Thursday, March 8, 2012

No Cooperation from the Cat-Marian Babson

No Cooperation from the Cat


Marian Babson

Minotaur, Mar 27 2012, $24.99

ISBN: 9780312332402



Aging London actresses Evangeline Sinclair and Trixie Dolan allow the latter’s daughter friend Martha, with the help of author and editor Jocasta to finalize a cookbook in their home. They and their friend Dame Cecily think the invasion is intrusive. Banquo Fitzfothergill the Arctic explorer, accompanied by his sidekicks Tom and Mick, arrives at the house shouting for his wife Melisande. Jocasta panics as she fears how Banquo will react when he learns Melisande died while cooking as apparently no one has told him.



To their shock Evangeline and Trixie find a horde of uninvited guests as Banquo and his growing retinue to include his aunts demand to see Melisande, who was the original cookbook author. As Melisande's former assistant, Jocasta is the only suspect while Martha is upset to learn she was second fiddle.



The latest Sinclair-Dolan British cozy (see The Cat Who Wasn’t a Dog) is a fun tale as the protagonists’ home begins to look like Groucho’s ship cabin in A Night at the Opera. The breezy storyline is amusing while readers and Cho-Cho-San and Frou-Frou watch the zanies spin out of control.



Harriet Klausner

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