Back when i was a teenager, my best friend looooved these books. She used to tell me all about how great they are, and how i should read them, and i never did. Til recently.

Oddly enough, they were books this same friend gave me for Christmas i think last year... and i let them sit on my shelf forever and ever before i was tempted to read them. It was more a case of having so many books and these were relatively slim volumes that i thought would be good for quick summer reads rather than a case of having nothing to read.

I read two of them, and i am still kind of confused as to why they are supposed to be so great. They are mildly entertaining, but i don't find the main character to be a character i really identify with, and as much as i like cats, i don't find these cats to be especially entertaining.

The mystery part... There's very little excitement surrounding the mysteries. I don't consider myself to be obtuse, and these aren't the first mysteries i've ever read. The character seems to gloss over most of the 'clues' as rather commonplace happenstances til the end, when he starts putting it all together for the reader.

I have one of these books left to read, a hardback this time. I think i am going to put it off for a while. I'm just bored with them.

I wonder if the ones that you read are the most recent ones.  I thoroughly enjoyed these for a while--light reading, of course.  However, the author is now, supposedly ,in her 90's, and most people believe that someone is ghost-writing them for her.  The last two that I've read weren't good at all.

One of them was from 1987. So i don't think so. The other one was from 2002.

A friend of mine calls the Cat Who . . . books bubblegum for the mind.  They are okay - fast, easy reading, but they certainly aren't profound.  I can't imagine why anyone would classify them as "great" books.

Well, to each his (or her own) but I read one of them... and was kinda shocked they were actually published.  The mystery was so dull...  I could have overlooked the cat gimmick if the rest of it had been engaging.

Well, i am relieved to see i'm not the only one who thinks so. My thread went so long without any agreement, i thought maybe it was just me. =)

They are dull books... it really made me glad the books were gifts to me, instead of things i bought. I think i did buy the hardback at a yard sale or Goodwill, but at the most i might have paid 50 cents for it. So i don't feel too gyped.

I picked one up to skim it to see if I would like it, I put it down.

I need to read books with more meat in them.  I read one Evanovich and found it boring as well. I think some people like a read that isn't much work, it relaxes them, it's entertaining, to each his/her own.  Everyone at work is thrilled about Fearless Fourteen coming out...lol...I was like...yawn...LOL

I just recently found one in a thrift store and  I love cats and was thinking it would be cute and intertaining but the plot was slow and I just really didn't like it.

That's what i thought. I thought... cats are cute, cats might be funny...

Um... not these cats. Stuck up, anal-retentive, boring cats. My uncle had a Siamese once... she was insane. Scary insane. Would go Tornado-Cat on anyone who came within 15 feet of her. Very painful, i recall, from my childhood.

I thought the cats might actually like... solve mysteries. Turns out they just stay in the house all day and sniff shoes/bvoxes/drawers... and stare out windows. Excitement galore.

I've read them all and they really are better if you start at the beginning and read through the whole series.  They are very light reading.  I'd love to see an apple barn like that one.  They have a "Round Barn' in Santa Rosa, CA that sort of reminds me of the apple barn.   I have to agree that the earlier ones are better than the newer ones.   Pat

I read one Evanovich and found it boring as well.

Boring? WOW! Considering every book features at least 1 (or more) of the following: 

• a car getting smashed / firebombed / blown up (sometimes multiple cars)
• somebody getting shot / tasered / pepper sprayed
• random chases (on foot and by car) and fights
• off-the-wall wacky characters (including drag queens, midgets & lovable stoners)
• a disastrous visit to a funeral home for a viewing

I can't imagine how you could have found it boring. Just not your cup of tea, ok... to each his/her own.

But boring?? NEVER! ;-)

I like Evanovich's books. Mind you, i've only read two of them, but they're decent.

I wouldn't call them drop-dead, can't-put-it-down awesome, but they were entertaining. I chuckled out loud a few times. I found them interesting and quirky, and a quick read.

The Cat Who... books are not even entertaining.

I don't enjoy them as when I did when I was in junior high.   The earlier ones were better.   And since she is 95 years old this year, I'd say that they have been being ghostwritten, even though no official report has stated so.  I don't like books that I can figure out in the first few chapters.  

I tried The cat Who series after joining PBS.

I found them hard to read and just generally boring. I do enjoy cozy mysteries but these just didn't do it for me.

I like them. Some more than others, of course, but they are definitely a "fluff" read, lol.  I do agree that it's probably easier to get into them if you start from the beginning. 

I know this is very against the grain for most Cat Who readers, but I really liked some of the changes in the last book.  Some certainly took me by surprise, but it was really time for change.  I thought it might have been the last one, seemed like a reasonable place to end to me.  Apparently someone else (LBJ or potential ghost writer) didn't agree, lol.

I have enjoyed "The Cat Who..." series, especially the earliest books.   Earlier posters are correct in that the mysteries generally don't have much substance, but what I enjoy are the descriptions of the townspeople, the restaurants, the meals, the library, the homes, etc, etc.  I agree about the last few though, especially the last book.  I won't give anything away, but not only was the writing nothing like we had come to expect, one of the series' main characters does something that he/she would NEVER do, IMHO.  I'm not sure I'll be reading anymore of them.

However, you can also count me among those not interested in Evanovich.  I read the first one and it was just.....nothing special.  I feel the same way about the Kinsey Milhone series (A is for Alibi etc.).  They weren't BAD, I just wasn't interested in reading any more of them. 

I dunno, i like descriptive writing as much as the next person, but i also want substance to my story. There's a lot of books out there to read, wasting my time on these just isn't fun.