Miss Cuddlywumps reads the story of a truly classic cat
I, Miss Cuddlywumps, am making a slight departure from my
usual routine of reviewing cat cozy mysteries, but this is a departure I am
certain you will thank me for. My subject today is Harriet Hahn’s delightful James the Connoisseur Cat, first
published in the 1990s (as far as I can tell) and recently released on Kindle.
This James is a cat like no other. He is a British shorthair
who lives at the Baron’s Chambers apartments, where his “job” is to evaluate
potential tenants and weed out the undesirables. Fortunately for us, he takes a
particular liking to the story’s narrator, and soon enough the two are spending
their evenings enjoying a single-malt whiskey together (do not try this at
home, at least not with your cat) and embarking on various adventures.
James is what you might call a “great communicator.” He gets
his point across by pointing his paws and nodding his head, and he shudders at
the thought of killing a mouse. Oh, and when he wants someone to shut up, he
puts his paw over their mouth (more cats should learn how to do this).
This big gray cat is so influential he soon has the narrator
taking him out for shopping trips in a bag customized with eye holes. He picks
out his favorite pâté (which he enjoys a little too much) and has many other
adventures, including
- falling in love with a porcelain cat that has a secret
- drumming up art sales for a friend
- evaluating collectibles and identifying forgeries
- acting, and
- detecting.
She of Little Talent read this book with a constant smile on
her face. It is packed with one amusing moment after another, and the writing
is a joy to read, with the words tripping
along effortlessly. If you are longing to escape into the story of a
remarkable, classy, and classic cat, James is just what you need.
A very enthusiastic
No comments:
Post a Comment