Rating: 
Summary: Kind of sad
Review: I'm a long-time fan of the "Cat Who..." series and have noticed a steady decline in the quality of the books. They seem to have been written because the author feels she *must* churn out another book, not necessarily because she wants to. This book moved from anecdote to anecdote with little plot to tie it together and the mystery really wasn't much of one. When we did find out "whodunnit", we were still left wondering "whydunnit" -- at least, I was. It's kind of sad to see what's become of a series that used to be a lot of fun and a guaranteed good read.
Rating:
Summary: the cat who talked turkey
Review: Very disappointing. I have read all of the Cat Who series, and found the last two very disapointing. The characters are very thin, and the relationship to a mystery non existant. I am a reader who does not like excessive detail, but The Cat Who Talked Turkey is definately lacking. Perhaps after 26 Cat Who books Lillian is running out of material. It might be time for Mrs. Braun to retire Mr. Q and kill off Polly.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: It looks like Ms. Braun has decided to kick back and cash in the the cachet of the early "Cat Who" books. This one isn't worth even the very short time it takes to read it. As a long time reader of this series, I'm disappointed - to say the least.
Rating: 
Summary: An enjoyable read, but not much of a mystery
Review: I have read all of Ms. Braun's delightful Cat Who novels, and find them good, escapist fiction. While they all fall under the mystery genre, in some the mystery is more fully developed than in others. This is one of those with a less developed mystery, with the focus of the book being on the main character, James Mackinosh Qwilleran, and his Siamese cat companions, Koko and Yum-Yum. The main plot of the story revolves around the 200th birthday of Brrr, the oldest and coldest community in Moose County, 400 miles from anywhere. The author describes many charming activities the town plans to celebrate this occasion. One of them is Qwill's dramatic reenactment of the Great Storm of 1913, a passage I found to be exciting and interesting. There are many sub plots, such as the building of a new bookstore which Qwill's erstwhile "significant other", Polly, is to run, and the opening of the Carroll Museum, a project which Qwill himself suggested to Dr. Carroll's widow, Edythe. The museum does not please Mrs. Carroll's daughter, Alicia (nicknamed Lish), at all, as she expected to inherit the fine house and all its contents. Ultimately, the mystery is an afterthought in this book, as other readers have mentioned. The title has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever, unless I missed something, but is rather a reference to some visitors Qwill has in his yard. I still enjoyed the read, full as it was of the Moose County personalities I have grown to love. I never really read these for the mystery anyway, more for the people and the cats. If you feel the same way, give it a read. You will enjoy meeting your friends again!
Rating:
Summary: The Cat Who Published a Turkey
Review: As a fan of Jim Q from his old days at the Daily Fluxion, I was even entertained somewhat with the tongue-in-cheek treatment of his new life in the early Moose County novels. But the last few novels have been increasingly poor in quality, and this one is the worst by far. The reasons are too numerous to count. Here are but a few. First, the turkeys in the title have a lot to do with the quality of the book but nothing whatever to do with the major plot line--if you can find it, that is. The "mystery" in this book is incidental at best, almost as if Ms. Braun felt obligated to toss it in but her heart wasn't in it. It's filled with unrelated and uninteresting Moose County events which, again, have nothing to do with a plot line--from the opening scene at the bookstore groundbreaking to Bushy's wedding to several uneventful trips to the beach. The characters have all turned into one-dimensional parodies of themselves. Polly is more priggish than ever. Even Arch Riker is a bore. But not more boring than Mr. Q and his cats. It seems like the eccentric characters that populated Moose County have all turned into Stepford copies of Jim Q--who is far less interesting himself! I could keep going, but whatever you do, don't buy this book. If you must read it, the library is the answer. You can read it in about 90 minutes. Which leads to my final remark. The editor should be ashamed to have used Braun so disgracefully after such a long and distinguished career. It doesn't take a professional to know that this book was printed for money, not even remotely for quality. And to Lillian Jackson Braun: thank you for so many hours of pleasure with your past books. But perhaps it's time for Jim Q to be retired.
Rating:
Summary: Dull
Review: Braun generally writes engaging stories about Jim Qwilleran, who inherited a gigantic family fortune in the later years of his life, and his cats, Koko and Yum Yum. The series is catagorized as mystery becuase there is some kind of unexplained murder in every book. Generally, Qwill is involved in solving them, while Koko provides invaluable assistance with his superior cat insticts. In this book, the murder is entirely periphial to the plot, and Qwill's only real connection to it is that Koko yowls when it occoured. Otherwise, this might be any of a number of poor Mitford knock-offs, where the interst is supposed to come from the characters, but the characters are so dull that the story is not worth reading. The denouement at the end is forced and poorly written. In short, the entire book is dull, with none of the charm that Braun usually injects into the series. Save your time and money and buy a different book.
Rating:
Summary: What happened?
Review: I think the title of my review sums up my feelings fairly well. I loved the first few "Cat Who ..." stories, enjoyed most of the later ones, but this book just left me scratching my head.
Firstly, this was 180 pages, with really big type. Not that I have a problem with big type, but in this case it meant that the story was barely breaking a hundred pages of a normal paperback-book sized book. And of those, there was so little of the actual story! This wasn't a murder mystery, this was "a day in the life of a man who owns two cats and lives in a barn in the middle of nowhere". Qwill writes a little, feeds the cats, gossips, feeds the cats, hears about a murder but pays very little attention, goes on a date, gives the cats a treat, and so on, and so on ....
It was unbelievably dull.
There was no character development at all! Nothing interesting ever happened, the so-called 'storyline' was painfully slow, and I found myself really not caring. What happened to the Qwill we all knew and loved? The one whos mustache would bristle at the sign of foul play, the Qwill that investigated mysterious cases and challenging murders? The interesting Qwill! He's vanished, and in his place, we have a sad, boring man, who is not at all interesting to follow around, and who's contribution to solving the murder ON HIS PROPERTY was, what--- puzzlement?
I'm dreadfully, DREADFULLY disappointed.
If you've read the whole "Cat Who ..." series, then my feeling is that you can skip this one; you won't have missed anything, I promise. If this was to be your first "Cat Who ...", I really suggest you put this one back, and try something closer to the beginning; you will enjoy it far more, I can assure you.
Rating: 
Summary: Time to retire this series.....
Review: Lillian Jackson Braun has given her readers a lot of pleasure in the "Cat Who..." series, but it it obvious that she is now writing by rote and no effort at mystery is evident in this latest ho-hum book in the series. This book demonstrates that a very popular formula can pall on even the author eventually. I think she has exhausted the possibilities here - although the residents of Pickax are charming as ever, this is just a compiliation of characteristics with no exposition to anyone who has not read the series previously. It's time to call it a day and for Ms. Braun to rest on her well-deserved laurels.
Rating:
Summary: Turkey is the right word for this book
Review: I have read all of Ms. Braun's books and this is by far the most boring. She has all the qualities and characters of Pickax, but the murder mystery seems an after thought~ stuck in there after the book was written. She seems much more concerned about telling about the history of the "Great Storm of 1912" than interesting her mystery readers. It's about time Quill and Polly got a life, else her readers will.
Rating:
Summary: Too Easy
Review: This can be a pleasant read for real fans of the "Cat Who..." series, but there isn't any mystery about it. The writer never
developes any tension in the story, and the villains just appear
and drop out without any real development, and this book is
just an easy story to read about the same ol' characters as in
the past, and nothing much really happens.
It is like reading one of the more simple cartoons; not much to it,
but it's familiar, so you can give it a glance, then move on to something more substantial.
For the true fans only.
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