The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare by Lilian Jackson Braun

I really liked this book. First of all, it has cats and being the owners/ cohabiter of three I love the challenges that only a life with cats can bring. Second, it mentioned Shakespeare in the title and that always intrigues me. This is my first Lilian Jackson Braun mystery and apparently she is quite the writer in this genre. There are more than 20 Million Cat Who... books in print and after reading The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare that does not surprise me. I can remember seeing these books come home from the library with my mom when I lived at home, so when I was wandering through the stacks at the library, I picked up a couple.

I know that the title mentions the cat. It is an intelligent cat... obviously, who throughout this series helps his owner, Jim Qwilleran, solves mysteries. And while I love cats, I think what will make me go back and read more books from this series is the character of Jim Qwilleran. Here is a newspaper man; a city man that has inherited a large sum of money and a wonderful home that has relocated to Pickax (a small town in Minnesota, I think). I am interested in how this came about and how someone can go through such a chance in life circumstances. Because of his newspaper ties, it seems natural that he would become involved in solving the mystery of death of the local newspaper patriarch.

This brings me to the other main character of the cat, Ko Ko. I admit... I wish he could talk, but alas, Braun instead comes up with more clever ways for him to communicate. In this novel, he pushes specific titles of Shakespeare plays onto the floor to guide Qwill onto the right path of thinking to help him solve this crime. Knowing all of these plays fairly well, I found the title selections fascinating and I wanted to read more to see how that particular title was a clue.

Lastly, I love the setting of the books. The small town and the quirky people were really down to earth and in an odd way very Northern Exposure- like. I enjoyed that.

The writing style is quick and easy to read. You can finish a book in a couple of hours. The vocabulary is very usable (if that makes sense) and I definitely think I would recommend this to my students (middle school and high school) to read, too. It is straight up entertaining in a relaxing way. While I enjoyed the Shakespeare aspect, I do not think you need to know Shakespeare to read it. Lastly, they are not gross or gruesome in their descriptions of death. Just like the setting and the characters, there is just enough details to tell the story without going over the top.