Episode 3 - The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern

 Greetings Friends!

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern is the second book in the series, and one of my favorites!

Episode 3 is up!  Reminder, there are spoilers ahead - you have been warned!

This is one of my favorites of the early books - it's not about the murder, it's about the mystery of the missing jades!

After his success as an art writer, Qwill gets a new assignment - Interior Design!  Also known as an edited advertising supplement for the paper.  There's no good reason that Qwill gets this assignment - he didn't want it, although he spends most of the book defending his right to keep it. 

That's not entirely his fault.  "Gracious Abodes" (Terrible name) is plagued with problems.  The first house they feature is burgled, the second turns out to be a bordello and the third has a murder.  The first is motivated by revenge against the newspaper (remember when people had opinions about the various daily newspapers in their cities??) the second is really just pure stupidity and the third is a romantic assignation gone very, very wrong.  

Women are not treated well in this book.  It starts off with Fran, editor of the “Women’s department” pursuing Qwill who then proceeds to insult and belittle her for most of the first two chapters. He however is insulting her aggressive nature, not her looks, so at least he's not taking the cheap shots. Fran's pursuing also lays the ground rule for Qwill - he will NEVER be interested in a woman who actively pursues him.  He’s had enough of “bossy” females as he puts it. I think he has a savior complex and he needs to feel needed by whatever woman he pursues, and this applies to Yum Yum the cat as well.

That does not stop him from lusting after 20 year olds who work for the designers he’s there to interview.

I’m not sure if LJB writing what she thought a man would think, but there is a description of Alacoque Wright that describes her as having “straight brown hair that fell like a blanket to her shoulders, hiding her forehead, eyebrows, temples and cheeks.  All that was visible was a pair of Roguish green eyes, an appealing little nose, an intelligent mouth, a dainty chin” - so, her face? Also he describes her knees as “leanly upholstered”. Clearly Qwill is a knee man. She also gets a haircut at the end of the book before declaring "Cal Me Al" due to Koko objecting to sharing his name with the flavor of the week.

Whereas he describes Mrs. Middy is “dumpling of a woman in a shapeless hat”.

Mrs. Middy is also clearly not in sync with the world around her, judging by her work on a boarding house for "working girls" that she designs in cozy early American with four-poster beds and lace curtains. Considering that the "House mother" offers Qwill and Odd Bunsen (the photographer) bourbon at 10 in the morning, it's incredibly obvious to the reader at least that this is not "a nice house for working girls" as Mrs. Middy believes and we never hear from Mrs. Middy after this disaster

Poor Fran gets more abuse when she tries to help Qwill with leads for Gracious Abodes, egged on by the publishing editor known as Percy (from his habit of saying "per se" ad nauseum). Her suggestions aren't bad (and might be a little less disaster prone) but they don't serve Qwill's goal of solving the mystery of the burglary at the first house, so he ignores them. On the plus side, by the end of the book, Gracious Abodes appears to be put to bed for good.

A couple of scene gems that help either lay the groundwork of the mystery or add to character development:

The decorators all have their specialties, including PLUG - planned ugliness.  This is of course run by a son of one of the city’s wealthiest families who knows everybody and all the scandals. His info is invaluable in helping Qwill connect the dots. 

Giving some background on the otherwise mysterious David Lyke is a scene with his design rival, Black designer Jaques Boulanger (Jack Baker to his friends). While the scene reads like the “Excuse me Stewardess, I speak Jive” scene from the movie Airplane, it does help establish why Lyke is so determined to be liked. (It ages about as well as the scene from airplane too, with lines like “crazy!” And “My wife is a real swinger in the kitchen”.) Ah well.

In my haste to describe the women in this book, I really do skimp on the character of David Lyke. We meet him while he's kissing a client and telling her to bake his favorite cake ("For David). He's clearly made a hell of a career out of flirting with the women who hire him and in several cases he easily steps beyond the flirtation to full on affairs. Affairs plural since we find out that he's slept with Alacoque and certainly with Natalie Noyton, who actually leaves her husband and children because she believes that David loves her without. He really doesn't, and when she realizes this, she shoots him and later herself. This twist is discovered by Koko who ate bits of her rather distinctive dress and threw them up later so they could be discovered and solve the crime. Neither woman could be the first he's crossed a line with, and certainly wouldn't have been the last if not for Natalie making sure she was. It's a bit disappointing that David's sexual exploits are looked at almost fondly and certainly considered forgivable considering the amount of money he brings in, especially compared to another sexually voracious character in the next book who happens to be female, and gets written rightfully as a sexual predator.

The cats are getting a little more Cat-like in these books - Yum Yum (formerly Yu or Freya, depending on who you ask) is nervous and upset about her frankly rotten home situation, while Koko enjoys playing games with Qwill and showing his displeasure by chewing items made of wool - ties, the Danish Modern chair of the title and the incriminating dress fringe that solves the murder. He also helps solve the mystery of the missing jades by licking a photograph and revealing a hidden compartment where the owner turns out to have stashed the jades in order to report a theft and embarrass the Fluxion (Qwill's newspaper).

And with the mysteries solved, Qwill and Alacoque go for a walk as the scene fades to black.

Four paws up!