I will admit it: I am a fan of the Cat Who... series. I've read them all. The early ones are decent mysteries, and the middle ones are charming set pieces framed around a mystery. The later ones are bad.

The series focuses on James Qwilleran, a newspaper reporter. In the first few books, he worked for newspapers "Down Below" in a large city that sounds very much like Chicago. In the later books, he inherits a lot of money and moves to Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere. The characters that populate Moose County are charming, and Braun's use of language and place names can be almost poetic at times, but are always comic. Qwilleran writes a weekly column for the local newspaper and lives with two siamese cats, one of whom is unusually smart and has provided Qwill with important clues to solving several of the mysteries.

The mysteries are not central, and Qwill is rarely the only one responsible for their solution. However, in the early Moose Country books, the mysteries do carry the plot along and provide a satisfying ending. The last few books, The Cat Who Went Up the Creek included, have been terrible. The mystery has become less and less central to the story, which features the activities of Qwill and the antics of his cats. This most recent book is particularly unsatisfying. Qwill goes on vacation to a new country inn located just outside of Pickaxe, the county seat. His long-term romantic interest, Polly, goes on a different vacation and is present in the book only through the infuriating post cards she send Qwill every few days (in general, I like the books where Polly is around better than those where she is not). Qwill collects material for his column and for his book, gets to know his neighbors and lives through a couple of entertaining mishaps. All the while, the cats do interesting, intriguing things and one of Qwill's neighboring vacationers is murdered. However, the ending is quite bad, even given the low standards with which I approach this series. Minor spoiler (highlight with mouse):

While I have throughly enjoyed this series as relaxing, non-taxing reading, I would no longer suggest the newest releases to the uninitiated. And I may give up on the books entirely, although next January, when I'm tired and worn out from Christmas and the next book in the series is released, I may succomb to the temptation and find myself reading about Qwill and his cats again. Especially if Polly stays home.