Cat Who Went Into Clo

Newspaperman, philanthropist and sleuth Jim Qwilleran leads a busy life in tiny Pickax City (pop. 3,000), but it is his prescient cats who beguile the reader in this lively mystery, the 16th in the Cat Who. . . series. Qwilleran is renting a huge but empty mansion from Junior Goodwinter, his managing editor, who inherited the white elephant from his feisty 88-year-old grandmother Euphonia Gage when she went to live in a Florida retirement community. When Euphonia is found dead, apparently a suicide, Junior is perplexed. He is still more confounded when her new will suggests that Grandma has gambled away her millions at the racetrack. The death of a local man whose wife was Euphonia's housekeeper raises the suspicions of the already skeptical Qwilleran. He sets up a sting operation with a lively Florida retiree, but his two best operatives are his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. Qwilleran, who can be gloomy, peevish, vain and demanding, is never dull. Other industrious inhabitants of Pickax City (an editor, a waitress, a dog trainer) are comparably unique and have enough sharp edges to avoid being cute. Of course, the cats get all the best lines. Mystery Guild selection. (Apr.)