The acme of mystery's evolution: THE CAT!

Kasey Cox

Hey, all! Hobo here. Kevin keeps pestering me to get working on my next book, but I’ve been a little intimidated by all his insistence on showing him a solid marketing plan, providing him with statistics on popular genres, profit margins, and projected trends in the bookselling world. Usually when he starts digging me about this stuff, I turn in circles on the bed, show him my rear, stretch, kneed the blanket a little, and curl up to nap.

I didn’t want Kevin to think I was taking him too seriously, or that his lectures actually work on me – can’t let humans think they have any real control over cats – so I conducted my online research when Kevin wasn’t home. (Ha! Lest he wonder why there was so much hair in his keyboard, I threw him off by rubbing along his arms as he was trying to type, and by walking on the keys when he was playing games the other day!) That’s when I knew for certain: my next book should be a mystery.

I found that the genre of the mystery has been around for more than most cats’ nine lives. Mystery stories have their origins in the spooky tales that were part of Edgar Allen Poe’s repertoire, followed soon after by the novels of Wilkie Collins, and then the first real famous detective, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. It seems lots of humans enjoy reading “whodunit” stories, and the mystery genre has continued to spark the imagination, taking on as many forms as colors of cats, producing some of the most beloved popular writers ever, including Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock. Kids got in the action early with super-sleuths Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.

As the mystery has moved into contemporary American culture, we now have a true American melting pot of folks who catch the bad guy and save the day. The Superhero genre is one great spin-off, and so is the Western. Think of all the choices! Today’s mysteries feature perky bounty hunters, gritty private investigators, sharp young lawyers, otherwise burnt-out investigative journalists, leftist ex-governors, forensic scientists, smart kids with nicknames like “Encyclopedia” or “Cam” (for Camera), women who run catering businesses or B&B’s. And, the superlative of sleuths, the obvious pinnacle to the evolutionary process of crimesolvers – THE CAT.

In order to check out the competition, maybe steal a few secrets for my own mystery series and avoid re-inventing the wheel, I decided to read one cat mystery by several of the most popular cat mystery authors. And before those of you nay-sayers or cat-doubters start snickering into your newspapers, let me tell you that not only are cat mysteries popular, but they have incredible holding power on bestseller lists, and yes, there are many authors who write in this sub-genre. So even if you think little old ladies who wear cat sweaters and hold up the line at the grocery store with huge bags of cat food aren’t exactly cute, you’d better admire their influence.

I chose one book from Lillian Jackson Braun’s long-running “The Cat Who…” series, one book from Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s Joe Gray mysteries, and one book from Rita Mae Brown’s pet mysteries that she writes with her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown. What I found surprised me. I was certain that Braun’s cats who, as the longest and most successful of these series, would be the one that I enjoyed the most. I know I’ll probably offend a lot of humans when I tell you that I thought the cat characters in these books are stupid. First of all, the two cats are Siamese, and even friendly cats like myself have some issues with Siamese. I mean, I love everybody, and I’m a pretty laid back guy – except when Kevin’s parents’ dog Buster comes to visit – and even I think Siamese cats can be pretty obnoxious. Anyway, these two cats in Lillian Jackson Braun’s series could be okay, even as Siamese, but they don’t talk or anything!! They don’t really help out that much, at least not in the book I read. I did like the setting for this book, in a remote part of the northern United States, like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and I really liked the main human character, Mr. Qwilleran, but my respect for him was greatly diminished by the dreadful names he gave his cats – Koko and Yum-Yum. Isn’t Koko that famous gorilla they taught sign language to? And Yum-Yum? Please. I do feel a bit sorry for those cats.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s supernaturally-smart feline detective, Joe Gray, and his pals, made for a pretty great read, one I warmed to the deeper I got into the book. Unfortunately for me, I chose a book from near the end of the series, and this is a series you should probably read in order. Although Murphy provides recaps of important events from earlier books, I would have enjoyed these cats and their community more if I’d read the full stories myself.

The winner of these three authors, in my not-so-humble opinion? Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie, hands and paws down. These stories are well-written; all characters, human and animal, have interesting, fleshed out, individual personalities and voices; the community in a little town in Virginia had echoes, albeit in a Southern tone, of small-town life in Wellsboro; and it didn’t matter at all which book I picked up first.

Now I just have to think of a title for the first book in my mystery series…. Hobo and the Missing Aquari-Yums? No, I guess that’s not much of a mystery. If you have any ideas, email me at frommyshelf@epix.net. Searching for past reviews? Get a clue about books at http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com