The Cat Who Sang for the Birds

The Cat Who... #20

by Lilian Jackson Braun

Following the events of a fatal fire, Qwill suspects foul play. Koko makes feathered friends while Yum Yum studies butterflies, and Moose County hosts an adult spelling bee.

I'm not reading these in order. I pick them up when I come across them out in the wild. Overall, I liked this. I appreciate the sparse, snappy style of Braun's writing, and her descriptions of the cats and their body language are great. Having the spelling bee as a through thread added a nice highlight to an otherwise grim tale. Like Qwill, I like to read aloud to my cats (a calico she-demon named Reese and a shy, fluffy maine coon mix named Box Cat), and I found this volume was good for that. Some stories are just meant to be read aloud.

Another highlight for me was the supporting cast. Usually in books like this, the murder victim is more of a plot device than a person. Oftentimes, we as readers barely get to know them before they are axed off in bizarre titular "Death by" fashion. These characters exist to die on page five as the story's "inciting incident." And that's if they're lucky. Sometimes, they're killed off-page. Hell, sometimes they're dead before the story even starts.

While this sort of emotional distancing for the reader can function to keep the cozy well... Cozy, I found myself appreciating this particular story for how upset I felt over the victim's loss, which came a bit later in the story, after a very sweet introduction. This caused me to be more invested in the outcome, and ultimately made the last 75 or so pages fly by.

I would recommend this one for people who are fans of the genre, or anyone who likes books, cats, and Columbo.