Rating: 
Summary: The Qwilleran Diet
Review: In this, the third book in the series, we find Qwilleran and his two feline companions once again moving into a new apartment. And once again Qwilleran is grumbling about his latest reporting assignment - the roving gourmet. At least this time Qwill can't pretend that he knows nothing about eating. Instead, the problem is that he knows too much, and so his doctor has put him on a Strict diet. But how can Qwill lose weight and still write about fine food?Qwilleran is invited to a small dinner at the house of Robert Maus, a famous gourmet lawyer. The Maus Haus, as it is called, was once an art center but now has become the home of a group of exceptional and unusual people in the food business (this is the first appearance of Hixie Rice), and a pair of potters, Joy and Dan Graham. As it happens Joy was an old flame of Qwilleran's. When he finds out that there is an open apartment at the Maus Haus he snaps it up. Qwill pretends that he is not falling for Joy again, but no one else, including Koko and Yum Yum, is fooled. Certainly Joy is not, in short order she asks Qwill to help her financially in getting a divorce from the nerdy Dan. He lends her $750. Suddenly there is a scream in the night and Joy disappears under suspicious circumstances. Qwilleran investigates, in league with Koko, who has graduated from communication via hairballs and the dictionary game, to using the typewriter. In short order Robert Maus's house boy vanishes and Quill must solve two disappearances. And then follow repeated attempts to ruin the reputation of The Golden Lambchop, housemate Max Sorrel's restaurant. Throw in a few suicides from many years before and you have a plot as intricate as the webs Yum Yum has learned to weave with balls of yarn. As is often the case in a Braun story the solution is apparent a little too early to pretend that this is really a mystery story. Really what Qwilleran and his assistants do is fill in all the pieces to that someone else besides Qwilleran will believe there is a crime. This is always great fun. Lilian Braun has a mischievous sense of humor that often shines through Quill's irreverent questions and musings. And his relations with his felines remind up what a precarious position homo sapiens really occupies on the evolutionary ladder.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT
Review: IT WAS GREA
Rating:
Summary: A great ending to a great story
Review: Jim Qwilleran and his two cats are a great trio for a detcetive team. This is my personal favorite in the cat series (my favorite also) Lilian did a great job this time. This has ended up to be my all time favorite mystery book. The ending really puts you on the edge of your seat. This book (if you haven't found out by the cover) is a murder mystery.
Rating:
Summary: This was one of the better books in the series
Review: Lillian Jackson Braun, has out done herself with this series. The cat who series is a masterpice of work that still isn't done I have read most of her books and I think that her way of connecting with the charictor is the key to her wonderful style if you want some interesting matirial that will make you come back for more read "The Cat Who......" series
Rating: 
Summary: A comfortable read for LJB fans.
Review: My mom loves these books! She gave me this one because she thought I'd love them too. I did enjoy reading it a great deal, but it was a bit bland for me. I don't say that because Lilian Jackson Braun is a poor writer...she's fantastic. Her characters are adorable, loveable and genuine. The setting is creative and chilling. Even the plot is intriguing. When I read, I like my emotions to be stirred a bit more than this book did.
I admit this is the first I've read in the series, and I understand that may contribute to the distaste I have for it, since its actually not the first book of the series. Conflicting reviewers say its the fourth, fifth or sixth book. To really know I think I better check out her website. Those editorial reviews might be more helpful too!
Okay, so what is likeable about this book? Simply put, the characters make the whole series popular. Qwilleran, a reporter with a funny name, is the man who drives the need to know for each case. I like Qwill because he shares many similarities with me. He writes and I've always fancied myself as a reporter. He loves cats; hard not to for me. He also observes people. In this book, Qwilleran reunites with an old flame and finds himself seething at his discovery of her demise.
The other two participants in Braun's whimsical mystery are Koko and Yum Yum. These cats are as personified as Qwill himself and take as much part in the action of the story as others do. One of them even saves Qwill's life in a round-a-bout way. Anybody who loves cats is going to fall hard for these two adorable sidekicks.
Best of all is Braun's affectionate style. She demands nothing more from the reader than a liesurely audience. I like her attention to details affectionate descriptions and penchant for ordinary experiences in extraordinary ways. I also like that she uses interesting facts and victuals of knowledge to satiate the readers cravings for intellectual stimulation.
On the down side, I think I want more emotional or spiritual stimulation from my readings. I tend to cling to books with strong ties to emotional highs and lows. Though this book provided the opportunity for that (especially when Qwill's crush becomes one of the victims), I didn't feel the same excitement I have felt reading other books.
I'm not putting this book down though. I enjoyed it enough to keep it and share with others. My students will also enjoy it's characters. I plan to do a book talk with it for my students at a middle school. I don't really suspect them to read it, but it will make a nice diversion from the ordinary and will introduce them to a great popular contemporary author.
Rating:
Summary: A comfortable read for LJB fans.
Review: My mom loves these books! She gave me this one because she thought I'd love them too. I did enjoy reading it a great deal, but it was a bit bland for me. I don't say that because Lilian Jackson Braun is a poor writer...she's fantastic. Her characters are adorable, loveable and genuine. The setting is creative and chilling. Even the plot is intriguing. When I read, I like my emotions to be stirred a bit more than this book did.
I admit this is the first I've read in the series, and I understand that may contribute to the distaste I have for it, since its actually not the first book of the series. Conflicting reviewers say its the fourth, fifth or sixth book. To really know I think I better check out her website. Those editorial reviews might be more helpful too!
Okay, so what is likeable about this book? Simply put, the characters make the whole series popular. Qwilleran, a reporter with a funny name, is the man who drives the need to know for each case. I like Qwill because he shares many similarities with me. He writes and I've always fancied myself as a reporter. He loves cats; hard not to for me. He also observes people. In this book, Qwilleran reunites with an old flame and finds himself seething at his discovery of her demise.
The other two participants in Braun's whimsical mystery are Koko and Yum Yum. These cats are as personified as Qwill himself and take as much part in the action of the story as others do. One of them even saves Qwill's life in a round-a-bout way. Anybody who loves cats is going to fall hard for these two adorable sidekicks.
Best of all is Braun's affectionate style. She demands nothing more from the reader than a liesurely audience. I like her attention to details affectionate descriptions and penchant for ordinary experiences in extraordinary ways. I also like that she uses interesting facts and victuals of knowledge to satiate the readers cravings for intellectual stimulation.
On the down side, I think I want more emotional or spiritual stimulation from my readings. I tend to cling to books with strong ties to emotional highs and lows. Though this book provided the opportunity for that (especially when Qwill's crush becomes one of the victims), I didn't feel the same excitement I have felt reading other books.
I'm not putting this book down though. I enjoyed it enough to keep it and share with others. My students will also enjoy it's characters. I plan to do a book talk with it for my students at a middle school. I don't really suspect them to read it, but it will make a nice diversion from the ordinary and will introduce them to a great popular contemporary author.
Rating:
Summary: The Cat Who Saw Red
Review: The book I'm reviewing is called "The Cat Who Saw Red". I gave it a five star rating. I gave it a five star rating because it was, for one, very descriptive, for another, it kept you on the edge, and finally, it made you think. The story never let you lose a picture of what you were reading and kept you on the edge trying to figure out the next part with interest growing. The reason it made you think is because the last clue wasn't given until the end making you wonder throughout the book. The age group that I think would like this book is age ten and up. I think this because the book would be liked by all ages but understood by ages ten and up. The interest group that would like this book would be someone who likes mysteries and, or, cats. The reason for those interest groups is because the book is about a newspaper reporter who owenes two cats that help him solve mysteries. It was an excellent book and I recomend it.
Rating:
Summary: an awsome mystery with a great plot and wonderful characters
Review: The book the cat who saw red can be defined in one word! WONDERFU
Rating:
Summary: An interesting, creepy mystery novel that started it all!
Review: The Cat Who Saw Red started my craziness over the series. Never did I thought that this book (which I fortunately found in one of those second hand books stores) will stir my curiosity to check out and look for all the titles in the series. The story did not only unfold into a puzzling who-done-it type but also gave insights to other matter of interest like in this case -- pottery. Now, whenever I find myself glued reading one of Ms.LJB's novels, not only do I look forward to the discovery of the culprit but also on those trivial things that that are shared to the readers as the story unfolds
Rating:
Summary: Best of the early cat who books
Review: The early "Cat Who" books have Jim Qwilleran as a middle-aged, impoverished, recovering alcoholic journalist barely hanging on at a newspaper in an un-named Middle West city. Later he moves north 400 miles to a little town and inherits a fortune. "The Cat Who Saw Red" is the last mystery novel that ties him to the gritty city, and it is the best of the city books--by a considerable margin. Other readers have outlined and commented on the plot, so I will say only about it that the plot here is much better than in the previous city novels. It moves better and the outcome is more logical, more satisfying. But the author's forte is not plotting. It is in the remarkable characters, unusual without being grotesque (a fine line to walk), not the least of whom are Qwill's Siamese cats. To those who have read none of the series, it may sound just a little too cutesy, having prescient cats solve crimes, but the writer makes it work and work quite well. The writer also excels in creating atmosphere, the city, the newspaper office, fancy and not so fancy restaurants and Maus Haus, a rather weird boarding house for people interested in food--and in pottery. Like Dickens, Ms. Braun invents no astonishing plots. Her great strength is in making characters come to life in interesting settings. As in Dickens, characters and settings are sufficient.
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