The Cat Who Wasn't a Dog: 02/19/10

I grabbed The Cat Who Wasn't a Dog by Marian Babson while doing a quick walk through of my local library's mystery section. I liked the cover and title. The book is actually the last of the Trixie and Evangeline mystery series.

Trixie and Evangeline as far as I can tell are old theater stars like Miss April Spink and Miss Miriam Forcible of Coraline and I have to admit to picturing them in my head like Neil Gaiman's pair. While trying to get Dame Cecile Savoy's Pekinese stuffed at a local taxidermist's they run into a dead body and a very much alive Japanese bobtail cat.

While trying to sort out who Cho-Cho-San belongs to and what's happened to a missing housekeeper Trixie and Evangeline end up embroiled in one more mystery. The way the mystery unfolds and the focus on the domestic aspects of day to day life make it a cozy mystery reminiscent of the Miss Marple series by Agatha Christie. In that regard, I liked the book.

Coming though at the end of a series, I have a feeling that many of the relationships in this large cast of characters has already been well established. Not much time is spent explaining who is who or expanding on their personality traits. After a while many of the characters started blending together in my head and I had to take notes to keep track of who was who. I think if I had started earlier in the series I would have found The Cat Who Wasn't a Dog a light and easy read.

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