Excerpt from The Cat Who Robbed A Bank by Lilian Jackson Braun, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Pleased, she said, "Thank you, dear. And you're looking very handsome!"

He always wore a coat and tie, well coordinated, when having dinner with Polly. It was a compliment they paid each other.

They had a reservation at Onoosh's in downtown Pickax, a café with the exotic murals, lamps, brasses, and aromas of the Mediterranean rim. Ethnic foods were finally being accepted 400 miles north of everywhere, although it had been a slow process. Seated at the brass-topped tables were foodists with adventurous palates, vacationers from out of town, and students from Moose County Community College, who were eligible for a discount.

For starters Polly had a dry sherry and Qwilleran ordered Squunk water on the rocks with a twist, a local mineral water.

"What's the latest gossip at the library?" he asked. It was a center of information in more ways than one. "Has the Pickax grapevine blown a gasket over Mr. Delacamp?"

"No, no!" she corrected him with excitement. "The latest news is about Amanda! Haven't you heard?"

"I heard the rumor in July, while you were in Canada, but she denied it."

"She changed her mind several times after that, but I think she was building up suspense. There's nothing naive about Amanda!"

"So what's the latest?" he asked impatiently. As a journalist he always felt uncomfortable if he didn't know the latest.

"Well! Today was the deadline, and she picked up her petition at city hall at nine a.m. Eight hours later, she returned it with the required number of signatures-five percent of registered voters! She stood in front of Toodle's Market and Lanspeak's and created quite a stir, as you can well imagine."

"That's our Amanda!" Qwilleran gloated.

There was only one illustrious Amanda in Pickax. As owner of the design studio on Main Street she had decorated the homes of well-known families for forty years. She had served on the city council for twenty years-always outspoken and sometimes cantankerous. The locals loved her for her fearless individualism, and that included her eccentric dress and grooming. Now she was daring to challenge the incumbent mayor in the November election-a politician who had held office for five terms, simply because his mother was a Goodwinter.

That was the big name in Pickax. The four Goodwinter brothers had founded the city in 1850.

But the mayor's name was Gregory Blythe. His challenger was Amanda Goodwinter!

Qwilleran said, "I predict she'll win by a landslide."

A bright young woman in an embroidered vest served them baba ghanouj and spanokopetes, and he said, "I wish my mother could see me now-eating spinach and eggplant. And liking it!" Then he asked, "What's the latest on Old Campo?"

"How can you be so derisive?" Polly rebuked him. "The jealousy among our male population is ludicrous! A few members of my library board are on his guest list, and they say he's a grand gentleman with polished manners and great charisma!"

"I hear he always has a girl Friday who travels with him and happens to be young, sexy, and related by blood." He said this with an ounce of sarcasm.

Polly replied in all seriousness, "He's training family members to take over the business when he retires. . . . Or so I'm told," she added. "But the big news is that Carol has asked me to pour at his celebrated Tuesday Tea! Those opals you gave me were ordered by Carol from a Chicago jeweler. That was Delacamp's firm, and so I'm suddenly in the inner circle."

"Just what does he do when he's in town?"

"Well, first he gives an exclusive tea for potential customers.

Then families with heirloom jewelry to sell invite him to their homes, and those who wish to buy vintage jewelry from his private collection make appointments to meet him in his hotel suite."

The Cat Who Robbed a Bank, by Lilian Jackson Braun, Lillian Jackson Braun. © January 10, 2000 , Lilian Jackson Braun, Lillian Jackson Braun used by permission.