The Cat Who Saw Stars

The Cat Who Saw Stars (Cat Who...) Lilian Jackson Braun Date: 1999-01-11   —   Book product page Rating:

Ficiton, Mystery

Lillian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who series has unfortunately outlived its credibility. This is a pity, because Braun still writes engaging characters, but it feels as though too much is going on without enough explanation. In this one, we are treated to a rather heavy-handed depiction of Jim Qwilleran's reluctance to believe in the local obsession with UFOs, and his dislike of anything that smacks of telling the future. This is in spite of the fact that he relies upon hunches, both his and those of his frighteningly hunchful Siamese Koko.

I wouldn't mind that so much if it weren't for the overbearing amount of coincidence present in this book. I love Kay Hooper's work and her psychics are even further over the edge than the cats. But when Braun leaves out a major necessity in a murder mystery novel— namely, that there's a dead body at the beginning of the book and the death is not resolved by the end— one has to wonder whether her heart is really in her writing. Seriously underwhelming novel. (But free copy.)