The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare
Book #7
by Lilian Jackson Braun

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

After inheriting millions of dollars, former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran has started to make the far-north town of Pickax home. When a prominent local man dies, Qwilleran can’t help but question whether or not it was really an accident. And is there a connection to the sudden rash of fires in the small town?

There is so much tragedy and loss in this book, it’s a little heavier than other recent entries in the series. It was good to see some of the characters from previous books, like Hixie Rice from The Cat Who Saw Red, though not necessarily good to see her luck hasn’t really changed. To be fair, it isn’t as bad as poor Mrs. Cobb’s luck with men. One thing is for sure—Braun does not let things stagnate in this series; one can never get too comfortable with anything, as it could change at any time.

I liked this book but not as much as the several preceding it. Part of my issue was that I was thrown off by the mention of Qwill having already lived in Pickax for over a year? Apparently a lot of time had passed between this book and the previous, or I’m remembering the previous one wrong, but I was really confused for a while and felt like I’d missed something. There is also a lot of off-mystery story in this one that I didn’t feel were particularly interesting or worth including. Maybe it was meant to add some red herrings to the main mystery, but it felt detached to me. Still, I’m really into the series now and looking forward to reading more.

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