Dinosaur Cat

This is just one more entry into the "Big Mike" mysteries, a series wherein the mystery takes a back seat to the goings-on of the "regulars" who populate the strange desert town of Empty Creek. If you like the others, you will like this one. Not, however, for anyone looking for a conventional mystery. A unique taste. Either you like it, laughing at all of the silliness, or you don't. I do, even though I also love the entire mystery genre. Especially the british cozies, which this definately is not. Really, this series is more like the "carry on" british movies where plot takes a backseat to the mildly raunchy fun and games.

I consider this to be the most interesting and best written of this series of books. It's an action, mover and it has about the right amount of focus on the cat "detective". The cat is really not involved in the solving of the mystery or anything of the sort, but he is a most "fetching" character and all the references to him and insight into cat nature are the best parts of the book. I think the human characters are a bit stilted but are passable. The plot is good, about murders connected to a dinosaur fossil and the controversy over who should have control of the fossil. A well done mystery.

Dinosaur Cat is number 5 in Garrison Allen's 'Big Mike' mystery series and like all the books features Mycroft and his human Penelope, mystery book store owner in Empty Creek, AZ. The story revolves around some dinosaur bones and a body found in the desert around Empty Creek. After an mysterious explosion destroys all the evidence before Penelope and Big Mike can reach the crime scene and the media decends on Empty Creek Penelope and Mikey must do their best to find the likley suspects and the list is long. The choice ranges from and influx of foreigners from Russia's most voluptuous wannabe ballerina to a Japanese fossil peddler. Penelope and her sexy romance writing friend Laney are also trying to get all the 'hunks' of Empty Creek to pose for the 'Men of Empty Creek Calendar'! After all the women had done it the year before it's the men's turn now...Blackmail does work! Don't miss this next installment in the entertaining series created by Garrison Allen, you'll wish you knew of a place like Empty Creek that you could visit .Let's hope Mr. Allen will allow us to come back again soon.

Empty Creek is a small desert town north of Phoenix. It is a quiet place, populated by eccentric residents, who would never dream of leaving. Major crime is rare, but occasionally happens. When it does occur, Penelope Warren and her feline assistant Mycroft take time off from their bookstore business to investigate. Their latest case centers around the discovery by prospector Red the Rat of a dead body near some fossil bones. As Penelope and Mycroft inspect the murder scene, they hear a warning shout just before an avalanche buries the area. When they try to restore the scene, they uncover a human scull with a bullet hole in it. Soon, someone fires a shot at Penelope and her boy friend. Not to soon after Penelope theorizes that the two murders, though a quarter of a century apart, are linked. Still Penelope tries to uncover who did the killings and why even as she continues to place herself in danger. Though Garrison Allen paints a mystery that is expected to be taken seriously, he populates his tale with irascible, jocular, and memorable characters that provide welcome relief. Going inside the mind of that great feline thinker Mycroft adds a lively dimension to the terrific tale. The take charge, intrepid heroine is a fabulous role model for the next millennium woman. The frontier setting genuinely juxtaposed into modern times provides a special ambiance. With all this going for it, DINOSAUR CAT is a gold medal in a 24 karat series.Harriet Klausner