The Cat Who Talked Turkey

出版者:Putnam Adult

作者:Lilian Jackson Braun

页数:192

出版时间:2004-1

价格:112.00元

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780399151071

具体描述

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Book Description

The good people of Moose County are in a fever of excitement. Not only is the gala groundbreaking for the new Pickax bookstore about to take place, but the town of Brrr is preparing to celebrate its bicentennial, and columnist James Qwilleran has been roped in to help with the festivities.

The groundbreaking, however, is marred by the discovery of a man's body nearby - on Qwill's own property, no less. Could it be the work of the killer who used the same MO in northern Michigan? And why does Qwill's sage Siamese, Koko, keep insisting that his human read him a book that Qwill can't stand? Then there's the sudden appearance of what seem to be wild turkeys, which haven't been present in Moose County for thirty years. Could Qwill be hallucinating?

Publisher Comments :

James Qwilleran and his famous felines, Koko and Yum Yum, are back for another mystery-solving stint in the beloved bestselling Cat Who... series. In Qwill's opinion, "A town without a bookstore is like a chicken with one leg," and since the late Eddington Smith's bookstore burned down, the town of Pickax has been somewhat off balance. To the rescue comes the Klingenschoen Foundation, manager of Qwill's estate, which considers a new bookstore a worthy investment. Delighted by their good fortune, the people of Moose County prepare to celebrate the gala groundbreaking of the store on the site of the old. But no one is prepared for the discovery of the body of a man shot execution style in a wooded area on the very same day. Now Qwill and his clever cats have their work cut out for them.

From Publishers Weekly

Like other recent books in Braun's best-selling series that began with The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (1966), this loosely plotted novel, the 26th to feature Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum and Moose County journalist Jim Qwilleran, isn't quite up to the standard of earlier entries, but it still provides plenty of escapist fun. The shooting death of a well-dressed gentleman in the woods on Qwill's property is nearly neglected in the fuss and excitement engendered by the neighboring town of Brrr's bicentennial. On the trail of a story for the celebration, Qwill interviews Edythe Carroll, a wealthy widow who has retired to Ittibittiwassee Estates from the magnificent mansion she plans to leave to her granddaughter, Lish (short for Alicia). Little does Edythe know that Lish and her boyfriend, Lush, have already trashed the place. After dozing off in his gazebo after a busy day, Qwill is startled awake by strange noises, including some coming from Koko. Enter an entire family of wild turkeys. If this all sounds like a bit of a ramble, it's quite in keeping with the story, which wanders pleasantly around Moose County, surveying its eccentric citizens as they go about their idiosyncratic business. In spite of two murders and a pair of villains, the tale is as cozy as an hour spent cuddling your favorite cat.

From Booklist

For fans of this series featuring Siamese cats Yum Yum and the clairvoyant Koko, there are no surprises in the twenty-sixth installment. The felines' owner, James "Qwill" Qwilleran, is just as rich and listener friendly as ever, his place of residence, Pickax, in Moose County, is still 400 miles north of anywhere else, and people are still murdered with astounding regularity, though Koko, who can sense a homicide a mile a way, is never surprised. Those who love the series appreciate Braun's attention to detail as she describes Pickax and the surrounding area, which while magnificently rural also boasts many fine dining establishments, places to buy the New York Times, and an abundance of cabs, as well as a limousine service. The citizenry, laconic, timidly happy, or in the case of Qwill's librarian lady friend, stupefyingly boring, would feel right at home in Lake Woebegone. The several murders committed here are really beside the point--in fact, except for the cat screeching you might miss them entirely. More attention is paid to Qwill's radio reenactment of the Great Blizzard of 1913 (the audience, of course, must pretend radio existed in 1913), which takes up a number of the book's pages. Loyal readers find the series' inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies charming, but even they, at times, must wish for less of Qwill and more of the cats.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Ilene Cooper

From AudioFile

This is the twenty-sixth in the popular Cat Who series, featuring a psychic Siamese cat and a rustic but dapper newspaper columnist. In this latest story little attention is paid to the art of crime detection. No one cares about a couple of bodies in the woods. The real story is about opening a new bookstore, planning for a bicentennial, chasing wild turkeys, and producing a play about a devastating storm of 1913. What keeps the series popular are the local characters, the cats, and protagonist Quill, who is lively, wise, and funny. George Guidall does his usual superb job of bringing alive Quill, the good citizens of Mooseville, and even the cats. (His portrayal of Koko's yowls is worth listening for.) These episodes of life in the North have much of the same bucolic humor we enjoy in "The News from Lake Wobegon." D.L.G.

Download Description

It's almost time for the gala groundbreaking for the Pickax bookstore--and the town of Brrr is preparing for its bicentennial celebration. All the festivities, however, are spoiled by the discovery of a man's body on James Qwilleran's property. Could it be the work of the killer who used the same methods in northern Michigan? To solve the case, Qwill and his feline pals, Koko and Yum Yum, will have to prick up their ears and determine who committed this foul deed.

About Author

Lilian Jackson Braun is the author of twenty-six Cat Who . . . novels and three short-story collections.

Book Dimension :

length: (cm)22.4 　　　 　　　　　 　 width:(cm)14.7

用户评价

我非常喜欢这本书所营造的那种独特的“氛围感”。它不是那种直白的、让你一眼就能看穿的小说，它更像是一个精心布置的迷宫，充满了隐喻和象征。阅读的过程就像是一场精神上的漫游，你跟着作者的引导，在光影交错的世界里不断探寻。我特别佩服作者对于气氛营造的掌控力，他能用最简单的词汇，勾勒出最令人不安或最令人向往的场景。那种细微的、潜意识层面的心理描写，几乎让你能听到角色内心的低语。这本书的精妙之处还在于，它留下了足够的空间供读者自己去填充和想象，它不把话说死，让你在读完之后，仍然有各种可能性在脑海中不断发酵。这种开放性的结尾或解释，恰恰是成熟作品的标志，它让故事超越了纸张本身，在你心里继续生长。这本书不只是用来“读”的，更是用来“体验”和“回味的”。

我必须承认，这本书的节奏掌握得极其老道，简直是教科书级别的写作范本。一开始，我还担心情节会过于缓慢，毕竟如此厚重的篇幅，总有些让人望而生畏，但事实证明我的担忧是多余的。作者似乎深谙如何控制读者的注意力，他总能在你感到一丝倦怠的瞬间，抛出一个新的谜团或者一个突如其来的变故，让你立刻重新聚焦。对话的设计更是精彩绝伦，人物间的交流充满了机锋和潜台词，你得全神贯注地去解读那些没有明说出来的信息，这极大地增强了阅读的互动性和趣味性。更难得的是，作者在保持故事紧凑感的同时，没有牺牲掉对人性复杂性的探讨。他大胆地触及了一些社会议题，但处理得非常巧妙，没有流于说教，而是将这些思考融入到角色们的困境之中，让人在紧张的阅读过程中获得思想上的触动。这是一部需要你投入全部心神去追逐的侦探小说，任何一次走神都可能让你错过关键的线索，读完后我感觉自己的逻辑思维能力都得到了极大的锻炼。

说实话，这本书给我的整体感受是震撼和怀旧交织在一起的。它有一种老派文学的韵味，那种对细节的执着和对叙事完整性的坚持，让我想起了那些经典的英美文学作品。作者的文字功底扎实得令人发指，遣词造句的精准度和美感达到了一个非常高的水准，很多句子仅仅是陈述一个事实，但读起来却自带一种诗意的光芒。特别是作者对情感细微差别的捕捉，简直是大师级的表现。角色的痛苦、挣扎、短暂的狂喜，都被刻画得入木三分，让人感同身受，甚至会忍不住为他们的命运感到揪心。这本书的结构设计非常巧妙，它采用了多重视角叙事，但过渡自然流畅，读者完全不会感到混乱，反而能从不同的侧面拼凑出事件的全貌。这种叙事手法极大地丰富了故事的层次感，让你在阅读过程中仿佛置身于一个多维度的空间中探索真相。我向所有热爱深度阅读和精妙文字的读者强力推荐，它绝不辜负你付出的每一分钟时间。

这本小说简直是一场文字的盛宴，作者的叙事功力令人叹为观止。故事的开篇就将读者迅速拉入一个充满悬念和迷雾的境地，那种扑面而来的神秘感，仿佛你不是在阅读，而是亲身走进了那个古老而又充满秘密的小镇。人物的塑造尤其成功，每一个配角都栩栩如生，他们的动机和背景被描绘得细致入微，即便是那些只出现寥寥数语的角色，也让人印象深刻，仿佛他们也拥有自己完整的人生轨迹。我特别欣赏作者在环境描写上花费的心思，无论是阴森的古宅，还是熙熙攘攘的市场，那种氛围的营造达到了极致，让你能清晰地感受到空气中的湿度和光线的变化。情节的推进张弛有度，高潮迭起的部分让人屏住呼吸，而那些看似平淡的过渡章节，却巧妙地埋下了未来反转的伏笔，读起来丝毫没有拖沓之感。它不仅仅是一个故事，更像是一幅层次丰富的油画，需要你慢下来，细细品味每一个笔触下的深意。读完合上书本时，那种意犹未尽的感觉，久久不能散去，很想知道作者是如何构思出如此精巧的网的。

这本书的叙事节奏和视角切换，简直是一场行云流水的视觉盛宴，尽管它只是一本小说。我尤其欣赏作者在处理时间线上的手法，它不是线性的，而是巧妙地交织着过去的回响和当下的行动，这种非线性叙事非但没有造成理解上的障碍，反而极大地增强了故事的宿命感和史诗气质。角色的内心挣扎被展现得淋漓尽致，那些深刻的哲学思考被巧妙地嵌入到日常的对话和行动中，使得故事在引人入胜的同时，也具备了相当的厚重感。作者的笔触既有史诗般的宏大叙事，又不乏对微观场景的精准捕捉，例如对某个特定物品的描绘，或者对某个瞬间表情的捕捉，都达到了入木三分的境界。总而言之，这是一部结构复杂但逻辑严密，情感丰富却又不失冷静的作品，它挑战了我的阅读习惯，并最终给予了我巨大的回报。我期待作者未来能带来更多这样高质量的作品。