Product Description

In this new installment in the bestselling Cat Who . . . mystery series, Qwilleran and his brilliant Siamese put their whisker-twitching, crime-solving talents to work to find a killer.

The residents of Pickax are delighted that the old bombed-out Pickax Hotel is reopening with a whole new look. With new furnishings, a new chef, and even a new name, what could be more thrilling? Everyone is thrown into a topspin when one of the hotel's first guests, a jeweler who has come to town to buy heirloom jewelry from some of Pickax's oldest families, winds up a victim of murder. Who could have committed such a horrible crime? Could it be the hotel clerk, a recent winner of a gold medal for the caber toss at the Highland Games?

Qwilleran and his snooping Siamese are willing to go to any lengths to find the killer and set the town at ease. But first they'll have to contend with a hijacked bookmobile, an attemped bank robbery . . . and a few of the cats' preoccupations. Koko has a newfound fondness for pennies, and Koko and Yum Yum both are obsessed with chewing on gum wrappers--but for entirely different reasons, of course.

Sit back, relax, and unwind with another fabulous feline mystery by Lilian Jackson Braun!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1454894 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: School & Library Binding
• 292 pages

From Amazon.com
Qwilleran and his crime-solving Siamese cats KoKo and Yum Yum are back on the case in Pickax, the biggest little city in Moose County, which is 400 miles north of everywhere but still boasts a remarkably sophisticated social and cultural scene. Hardly a day or a night goes by without a tea, dinner party, crafts fair, play, or pageant, all of which are attended and described in great detail by Qwilleran, a former crime reporter whose not very onerous duties entail writing a feature column for the local newspaper as well as overseeing the civic philanthropy made possible by an inheritance from a wealthy friend of his deceased mother. Fans of this long-running and immensely popular series will delight in this 23rd installment, in which the matrons of Pickax are buying French perfume and blueing their hair for the annual visit of Mr. Delacamp, a jeweler from Down Under (Chicago), whose arrival will coincide with the reopening of the town's fabulously refurbished grand hotel. When the mysterious Mr. Delacamp is found dead in the presidential suite, and his "niece" goes missing along with the jewels and the cash, Qwilleran and his curious cats investigate. As usual, it takes a couple of Siamese with extraordinary powers (even for cats) and a current preoccupation with pennies, gum wrappers, and paper towels to point their owner toward the solution; Qwilleran may not be the quickest sleuth in Moose County, but with KoKo and Yum Yum on the case, he doesn't need to be. This is the coziest of cozies, a particular niche in the mystery subcategory of crime-solving felines of which Braun is the acknowledged mistress, and once again she delivers the goods. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
After 22 Cat Who mysteries (The Cat Who Saw Stars, etc.), Braun's legions of fans know precisely what to expect from this mistress of feline detective stories--a bloodless crime, much bantering between Jim Qwilleran and his friends, and mysterious crime-solving hints from his beloved Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. Braun's 23rd novel fulfills these expectations. Journalist Qwilleran has evolved into an independently wealthy columnist and generous benefactor for almost every worthy cause in Pickax, Mich. As a leading citizen, he participates in everything from the refurbishing of the Pickax Hotel (renamed the Mackintosh Inn) to the tricounty Scottish Gathering and Highland Games. One of the renovated hotel's first guests is a jewelry buyer and seller from Chicago. Mr. Delacamp appears once every five years or so to offer exquisitely expensive jewelry (cash only, please) and to buy heirlooms (cash, again) from Pickax's wealthy ladies. This trip proves to be his last, and his murder provides the grist for Koko's deductive prowess. This Sherlock of the cat kingdom does his best, from his reading choices to his seemingly inexplicable actions with paper towels, gum wrappers and nuts, to educate the mere human he lives with. Yet again, Braun's upbeat prose and amiable characters make her novel the cat's meow of cozies. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Newspaper columnist Jim Qwilleran investigates the murder of a visiting jeweler, one of the first guests to stay at Pickax's remodeled hotel. His Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum appear, of course, in another clever and humorous addition to the series.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.