Product Description

The first appearance in hardcover of the first installment of the author's ever-popular series features the unusual detective team of award-winning reporter Jim Qwilleran and Koko, his brilliant Siamese cat, who penetrate the world of modern art to solve a mystery. 135,000 first printing."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #540819 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 256 pages

From Library Journal
The first book in Braun's beloved "Cat Who" series is being reissued in hardcover after a wait of over 30 years.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A new hardcover edition (after Dutton's in 1966) of the first in a series that now totals 19 (The Cat Who Tailed a Thief, 1997, etc.). Here, Braun introduces Jim Qwilleran, a prizewinning reporter who's been on the skids but is now coming back with a job as feature writer (mostly on the art scene) for the Daily Fluxion. George Bonifield Mountclemens, the paper's credentialed art critic, writes almost invariably scathing, hurtful reviews of local shows; delivers his pieces by messenger; lives with his all-knowing cat Koko in a lushly furnished house in a moldering neighborhood, and has a raft of enemies all over town. He offers the newcomer a tiny apartment in his building at a nominal rent, and Qwilleran grabs it, surmising the deal will involve lots of cat-sitting. Meanwhile, a gallery whose artists get happier treatment from Mountclemens is owned by Earl Lambreth. The acerbic critic has praised paintings there by a reclusive Italian named Scrano; the junk assemblages of Nino, who calls himself a ``Thingist,'' as well as works by Lambreth's attractive wife Zoe. It's Zoe who, one night past closing, finds her husband stabbed to death in the vandalized gallery. Days later, Qwilleran, guided by an insistent Koko, finds Mountclemens's knifed corpse on the patio behind his house. It takes a while to put the meandering pieces together and to uncover an overriding motive behind the mayhem, but the best things here are Qwilleran's low-keyed charisma and the author's well- aimed, often funny barbs at the pretensions of the contemporary art world--as on-target today as they were some 30 years ago. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Lilian Jackson Braun began writing her Cat Who... detective series when one of her own Siamese cats mysteriously fell to its death from her apartment block. She and her husband, Earl, live in the mountains of North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Koko's First Bow
I have been a Lilian Braun fan for so long I've managed to forget most of the stories, which is a perfect excuse to start rereading them. "The Cat Who Could Read Backwards" is the first, written in 1966, starting a series that has run for over thirty years. Unlike most if the series, which takes place in the northern town of Pickaxe. These early books cover Jim Qwilleran's career urban career Down Below, working for the Daily Fluxion. While Qwill had once been a highly respected crime reporter, he had fallen victim to his drinking habits. Now, once again sober, he has accepted a job as art feature writer for the Fluxion, which already has the cities most controversial art critic - George Bonifield Mountclemens (the Third).

Other than the minor drawback of knowing nothing about art, Qwill is anxious to start. He quickly dives into the city's thriving art world, and discovers that all is not roses and harmony. Mountclemens is universally unpopular among most of the artists and galleries and is noted for scathing reviews. Cal Halapay, the first artist interviewed is one of Mountclemens victims, and almost all the artists Qwill meets have endures similar treatment. In addition, the city's artists are fiercely competitive. So it comes as a surprise that the first murder of the novel is not Mountclemens, but Earl Lambreth, the owner of the city's poshest gallery.

Despite Mountclemens' reputation, Qwill finds that he likes him. More important to readers of the series, Mountclemens' cat, Kao K'o-Kung, takes a liking to Qwilleran. Koko, as he become known, is "The Cat Who...", without whom few of Qwill's mysteries would ever get solved. Also introduced in this volume are many of the wonderful characters that go one to people many of Lilian Braun's efforts. Especially Archer Riker, the Fluxion's feature editor and Odd Bunsen the erratic, outspoken newspaper photographer.

Lilian Braun's novels are of the more or less non-violent, puzzle-oriented genre often labeled 'cozies.' They make up for the lack of a tense, driving plot by emphasizing charming, irascible characters, and a somewhat tongue-in-cheek attitude. Braun is extremely successful at this. Sometimes the reader will feel that the murder is more of a subplot rather than the primary them of the novel. Fans are comfortable with this, but the newcomer needs to be prepared for these endearing, but picaresque tales.

Koko and the Man
My wife is a great lover of mystery books and she has been hounding me for a long time to read some of the books in the "Cat Who" series. I finally gave in and found that I enjoyed this first book of the series very much. Unlike many mystery novels this book is light reading with no sex, violence or profanity and the plot is not so laden with details that the reader gets bogged down with them. The plot is in fact just a little too light in some instances but I was so enthralled with the characters that I hardly noticed.

The best thing about this book is the author's engaging style of writing. Even without the kind of plot that draws the reader completely into the story the writing style makes this book hard to put down. Furthermore, the characters are so fun and realistic that the reader will quickly become attached to them, which is a trait quite necessary for a long running series like this one.

The primary human character is Jim Qwilleran, a top-notch investigative reporter who has apparently spent years in the newspaper business but because of his problems with alcohol has run out of job options. Having cleaned up his act he finds himself with a job offer from the Daily Fluxion but to his dismay finds that he will be covering the art scene for the features department. Soon he finds himself immersed in the art community, which is full of some very odd characters that don't like each other at all. Most importantly he meets his own paper's art critic whom almost nobody likes, including the bartender at the press club. It seems that the only being that likes the critic is his cat Kao K'o-Kung who also takes up with Qwilleran. Kao K'o-Kung or Koko for short is the cat of which the title speaks and he is an amazing cat indeed. The author has obviously spent a lot of time with cats for her description of their mannerisms is impeccable.

Soon there is a murder in the art world and it is not who the reader will expect to be murdered. Qwilleran is on the story in a flash but is often wandering along the wrong track until Koko lends his help. After the case is solved one of the reporter's buddies asks him how it feels to play Dr. Watson to a cat and that is just how things seem to play out. The clues are there but neither Qwilleran nor I picked up on them until Koko basically waves them in our collective faces.

The ending was just a little of a let down but the but the basic fun nature of the story and the extraordinarily entertaining characters more than make up for it. This book was just simply a delight to read and I intend to follow the exploits of Qwilleran and Koko into several more books.

Stands the test of time! Great fun especially for cat lovers
I stumbled upon the "Cat Who" series of books when I picked up a very yellowed copy of "The Cat Who Could Read Backwards" from a book-sharing box at work. I found the book (and all it's subsequent mysteries) delightful, devouring one each every evening after work. They're easy reads and safe for adolescents as they're not filled with gore, sex or profanity.

As a cat-lover and multiple-cat-owner, I found Mr. Q's and Koko's adventures especially entertaining. I don't know how many whiskers my cats have (they never sit long enough to let me count them) but I'll accept that Koko is a remarkable cat!

After reading this first book in the series I was hooked! I read every subsequent "Cat Who" mystery in order and am eagerly awaiting the release of the newest one next month. Though one can certainly read these books out of order, I think it's easier to remember who the characters are as they reappear in subsequent books in the series. I enjoyed following along, episode by episode, to see how things unfold.

Turns out this first book was originally published in the sixties. I found a lot of the references to now-extinct items and practices charming. I remember clackity typewriters and people smoking at their desks at work back then. This book reflects the times, as Mr. Q unabashidly loves to look at pretty ladies and admires the dimples in their knees (how very un-PC)!

I've noticed that the photo of Ms. Braun on the back cover of recently published editions in the series is the same as that on my 1960's copy. Either Ms. Braun is nearly 100 now and actively writing, or someone has picked up the reins as ghost-writer. If so, it's been done seamlessly and the new stories have the same style as the old except there are now cell phones and computers while Mr. Q and Koko haven't aged a bit in 35 years!