A Professor Shandy mystery. When Edmund the cat drags in her boarder's toupee Mrs Lomax knows something is wrong. Of course, the unpleasant Mr Ungley is dead.
The characters are what make this series fun, as the stories develop the eccentrics of Balaclava County come into their own.
re-read 12/30/2023 ( )

A nice cozy mystery with Peter Shandy and the cast of characters from the Balaclava Collage. Great story and plot development. Humorous and fun. A fast fun read. ( )

In book three, Peter Shandy was eloquent on behalf of small farms versus developers who covet them. In book four, the late Ms. MacLeod allows her character a chance to deal with the kind of in-the-pocket-of-big-money politician that is still with us and probably always will be. The cat in the title is Mrs. Lomax's Edmund, nameless in the last book. What she has to pry out of his mouth is the first clue to the murder.

The victim is her long-time tenant, Professor Herbert Ungley, the last member of his sadly-dwindled family to bear the name. He was an unpleasant old man whom President Sevenson forced into retirement when he took over Balaclava College in 1952. His only friends were the other members of the Balaclavian Society who had a meeting the night old Ungley died. Chief Ottermole and Dr. Melchett are as ready to declare Ungley's death accidental as they were the first victim in book one. Mrs. Lomax isn't convinced and calls in Shandy.

Meanwhile, Svenson has another task for Shandy. The college has long backed Sam Peters, the unexciting, but honest and competent, US congressman for their district. Peters' new rival for his seat is the no-good state congressman Bertram Claude, also known as Ol' Dimplepuss. Ol' Dimplepuss' campaign manager, Mrs. Ruth Smuth, was the spearhead behind the fund drive for the college's new silo a few years ago. She'd checked out clean at the time, but now she's claiming that she'd told Svenson she worked for Claude. Mrs. Smuth is ready to make the college look bad if they don't back Claude instead of Peters. Svenson is furious. Shandy's not happy about it, either.

Just as local undertaker Harry Goulson, originally nicknamed "Harry the Ghoul," was revealed to be a very decent man in book two, this book eventually redeems Chief Ottermole. While he and Shandy are working on Ungley's murder, Mrs. Smuth sets in motion another dirty trick involving the college. Can Shandy save Balaclava's good name?

The number of relatives by blood and marriage one may have in small towns really comes into play here. Most of the time Ms. MacLeod sets them out plainly, though I confess that I'm not sure if Mrs. Lomax's cousin Evelyn is the same as her cousin-in-law Evelyn Lomax. It's possible that they are one person. After all, Ottermole says that his wife's mother was a Bugleford when explaining that Edna Jean Bugleford is his wife's aunt by marriage in chapter 17. In chapter 19, Edna Jean herself says that Edna Mae Ottermole is her late husband's brother's daughter. A Joe Bugleford is mentioned as Edna Jean's brother. So, either Ms. MacLeod got a little lost in the tangled relationships herself, or both of Edna Mae's parents were Buglefords. Personally, I get as big a kick out of all these kinfolk here as I do in Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow mysteries. Mrs. Lomax even drew up a geneology for the Shandy's cat, not that we get to see it.

This is the book where we learn that one of Balaclava Junction's founders was a Perkin Lomax and that Betsy Swope Lomax came from Upper Lumpkin Mills before her marriage. If you like stories of characters when they were little, there's one of Shandy and the red balloon his Uncle Charlie when he was six. If you're already a fan of mighty Thorjeld Svenson you won't want to miss his duel in chapter 23. Cronkite Swope isn't the only one who wishes he'd brought a movie camera!

As usual, all's well that ends well except for the villains and the victims. I wouldn't waste any sympathy on either.

David Johnson did the cover with the blue cat with its tail around a bald man's bleeding head. In case your hardcover copy is missing its dust jacket and you're wondering if you have a book club edition or not, my copy is a BCE. It's 8 & 7/16ths inches tall, 5 & 5/8ths inches wide/in length, and 5/8ths of an inch thick. My copy is a tight one, so I didn't have to hold it shut in a really tight grip when I measured the thickness. ( )

Professor Shandy is once again called in to investigate when a retired teacher is found dead and someone seems to be using the agricultural college for political shenanigans. So much of the detecting and handling of clues in this book seem lame, but it was still fun to read for the characters involved. My highest rating of mysteries being a five, this is on the third level down. ( )