The Cat Who Sang for the Birds

Koko is once again cat of the hour in this barely puzzling 20th entry in the series featuring former newsman Jim Qwilleran and his sleuthing Siamese cat companions (The Cat Who Tailed a Thief, 1997, was the 19th). Although most residents of Pickax City are enthralled by its new art museum, some movers and shakers are less than happy with the unsightly homestead across the road from it. Qwill interviews the garrulous woman who lives there and is enchanted with her plainspoken manner. But very soon she dies in a fire that destroys her home; at just about the same time, someone breaks into the museum and steals some paintings. Qwill quietly orchestrates a large funeral for the woman. Community happenings and his personal life occupy much of Qwill's time as he coordinates the town spelling bee, which is being promoted as an athletic event, observes the strange behavior of a young woman who paints pictures of butterflies and battles bouts of jealousy as his lady love, librarian Polly, gets her portrait painted by an affable artist. It's up to the prescient Koko and his confrere Yum Yum to nudge Qwill into uncovering the town's more mysterious goings-on. Cat and Qwilleran fans will welcome this benign series addition, which chronicles the ongoing relationships of the series characters with only a whisker's twitch of crime solving. (Feb.)