Cat and Mouse (Inspector Chucky #1) - SPOILER Thread - (Oct/Nov 25)

[Susan]

Welcome to our Oct/Nov 25 buddy read of Cat and Mouse: A mystery in Wales recently republished by British Library Publishing. This is the first Inspector Chucky novel, first published in 1950 (written and published in-between 2 Inspector Cockrill novels - Death of Jezebel in 1949 and the fantastic London Particular in 1952. She would not revisit Chucky until 1977 with A Ring of Roses, written under a pseudonym.

Katinka Jones, the agony aunt for Girls Together magazine, is at a loose end in Swansea and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine’s regular correspondents, who goes by “Amista”. Arriving at a strange house perched atop a mountain, everything matches the descriptions in the letters; same cat, same views, same dashing widower, Carlyon. But there is a problem – nobody here has ever heard of the mysterious “Amista”.

As more weird mysteries emerge and the shadow of murder looms over the mountain, the feisty Inspector Chucky joins Katinka in the search for the truth in this lurid love letter to Gothic melodrama – an experimental thriller in which Brand flexes her talent for delivering twist after delicious twist.

Brand is one of my favourite GA authors, so I am delighted we are reading some of her novels as buddy reads.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Susan]

So, what did we think of this one? Did it work, do we think? Would Tinka have been motivated to visit a letter writer to the magazine?

[Judy]

I enjoyed it a lot but felt the plot was extremely far-fetched, a sort of Gothic spoof almost at times. I'm not at all sure that Tinka would visit the letter writer, especially as it's so hard to get there!

[Susan]

It was a crazy plot! Halfway through I was nearly ready to give up but I did like the ending. Plunging over the rocks and who thought it would be him after all? The obvious is usually the answer...

[Judy]

In all honesty, I can't say it is one of her best, but I do enjoy her writing, and I liked the ending too. I could hardly put it down, so had to give 4 stars even though the plot was bonkers.

Given the deaths of his previous wives, I thought it *had* to be him and was really taken aback when Brand came up with other explanations before the final twists. I do think she's great at coming up with multiple culprits. Shades of The Case of the Poisoned Chocolates, which she wrote an alternative ending for.

[Judy]

Also, what do you think of the romantic content? I found it hard to believe that every woman in sight would swoon over Carlyon to quite that extent!

I also didn't find it very convincing when Tinka suddenly gets paired off with Chucky at the end after being so madly infatuated with Carlyon. I know there was the scene where she and Chucky kiss in the attic, but I didn't particularly get the impression that she enjoyed that or was attracted to him at all!

[Sandy]

Having decided to bail, I came over to the spoiler thread and am aghast that our nice married detective is starting an affair, but I suppose he lied about wife and kids. I may read the last couple of chapters for the drama. Brand does atmosphere very well.

[Judy]

I think that part is well worth reading, Sandy, and your suppositions are correct!

[Susan]

Hmmm, definitely not her best. I much prefer Cockrill and I agree it is unlikely every woman would be so impressed by him.

[Susan]

To be fair, though, even Carlyon seemed more than annoyed by the female attention!