The Cat Who Played Post Office

It’s time for the third update in my year-long experiment in living (actually reading) fictionally. For those of you keeping score at home, the first book I tackled was Oscar Wilde’s fascinating 19th century novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Next was Ernest Hemingway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1952 novel The Old Man and the Sea. Now I have switched gears, turning to a book my wife suggested, Lillian Jackson Braun’s 1988 novel The Cat Who Played Post Office.

I will be the first to admit I never thought I would read a mystery series, let alone one whose main mystery-solvers are a pair of Siamese cats and their owner, Jim Qwilleran. But part of my learning experience over the past year has been opening myself up to new concepts, one of which was trying to understand various niches and where my own writing might fit in among them. As usual, I won’t get too much into the plot or give away the ending, but I will say that this was a very engaging novel and Braun creates a world, albeit a few books into the series (which originally started in the Sixties) that I enjoyed jumping into each time I sat with the work. This leads to the first point about writing I wanted to observe.

1. Keeping reader interest. Braun had me hooked from the beginning of this book: the main character suffers a bicycle accident, and the reader is right there with him as he regains his memory and recalls the people in his life. I thought this was an excellent way of helping readers get caught up with the universe, even if they haven’t read other books in this series. More than this, the writing is very engaging and witty, and though the author introduces a lot of characters (and potential suspects) throughout the book, she imbues each with a funny small-town charm that I recognized from my days living in rural Iowa. She also keeps the clues, found by the curiosity of the main character’s cats, coming so that I was always speculating about the murders that were taking place throughout the story. This is another lesson that seems simple but is of the utmost importance if you are hoping to become a popular author. Yes, it’s a series of cat mystery novels, but it’s one that existed for decades and had a strong enough fanbase to keep selling. Ensuring that your writing is retaining the reader’s interest at all times is an important part of the process behind your drafts, and something we as writers should never stray too far from as we work.
2. Reading for pleasure. This concept had almost become a lost art within my psyche as I had not considered reading a book for the simple pleasure of it in some time. While this book was a great read and I did enjoy it, I would also have to say it was a welcome antidote after the two heavier philosophical novels I took on at the beginning of this experiment. This was key for me simply to break up the deep thinking that was taking place in my mind as I read those two masterworks. I don’t know that I will ever return to this series, but it’s nice to know it and others like it exist for when I do want to tune into some “light” reading material. Just remember, this stuff is popular for a reason and can be a good source to provoke your mind, even if you consider it not “true” literary fiction. Keeping an open mind is what we writers are supposed to do, after all.
3. Make sure your “hook” catches people. This is a point more specific to the genre, but does kind of tie into the previous lessons. Braun really understands the relationship a cat owner can come to have with their pets, and uses that to create some dynamic scenes involving the Siamese locating clues for Qwill, the main character. This meshing of the cats and their moustache-endowed owner is a “hook” that catches readers and keeps them engaged in the clues to the mystery, and is an idea that has been quite popular within the genre for decades. Christie had Poirot, and today’s equivalent might be Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, but both of these series has a bedrock of characters and worlds that keep the readers coming back for more. Yes, there are some more bizarre, food-related (and otherwise) type “hooks” out there in the mystery world, but enough exist that you as readers ought to be able to find a series you can get into. Once you do, take good care to see what within the story keeps your interest.

These are the three main writing lessons I’ve come away with after reading The Cat Who Played Post Office. And yes, I would recommend this book (or series) to anyone looking to get some enjoyment out of their reading. While it probably won’t cause you to make a deep reappraisal of your world and society, it still should give you some good ideas for how to become a more popular author.

Up next in this experiment I turn to an author who I have sorely neglected for some time, and hope to begin rectifying this by reading what is considered his best work: Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. Stay tuned for the next exciting installment in my year of living (actually reading) fictionally.