The Cat Who Sang for the Birds - Softcover

Braun, Lilian Jackson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 051512463X ISBN 13: 9780515124637

Publisher: Berkley, 1999

Synopsis

In this delightful Cat Who mystery featuring Jim Qwilleran and his lovable cats, Koko and Yum Yum, the rites of spring are celebrated with the fine art of birdcalling—and a fateful act of murder.

As early spring comes to Moose County, Jim Qwilleran is looking forward to the peaceful beauty of nature’s rebirth. What he gets instead is a chorus of noisy birds that constantly wakes him from a sound sleep—especially when Koko insists on joining in with his own feline version of birdcalling. But soon Qwill is wondering whether Koko is trying to say more than just “tweet tweet,” because a series of strange events—starting with an act of vandalism and culminating in a mysterious chain of death and disappearance—has Pickax in a similar uproar. It seems that this spring, a cat’s fancy may turn to crime solving...

About this title

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.

From Kirkus Reviews:

More dire doings in Pickax (``400 miles north of everywhere''), where bachelor zillionaire Jim Qwilleran keeps a paternalistic eye on the town from his opulent barn house and his columnist job on Moose County Something, the local paper. Pickax has been saddened by the death of 93-year-old recluse Maude Coggin in a supposedly accidental fire in her decrepit house soon after she'd sold her hundred-acre farm, at a giveaway price, to buyers called Northern Land Improvement. Qwill's suspicions of this deal, reinforced by prescient cats Koko and Yum Yum, lead to his finding the company nonexistent. Some big-time chicanery is afoot, not to mention other odd happenings: a break-in and theft at the recently opened art center; an old scandal new to Qwill; the misgivings of boutique owner Elizabeth Hart about her boyfriend Derek's being offered a job as manager of Chet's Barbecuea downscale bar owned by town councilman Chet Ramsbottom. And then there's young butterfly-breeder Phoebe Sloan, whose unsavory boyfriend Jake is bartender at Chet's. When the town's major annual event takes placeit's a spelling beePhoebe is missing from her team. With help from Qwill and, of course, Koko and Yum Yum, the discovery of her body in Bloody Creek brings about the downfall of Pickax's corrupting elements. Braun's terminally arch mixture (The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, 1997, etc.) is even more extreme than before as confusion reigns, characters proliferate, and Qwill, with his second-sighted assistants, once more solves Pickax's problems. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 051512463X
• ISBN 13: 9780515124637
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 272