The Cat Who Saw Red - Lilian Jackson Braun
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I liked the setting of the two books in the series that I had read earlier (antiques shops and fashionable homes), but found the gourmet boarding house in this this one rather strange. By now, I can see that the books all seem to follow the same pattern - a murder in the past attributed as accident, Quill visiting different people for his news article series (a surprising large percentage of whom get involved in some sort of accident), followed by a new murder, the knowledge of the culprit's identity suddenly dawning (though the clues have been quite evident for long), confrontation with the murderer, and a spectacular rescue by the cats. Nothing wrong with a formula unless you get the feeling that if you've read one, you've read them all.
The mystery was weak and entirely predictable right from the start, and Quill's way of concluding the evidence by confronting the suspect/culprit alone doesn't sound intelligent at all. Add a couple of threads that appear to be relevant but turn out to have no bearing on the main story, and you have a mystery novel that doesn't have much going for it. The redeeming factor was the antics of the cats, and that it was quick and fun read (in contradiction to the predictability).
It is the sort of book I would consider a good time-pass (if I had that much of time to pass0, and it was lying around. But I won't go out actively seeking it out. Therefore in a world of ever growing TBRs and any book you might want to read right at your fingertips, I am not likely to return to the series.
The mystery was weak and entirely predictable right from the start, and Quill's way of concluding the evidence by confronting the suspect/culprit alone doesn't sound intelligent at all. Add a couple of threads that appear to be relevant but turn out to have no bearing on the main story, and you have a mystery novel that doesn't have much going for it. The redeeming factor was the antics of the cats, and that it was quick and fun read (in contradiction to the predictability).
It is the sort of book I would consider a good time-pass (if I had that much of time to pass0, and it was lying around. But I won't go out actively seeking it out. Therefore in a world of ever growing TBRs and any book you might want to read right at your fingertips, I am not likely to return to the series.
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