Book Review: The Cat Who Saw Stars

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Cat Who Saw Stars     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Lilian Jackson Braun
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Cozy   Cats
Series: Cat Who . . . # 21
Putnam, Jan 1999, $22.95, 227 pp.

The residents of Moose County, four hundred miles north of nowhere, are convinced that ETs abducted a backpacker named David. To local columnist Jim Qwilleran, the disappearance of some stranger is no big deal. Jim ignores the rumors of UFOs, thinking that many of the county folks swear they have spotted Santa and not just on Christmas Eve. Instead, Jim decides to go on vacation to just get away from the thriving metropolis of Pickax (population 3,000).

However, his time at the lodge with Koko and Yum Yum is interrupted when the missing down underer shows up dead. Jim, a former crime reporter, investigates the goings-on with the help of his two detective cats (Koko and Yum Yum). However, when the oddest individuals take up knitting and Koko becomes an amateur astronomer, Jim wonders if ET has landed.

The twenty-first cat life of the "Cat Who" series is as weird, strange, and delightful as all the previous tales. However, in reality, THE CAT WHO SAW STARS is probably one of the best novels in this long running collection. Jim and his two companions are at their best and the local residents are at their weirdest. The story line is intriguing and Lilian Jackson Braun brillaintly ties everything together with a surprise ending. Anyone who reads this book as their entrance into this warm series, will be making the rounds of the second hand book stores for the rest of the stories.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner