Book Beat Friday

Hello everyone,

I have decided that the second and fourth Friday of every month I will have "Book Beat Friday".  It is at this time I will review the books I have read for the mystery challenge I entered  -  as well as any other books or items  I've read that I feel you might be interested in.

Sooooo without  further ado .   -    Welcome to my very first Book Beat Friday.

I decided to start this challenge off with "The Cat Who " series by Lillian Jackson Braun; because I had listened to one of the books in the series as and audio book on a car trip a friend and I made awhile ago and enjoyed it very much.  I always thought I'd read the whole series someday - but up until now never have.  So it looks like someday is here.

Title:                                  The Cat Who Could Read Backwards
Author:                               Lilian Jackson Braun
First Published:                 1966
Current Publisher:            G.P. Putnam's Sons  / New York

 From Inside dust cover:
"More than thirty years ago, Lilian Jackson Braun wrote the Cat Who could read Backwards and launched the phenomenally successful Cat Who ... mystery series...
The New York Times" raved that they were 'the New Detectives of the Year'"  and the Los Angeles Times called the book "a delight from beginning to end."

My thoughts and mussing:  

 That dust cover needs to be updated - its been 47 years since she wrote that first book.

With all the crime and violence we are witness to in our current society and on our TVs on a daily basis.  I wanted a mystery that was well written - yet on the light side. and this first book did not disappoint me.

In this first book we meet the main (human) character Jim Qwilleran.  Jim is a veteran reporter and war correspondent - who's life had taken a turn for the worse, with alcohol playing a big part in his downfall.
When our story first opens We find Jim trying to pull himself up by his proverbial bootstraps - he has taken a job with a very small town newspaper(one of the few even willing to give him a chance) called the Daily Fluxion.  His first day on the job - he is assigned to the Art Beat - not as Critic for that position is already filled - but rather to write fluff feature articles on who's who and what's up in the local art community.
Right from the get go Qwill (as his friends & co workers call him) is not impressed -  but he needs the job, so he agrees   The only bright spot in that awful situation is that Qwill's best friend from childhood, Arch Riker, will be his boss.

As he moves around and acclimates himself to the art community he finds that there is much more than first meets the eye.  George Bonifield Montclemen  the Fluxion's Art Critic provides rather shape tongued criticism that is responsible for most of the unrest Qwill hears and sees.  Montclemens provides more than that though - he offers Quill a wonderful apartment in his brownstone and introduces him to a very special Cat named  Kao K'o-Kung, who only dines on gourmet faire.  Since Montclemens travels a lot Qwill becomes obligated to take on the additional job. of cat sitter.  Koko and Jim do become fairly good friends and when the art community turns inside out with a stabbing death at a high class gallery and then the murder of Montclemens himself; man and cat go through some adjustment trying to understand the other but they work through it and in the end solve the mystery to everyone's satisfaction,


All in all - it was a light and fun read which I enjoyed very much and I hope all the rest are as well written.