When an old friend of his mother's, a nearly 90-year-old woman he's always called Aunt Fanny, offers him use of her cabin on a lake for the summer, former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran decides that a few months away from the bustle of city life and his newspaper job that keeps changing assignments on him might be just what he needs. Moose County, though, is practically a whole different country, and Qwilleran experiences culture shock, even as his old familiar instincts kick in when he's certain he's found evidence of a murder occurring.

I keep saying this, but I think this might be my new favorite in the series. Qwill out of his element was pretty great, and the introduction to the area I know he'll be living for the rest of the series was comical in many ways. The inclusion of Koko's latest quirk as hinted at in the title was might have been my favorite so far, and I really liked the little bit of emotion near the end of the book. I loved seeing real friendships begin to develop with people he'll be living amongst soon, and especially enjoyed the few interactions he had with the managing editor of the local paper. Overall, the clash of a true city man trying to understand the far north country made this book different than the previous in a lot of ways, but I really liked it.

To be honest, until I started reading through this series recently, I wondered if I only liked them when I was younger because...well, I was younger. I thought I'd find them silly, pedantic, boring, etc. now. Apparently my reading tastes haven't changed all that much, because I've been enjoying them a lot. I would recommend this book for fans of the classic whodunit & cozy mystery genres. ( )

Q tries to escape the city, but the trouble in the country is just as bad. A nice surprise at the end, for those who haven't read the later books. ( )

This is the fifth book in The Cat Who… series. In this story, James Qwilleran has to move again, Maus Haus is being sold and the paper may be giving him a new beat.

Jim decides to take a vacation, to go to visit Aunt Fannie, a friend of his mother, in Moose County, ostensibly to work on his book. Being a cityfolk, he’s a bit lost in the rustic cabin Fannie is letting him use, there are noises and things go missing.

The people who live in Moose County all have their quirks, but are cordial. His calls to police turn to be animal encounters. Until he goes fishing and catches a body, things start to get interesting.

Koko, Yum Yum and Qwill’s mustache take center stage as dead bodies and odd behaviors take center stage. Qwill is out of his depth, but Koko helps make things clear.

This book isn’t as good as the previous ones. I felt is was more of an interlude between different story styles or settings – I haven’t read beyond this one yet. The story was somewhat interesting, but did pick up at the end. ( )

Book five in the delightful cozy mystery series starring James Qwilleran (just Qwill to his friends), and his Siamese Koko. Qwill has been notified that he’ll be evicted when his building is sold, so he decides to take a sabbatical and take up a family friend’s offer of a remote cabin on a lake “up north.” He figures he’ll have peace and quiet and will be able to begin work on the book he wants to write. Mooseville is certainly NOT the big city, but something mysterious is going on; several of Qwill’s cherished possessions go missing and then a neighboring cabin owner is murdered.

I really enjoy this series. I like Qwill and I like Koko, and NO, the cat doesn’t talk but his meanderings and occasional reaction to a visitor frequently point Qwill in the direction of a significant clue. I also like the women in Qwill’s life. He’s always a gentleman but he operates alone and he likes it that way.

This episode ends with a bit of a surprise twist and a cliffhanger. But having already read the next installment (my mistake … I read out of order) I was happy to get the background. ( )

Journalist Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, have a flair for murder. This time, they discover the unsavoury going-ons in a small town that has the appearances of being as peaceful as can be. The murder was easy to unravel: the characters are so idiosyncratic that it is easy to pull clues together but the ending was surprisingly dark for a cozy mystery.
I very much enjoyed the cats' antics and the slow, lulling pace, but perhaps less the sordid ending. ( )