The Cat Who Did A Podcast

Episode 18 - The Cat Who Blew the Whistle  Taking place only a few weeks after the Breakfast Island Debacle, The rich and powerful of Moose County have donated $500 a ticket (just shy of $900 today) to ride behind “Old Number 9” on her maiden voyage, with all proceeds benefiting the scholarship fund at the new community college.  The engine is an original from the glory days of Moose County’s mining past, lovingly restored and supposedly the start of a new industry for Moose county - train tourism! But alas, we are warned that the Party Train’s maiden voyage is also its last. CONTENT WARNING:  The solution to this mystery involves a possibly trans person who is not treated with sensitivity or frankly reality, as is to be expected unfortunately , from the early 90s.  In place of the dead author, I can only say I’m sorry. Listen to the podcast here: https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-ckhd7-fa94bf There is so much to unpack in this book - Qwill has really settled into Pickaxe, he has history

 Episode 17 - The Cat Who Came to Breakfast     It’s summer in Pickaxe and Polly is off to Oregon to visit her college roommate in Oregon.  As the trip involves birding, Qwill is not invited.  In the meantime, XYZ enterprises is back with a new development - Pear Island!  But the resort is not as idyllic as Don Exbridge wants the public to believe. Food poisoning, a drowning, a boat explosion and collapsed steps all point to a saboteur on the island, and it's up to Qwill and the cats to uncover the plot! On this podcast, we have a special guest - Denver theatre actor, director and all around impresario, Bernie Cardell! Listen to the Podcast here: https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-gxwyc-f9dc08 Thoughts: Qwill has another about-face - in a previous book, he was against flying to Minneapolis with the Lanspeaks for baseball and shopping, but in this book, he actually suggests it to Polly!  Maybe it’s the company - he’s suggesting going with Arch and Mildred, rather than Larry and Carol L

 Episode 16 - The Cat Who Went Into the Closet      Qwill decides that his barn is too hard to heat and plow out, so he moves into the Gage mansion on Goodwinter Boulevard.  Euphonia Gage has recently deeded the property to Junior Goodwinter (Her grandson) and moved to Florida full time, rather than her previous snowbird status. To help Junior cover the property taxes, Qwill offers to rent the mansion for the winter. It doesn’t hurt that Polly now lives in the carriage house behind the Gage mansion (she moved there while Qwill was in the Potatoes). While there isn’t a lot of furniture left, there are 50 closets, all filled with family secrets for Qwill and Koko to uncover. Listen to the Podcast here:  We're also joined by another guest, my mother Terri Rahmsdorff!  She's responsible for introducing me to the Cat Who books, long ago and it was delightful to talk with her about her memories of the series. https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-f2mfq-f91c97 New Faces - We meet Pender Wilmo

 Episode 15 - The Cat Who Wasn't There After rushing back from the Potato Mountains because Polly was threatened by a mystery man, Qwill decides to join her on a trip to Scotland.  He hasn’t been there since the honeymoon of his ill-fated marriage and he wants to make some better memories.  He’s also trying to avoid the newly returned Melinda Goodwinter, who makes it very clear that she is still aiming to wrangle Qwill to the altar, although her reasons are a little different this time around. The Theatre Club stages Macbeth, and the Scotland trip is pretty much cursed from the start. Even with Koko thousands of miles away, he's still alerting Qwill to when "fair is foul and foul is fair" Listen to the podcast here! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-8vfzi-f85d85 This is the first mention of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (and as we know, Qwill’s mother was a Mackintosh) who was a 19th century architect, designer and artist, notable in the modernist and Arts Nouveau periods.

Episode 14 - The Cat Who Moved a Mountain   This is the second of what I call the Travel books - where Qwill tries to leave Moose County and regrets his decision. Qwill celebrates officially inheriting the Klingenschoen fortune (he’s officially a billionaire!) and decides to celebrate by spending the summer somewhere else - at the recommendation of the MacDiarmids (they publish the Lockmaster paper), he and the cats head for the Potato Mountains (not an actual location - although there is a Potato mountain in California).  He rents a 90 year old former inn - the entire thing, because that’s the only way he could find a rental that would take pets, and naturally, he stumbles across a land development scam, an illegal liquor ring, and a murder, with the wrong man in jail for it! We have our very first guest on the podcast - the delightful Meg Ralph (who has never read any Cat Who Books and gave us some great perspective from a newbie!) Listen to the Podcast here: https://www.podbean.com/