Get our Best Book Club Books of 2025 eBook!

Summary and Reviews of The Cat Who Smelled A Rat by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Smelled A Rat by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Smelled A Rat

by Lilian Jackson Braun
  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • First Published:
  • Jan 1, 2001, 256 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2002, 304 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

Moose County is in the middle of a crime wave when the president of the curling club is pushed to his death down a flight of stairs, and it's up to Qwilleran & Co. to sniff out the rat who is responsible for it all.

October arrives in Moose County on the heels of a long drought, and the citizens of Pickax worry about wildfires.

Their fears are realized in an unexpected manner, with a case of arson-and the shooting of a volunteer fire-watcher as he is reporting the blaze. The crime wave continues as the president of the curling club is pushed to his death down a flight of stairs, and it's up to Qwilleran & Co. to sniff out the rat who is responsible for it all.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Booklist - Jenny McLarin
Braun proves that her venerable series is far from getting stale.....Once again, Braun displays her talent at all aspects of the cozy. In fact, the feelings produced by reading about Qwill and his pals can best be compared to that coziest of feelings--having a purring cat on your lap.

Library Journal
This 23rd installment in the "Cat Who" mystery series is thin on plot but as strong as ever on character development, which is fine since one of the chief delights of these books is what they reveal about Qwilleran and Moose County.

Publishers Weekly
Regular fans will enjoy being back with old friends and will be intrigued by the eccentric new additions to Pickax.... With a solid bestseller track record for this series, this entry is sure to claw its way up the lists.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Cat Who Smelled A Rat, try these:

  • Death of a Dreamer jacket

    Death of a Dreamer

    by M.C. Beaton

    Published 2007

    About this book

    More by this author

    Newcomers usually don't stay long in remove Lockdubh, Scotland, but artist Effie Garrard settles in and apart from being a dreamer and a little odd, seems to be fine. Then she's found dead, an apparent suicide, but police constable Hamish Macbeth feels in his bones it is murder - but is he too distracted by his own personal affairs to see ...

  • Wine of Violence jacket

    Wine of Violence

    by Priscilla Royal

    Published 2006

    About this book

    More by this author

    'With its intriguing plot, chilling conclusion and characters who exhibit universal and timeless feelings, this fresh first has all the potential to evolve into a series as enduring as Ellis Peters's Brother Cadfael books.'

We have 5 read-alikes for The Cat Who Smelled A Rat, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Lilian Jackson Braun
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris
    by Evie Woods
    From the million-copy bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Seven O'Clock Club
    by Amelia Ireland

    Four strangers join an experimental treatment to heal broken hearts in Amelia Ireland's heartfelt debut novel.

  • Book Jacket

    One Death at a Time
    by Abbi Waxman

    A cranky ex-actress and her Gen Z sobriety sponsor team up to solve a murder that could send her back to prison in this dazzling mystery.

  • Book Jacket

    The Fairbanks Four
    by Brian Patrick O’Donoghue

    One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice.

  • Book Jacket

    Happy Land
    by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

    From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.

Who Said...

Great literature cannot grow from a neglected or impoverished soil...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

A C on H S

and be entered to win..