The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (The Cat Who... Series #22)

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The Cat's Meow

Not long ago I was interviewed on the radio and was asked about several authors. I never say a bad public word about any of my fellow scribes. That's one of my rules.

But when the host asked me about Lilian Jackson Braun, I was momentarily stumped. Not because I had a headful of negative things to say about her, but simply because I've never been able to articulate why I find her so fascinating.

Let me try here.

First of all, her books are supra-literary. Which is to say that she can't be judged by the same standards other writers are. She writes on a level of mythic archetypes that reminds me of the Brothers Grimm, or perhaps Lewis Carroll. There is never even the slightest attempt to be realistic. She is, if anything, a hermetically sealed surrealist, as self-contained and self-explained as a great painting. You can study her for a long, long time and appreciate her essence without ever understanding it. Quite often her books have the quality of a seemingly pleasant but vaguely disturbing dream -- not a nightmare; nothing that crude. She is clever, cute, coy, cunning, and occasionally contrary in depicting her sleuth-cat. She never seems quite as interested in her human beings.

I hope this doesn't sound pretentious or portentous, all these words about what are intended to be whimsical cat mysteries. Because they aren't cat mysteries, they're depictions of a dreamworld as individual as a painting by Vermeer or Hopper. This isn't to suggest that they're in any way profound or Freudian in the clichéd sense, but they do have that plucky personal flavor of Lewis Carroll, a world skewed for his pleasure and ours. There is nothing else remotely like these tales. Not in mystery fiction. Not in literary fiction. You'd have to go to first-rate children's literature to find their equivalent. Not even the Harry Potter books are as odd and skewed as these -- and they're high fantasy.

For the record, The Cat Who Robbed a Bank has to do with dirty deeds at the Pickax hotel, with Jim Qwilleran and our favorite Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, eventually sorting things out. Not that the specific storyline matters. It's a book by Lilian Jackson Braun, and that says it all.

—Ed Gorman

Toby Bromberg

Lilian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who series is one of the most popular ones today and The Cat Who Robbed a Bank shows why this series is so popular. The storyline is engaging and the characters are pleasant. Koko and Yum Yum are truly the cat’s pajamas and even non-feline fans will be charmed by their antics.
— Romantic Times

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

After 22 Cat Who mysteries (The Cat Who Saw Stars, etc.), Braun's legions of fans know precisely what to expect from this mistress of feline detective stories--a bloodless crime, much bantering between Jim Qwilleran and his friends, and mysterious crime-solving hints from his beloved Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. Braun's 23rd novel fulfills these expectations. Journalist Qwilleran has evolved into an independently wealthy columnist and generous benefactor for almost every worthy cause in Pickax, Mich. As a leading citizen, he participates in everything from the refurbishing of the Pickax Hotel (renamed the Mackintosh Inn) to the tricounty Scottish Gathering and Highland Games. One of the renovated hotel's first guests is a jewelry buyer and seller from Chicago. Mr. Delacamp appears once every five years or so to offer exquisitely expensive jewelry (cash only, please) and to buy heirlooms (cash, again) from Pickax's wealthy ladies. This trip proves to be his last, and his murder provides the grist for Koko's deductive prowess. This Sherlock of the cat kingdom does his best, from his reading choices to his seemingly inexplicable actions with paper towels, gum wrappers and nuts, to educate the mere human he lives with. Yet again, Braun's upbeat prose and amiable characters make her novel the cat's meow of cozies. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

The murder victim in this 22nd installment of Braun's "Cat Who" series is a jewelry trader from "Down Below," who is done in while sleeping at Pickax's newly renovated Macintosh Inn. But does anyone really care? Probably not. He isn't a particularly sympathetic character, and the murders aren't the best reason for reading these delightful books anyway. What makes the books so appealing is Braun's deft portrayal of her central character, Jim Qwilleran, and his two Siamese cats. The real mystery that is solved here is the identity of Qwilleran's father, and that alone should satisfy readers. George Guidall's wonderful reading again begs the question of why anyone would choose to listen to a three-hour abridgment, when he also reads an unabridged narration (Recorded Bks.). Overall, however, this isn't bad.--Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\