THE CAT WHO SMELLED A RAT

Braun's 23rd Cat Who mystery again features gutsy feline detective Koko and his owner, middle-aged journalist Jim Qwilleran, each investigating in his own way a suspicious fire and death in their hometown of Pickax, Moose Co., before the season's first blizzard stops them. As George Guidall, the narrator, shifts uncannily from voice to voice, from gender to gender, from youth to age, we meet the local citizenry - librarian to nonagenarian - and try to hear the telltale accent of guilt in one of them. But he succeeds in keeping the "rat" out of the trap until the very end. The slow, tongue-in-cheek voice Guidall uses to impersonate Qwill adds lots of chuckles to the mystery. E.V. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/ JAN 02]