of the fatalities is way too convenient,
and the others are “solved” by someone simply explaining what happened, which
means things don't build to an exciting conclusion. Several plot threads remain dangling at the end. Still, if you’re reading this book for its
“coziness”, you’ll be content with how it wraps up.
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.7/5
based on 1,735 ratings and 224 reviews.
Goodreads: 3.96/5 based on 9,355
ratings and 374 reviews
Kewlest New Word ...
Propinquity
(n.) : the state of being close to
someone or something; proximity.
Excerpts...
“Where are the cats?” Polly asked.
“Shut up in the kitchen. Koko has been pulling books off the
shelf. He thinks he’s a librarian. Yum Yum, on the other hand, is just a cat who
chases her tail and steals paper clips and hides things under the rug. Every time my foot comes down on a bump in
the rug, I wince. Is it my
wristwatch? Or a mouse? Or my reading glasses? Or a crumpled envelope from the wastebasket?”
“What titles has Koko recommended?”
“He’s on a Shakespeare kick.” (pg. 43)
“I understand you’re president of the Old
Timers Club,” he said.
“Yes, I’m eighty-two. The youngest member is automatically
appointed president.”
“I suspect you lied about your age.”
Her pleased expression acknowledged the
compliment. “I intend to live to be a hundred
and three. I think a hundred and four would
be excessive, don’t you? Exercise is the
secret, and breathing the most important factor. Do you know how to breathe, Mr.
Qwilleran?”
“I’ve been doing my best for fifty years.” (pg. 112)
“Do you still have
the cat that’s smarter than you are?” (pg.
16)
The quibbles are minor. I counted eight cusswords in the entire
book, seven hells and one damn.
Most of those came courtesy of one of the secondary characters, so I
presume Lilian Jackson Braun used them to simply as part of his character
development. There were a couple of
typos: of/or and rest room/restroom, but that’s actually pretty
clean.
The rest of my ticky-tacky issues have already been mentioned. The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare is not a cozy mystery
tale, let alone a murder-mystery. OTOH,
if you heed Amazon’s advice and read this as a “Small
Town Fiction” novel, it is rather entertaining.
6 Stars. I have at least one more book from this series on my TBR shelf, namely, The Cat Who Sniffed Glue. I’m willing to bet a very small amount of money that, despite its title, it in no way involves drug use.
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