cozy mystery

Book Review: The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal

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The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal
Book #12
by Lilian Jackson Braun

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

When an unpleasant man is murdered in former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran’s own backyard, he is determined to let the police handle it. But between Koko’s antics and his own inquisitive nature, it isn’t long before he’s unable to stop the theories from forming.

Ahh, the apple barn at last! The thing I remember most from when I read some of this series around 20ish years ago is the converted apple barn with ramps and balconies that Qwilleran, Koko, and Yum Yum live in. I didn’t quite realize how long it took them to get there, but it isn’t surprising that it was this far in, given the progression of Qwilleran’s life up to this point. It’s only a shame that their housewarming is punctuated by murder, not to mention the further tragedy that is more of a spoiler to mention here. The mystery in this book is another good one, though I was struck by similarities in the main players of the drama to those in a previous book, The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts. I loved Koko’s “friendship” with the cardinal and found myself reacting with high sentiments at the developments related to it.

One thing I didn’t care for in this book is the hit that the relationship between Qwilleran and Polly takes. The way they seem to regard each other makes me feel sad and wonder how long they can possibly last. They both seem ready to toss each other over at the first chance. Maybe this is supposed to be due to the fact that neither of them wants a marriage, but they still get quickly jealous over the other paying a little extra attention to someone of the opposite gender. I used to think of their relationship as sweet and comfortable, but I’m definitely starting to see it differently now. We’ll see how that progresses, though, since I’m only a little more than 1/3 of the way through the series, which I do recommend for fans of cozy mysteries.

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Book Review: The Cat Who Lived High

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The Cat Who Lived High
Book #11
by Lilian Jackson Braun

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

When a past acquaintance of former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran asks him to help save a historic building from being demolished, he moves into a penthouse apartment in the building. He quickly discovers that the former occupant was murdered, and that the story being told about the death may not be accurate.

This book was good, but not one of the better installments of the series. Part of that, I think, is because after we’ve had the chance to get used to Pickax City, Moose County, and all of the odd characters in Qwilleran’s new home 400 miles north of everywhere, we’re yanked back to the big city (as is Qwilleran). There are some familiar faces there, but the series really got better when Qwilleran moved north, so why go back? I think the other reason it didn’t stand out is that the cats aren’t all that involved. Yum Yum pretty much sleeps the whole time, and Koko’s input mostly involves finding locations where certain things happened. Yes, it plays into his uncanny abilities, but part of the charm of this series is the odd habits he tends to pick up for the length of one mystery and then discard. That didn’t really happen this time.

The mystery was not particularly interesting, either, and while there were some aspects to it that I didn’t figure out myself, it was overall nothing spectacular. Still, it’s not a bad story, and I would still recommend it to fans of cozy mysteries.

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Book Review: The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts

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The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts
Book #10
by Lilian Jackson Braun

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

When former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran’s friend and former landlady calls him in a panic, he rushes to her house but is too late to prevent her death. She’d told him stories of hearing ghosts in the walls and appeared to have been frightened to death. Qwilleran is compelled to believe there’s a human element involved and moves into Mrs. Cobb’s empty dwelling to see if he can uncover the truth.

This is one of the few books from this series that I remember pretty well from 20+ years ago when I read some of this series. Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed it a lot on this reading, which is probably the reason I remember it so well. The death of a recurring character kicks the story off with a bang, and the old Goodwinter farmhouse, where Mrs. Cobb was living, is the perfect setting for a ghost-themed mystery. The side characters and side plots are interesting, and everything came together well at the end.

Though Qwilleran is a fairly set in his ways and has little patience for certain personalities, I liked how his compassionate side comes out in this book. And not just the easier kind of compassion toward someone that he likes or is intrigued by, but also compassion toward someone he dislikes or at least doesn’t regard in a great light originally. This is a great addition to a series that I really enjoy and highly recommend to fans of cozy mysteries.

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Book Review: The Cat Who Went Underground

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The Cat Who Went Underground
Book #9
by Lilian Jackson Braun

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

When former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran decides to spend the summer at the cabin on the lake he inherited, he quickly discovers that “roughing it” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The cabin’s near-continual repair needs nearly distract Qwilleran from the mystery he’s stumbled into the middle of.

This wasn’t my favorite book in the series, but it still has the charm that I’m used to from the series. Though Koko did, indeed, go underground, and that did play a big part in the story’s mystery, that cats weren’t terribly involved overall. That wasn’t really what led to the lower score, though, as the mystery itself wasn’t quite as interesting as it has been in other books. It didn’t help that Qwill speculated something that might have seemed wild at the time early in the book, and that turned out to be the truth. It might have been better for it to have been more of a surprise later.

Still, I actually enjoyed the fact that, though Qwill normally prefers a simple life and doesn’t have much use for money for himself, he definitely relied on it, and quickly, every time something went wrong with the cabin. I also liked the starting up of the human interest column I knew he would be writing for much of the series and the various ways Qwill is still getting used to this northern, wilder environment. Though this one didn’t stand out to me as much as others have, I enjoy the overall story and characters and look forward to continuing the series.

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Book Review: The Mummy Case

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The Mummy Case
Amelia Peabody #3
by Elizabeth Peters
read by Barbara Rosenblat

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Historical mystery

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the first book in the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank.

After some time away, the Emersons are returning to Egypt for a dig, this time taking their young son Ramses along. When Amelia suspects that a suicide might actually be foul play, her husband doesn’t agree. Then strange things begin to happen in the area around their not-so-exciting dig site, and Amelia sees connections where Emerson just sees random misfortune. First Amelia has to convince him that something is afoot, and then they have to solve the mystery before anyone else gets hurt.

My synopsis probably doesn’t do the story justice, but I found myself equal parts lost and bored while listening to this installment in the series. And I think the reason I got lost at times was due to my mind wandering, because the story simply didn’t capture my attention as the books before it did. I’m not completely sure why, either; maybe I’ve already grown tired of the formula of this series? But I also think it’s partly because the mystery was super slow in getting going. After the death that Amelia suspects is a murder, it’s mostly just them getting on with their dig and meeting lots of new people for quite a while. Little things that keep the mystery in mind happen, but nothing all that exciting.

I think part of my issue is with Ramses, though. He’s an amusing character, but only to a point. I don’t honestly know how old he’s supposed to be in this book, but I’m guessing around 7. And he’s super smart, can translate ancient languages, solves much of the mystery alongside (or ahead of) his parents, and speaks with a speech impediment. And he always obeys his parents, but finds loopholes in what they tell him to do (or, more accurately, in what they neglect to say he can’t do). I also grew quite weary of Emerson’s (and Amelia’s, to a lesser degree) disdain for Christianity and Christian missionaries. There were a few humorous moments in the book, but not as many as I remember in the first two. Since much of my dislike of this book was personal preference, and it’s clear that many others enjoyed it, if you’re a fan of cozy mysteries or Egyptology, you might want to check this book out. If you’re considering listening to the audiobook, I highly suggest finding Barbara Rosenblat’s version, if you can.

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Book Review: A Treacherous Tale

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A Treacherous Tale
The Cambridge Bookshop Series #2
by Elizabeth Penney

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

American Molly Kimball loves her life in Cambridge, running the family’s old book shop, dating the most eligible bachelor in the area, and meeting the author of one of her favorite books growing up. But when a man dies outside the author’s house, Molly finds herself thrust back into the darker side of the picturesque town, once again trying to prove the innocence of people she cares about.

I wasn’t completely sure how I felt about the first book in the series but felt it was worth pressing on when the second came out. But I think I can better express why I probably won’t continue on after this. To start with, the main character, Molly, is just so weak. Personally, I prefer my mystery detectives to be less papery-thin and more willing to push through disturbing situations. She all but falls apart every time she has a sudden flash of inspiration about the case. Her friends and family are always noticing the unhappy expression on her face and coddling her as she tells them the sudden realization.

And speaking of those realizations, half the time they are pretty obvious things for her to suddenly realize. Like Molly herself, the mystery was also weak, especially to me as the reader, because the narrator practically spoon-fed me every bit of information, even making detailed connections for me (some of them more than once), so I certainly couldn’t help but follow along (or, in some cases, get ahead of her). And including the entire text of the fictional book involved in the story was a good idea in theory, but in the end, I didn’t see how it really added to the story. I kept expecting it to provide some kind of major insight for both Molly and me. I also kept expecting some kind of surprise twist about what was REALLY going on, because it was pretty bland and simple overall. This makes it all the more unrealistic that the police can’t figure out who really did it and need Molly to lead them to the bad guys. Even the brilliant ex-MI-5 agent needs Molly to tell him that they should keep a discovery a secret, so as not to alert the bad guys to the discovery (after which Molly proceeds to tell everyone she knows about it).

In the end, what I did like about the first book didn’t give me as much enjoyment this time. Everyone that Molly likes is almost too perfect (especially her boyfriend), and the few people she doesn’t like are mostly alike in their flaws and are thrown under the bus. The descriptions of every meal or snack eaten and every outfit worn dragged the story down for me. I am confident in saying that there are a lot of people who will enjoy the setting, characters, and mystery in this book/series more than I do, but for me, it’s over.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Publication date: August 23, 2022

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Book Review: The Curse of the Pharaohs (take 2)

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The Curse of the Pharaohs
Amelia Peabody #2
by Elizabeth Peters
read by Barbara Rosenblat

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Historical mystery

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the first book in the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank.

When Amelia’s husband is invited by the effervescent Lady Baskerville to finish an excavation that her late husband was unable to, Amelia goes with him to Egypt. She’s certain Lord Baskerville was murdered, so while she helps Emerson with the work, she also formulates theories about the various people around her. Before Amelia can point to a culprit, though, there is another death and more than one accident that threatens Emerson’s safety. Can she solve the crime before her husband is the next victim?

I listened to this book a year ago with a different narrator and did not care for it (see original review here, which I will refer to as I compare the two versions in this review). However, I went back to the first book in the series, read by a different narrator, and found that I liked the different voice a lot more. So I’m continuing on with a do-over on this 2nd book too, which was as far as I got in the series before. And like with the first book, I enjoyed this one more with the different narrator. I still felt that there were some elements that were too similar to the first one and wished it had been more of a departure. However, I was able to better appreciate the repartee between Amelia and Emerson, their gruff-but-obvious adoration of their far-too-brilliant son, and the contributions from the cat Bastet.

I’m looking forward to continuing on in the series for the first time, now that I’ve found a narrator I like. I do hope that every book won’t include a beautiful woman that all of the male characters (except Emerson) wants to marry and manifestations of a curse that scares the local work force. Still, people who like cozy mysteries or Egyptology might want to check this book out. But if you’re considering listening to the audiobook, I highly suggest finding Barbara Rosenblat’s version, if you can.

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Book Review: The Cat Who Sniffed Glue

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The Cat Who Sniffed Glue
Book #8
by Lilian Jackson Braun

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

When the son and daughter-in-law of a prominent family in the far-north town of Pickax is murdered by what looks like a robbery gone wrong, former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran can’t help but ask the probing questions the police aren’t. And is it possible that someone is using the recent rash of vandalism in the area to cover something more sinister?

Koko is at it again, though he seems to be licking glue at least as much as he’s smelling it. I always try to figure out how his antics connect to the crime, and I don’t know if my lack of being able to do so is because I’ve never been very good at making connections when reading or watching mystery stories or because Braun doesn’t give the readers enough clues.

I’ve been enjoying this series overall, though this one didn’t stand out to me as much as others have. Qwill made some wise decisions in this book regarding the women in his life, though I knew what the outcome would ultimately be, since I’ve read some of the later books in the series long ago. This is my first time going through from start to finish, though, and I’m glad I made the decision to do so.

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Book Review: Crocodile on the Sandbank (take 2)

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Crocodile on the Sandbank
Amelia Peabody #1
by Elizabeth Peters
read by Barbara Rosenblat

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Historical cozy mystery

As a female during the Victorian era in England, Amelia Peabody is ahead of her time. Unmarried and independently wealthy, she has no need for a man or most of societal conventions. With a passion for Egyptology and a thirst for adventure, she decides to journey to less-traveled parts of Egypt, taking into her company along the way a young woman whose reputation has been tarnished. Amelia gets the adventure she’s looking for, and more, when a missing mummy begins to terrorize the women.

I listened to this book a year ago with a different narrator and did not care for it (see original review here, which I will refer to as I compare the two versions in this review). My sister, who recommended the book in the first place, convinced me to try again with a different narrator, and it really did make a huge difference. Things that irritated me about the main character weren’t nearly as pronounced, and I think that’s simply due to the sound of the two different narrators’ voices. Yes, Amelia is still arrogant and aggressive, and Rosenblat certainly did put that into her inflection, but it didn’t seem as over the top this time. It might have helped, too, that Rosenblat’s Amelia actually had a British accent. Even Amelia’s companion, Evelyn, I realized while listening this time, felt less breathy and weak in this version. I hadn’t even realized how much that had bothered me with the other version. Emerson was the one character I liked the first time around, and I was more able to enjoy the humor he and his interactions with Amelia bring to the book on this second listen. Also, Rosenblat’s voice for Lucas, Evelyn’s cousin who follows her to Egypt, is perfect.

Overall, I was able to enjoy the story more, and frankly, I think I paid closer attention, as I remember my attention wandering more the first time around. Now that I’ve given it another chance, I’m looking forward to continuing on to the next book with this narrator. I’m also glad to be able to recommend this book to people who like cozy mysteries or Egyptology. But if you’re considering listening to the audiobook, I highly suggest finding Barbara Rosenblat’s version, if you can.

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Book Review: The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare

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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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