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The Cat Who Went Up the Creek by Lilian Jackson Braun
Features
Hardcover
(Large Print)
Reader Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Without a Paddle, June 28, 2003
Reviewer:
gft
from Biloxi, MS USA
Hardcore mystery fans may find it a bit of a stretch, but if your taste runs to expertly written and very light fiction, you can't do better than Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series. Her detective, reporter James Qwilleran, investigates crimes with the aid of his Siamese cats--and the solutions to the crime rest more upon intuition than actual deduction. While the premise sounds farfetched, Braun's work is usually less fanciful than you might expect, and she presents her eccentric characters and stories with great charm. But with THE CAT WHO WENT UP THE CREEK, it becomes evident that Braun has finally written one "Cat Who..." novel too many--if indeed she wrote this one at all. In some ways, the book seems typical of Braun, for it holds close to the formula she has established: Qwilleran is invited to visit the Nutcracker Inn in the Black Creek community, and between coping with his cats, running into old friends, and engaging in community gossip, he becomes aware of mysterious doings re the nearby "Black Forrest" land conservancy. But for all that, the novel simply doesn't read like Braun. Braun typically has an even pace and tone; she endows her eccentric characters and their episodic adventures with tremendous charm; and although her plots are extremely light she inevitably brings them to a clear resolution. But none of that happens here. The first and final thirds of the book have an extremely awkward feel, the characters and events seem perfunctory, and while there is a resolution of sorts it completely lacks the tone one expects of her work. Judging from this, I would say that THE CAT WHO WENT UP THE CREEK was created by Braun in the sense that she developed the plot and outlined the highlights--but unless I'm truly off the mark, I'd have to opinion that the execution of this novel was either completely ghosted or significantly assisted by someone familiar with Braun's work but unable to duplicate the nuances of her style. I always look forward to a new Braun novel, but this may be the case of The Cat Who Needs To Retire. --GFT (Amazon.com Reviewer)--
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