Gobbelino London and a Scourge of Pleasantries

‘Gobbelino London And A Scourge Of Pleasantries‘ is a light fast read about a talking cat, Gobbelino London, and his human partner who work as PIs in Leeds (although most of their customers don't know Gobbleino is part of the team - not everyone can accept the idea of a talking cat, nevernind a mercenary, slightly snarky, smarter-than-his-human-partner talking cat).

The book opens the way all good gumshoe novels should, with a beautiful woman walking into the PI's office with a deceptively simple request for which she's offering a suspiciously large amount of money. Gobbelino knows there's something off about her, though he can't sniff out what because the woman is drenched in perfume. Gobbelino can't resist the cash so they take show more the job and put themselves, their neighbours and perhaps the whole world at risk.

The plot moves like a cat scaling a wall, fast and with complete confidence while appearing to defy the laws of physics. The pace goes from fast to frenetic without a pause for breath. The world-building, which was more detailed than I'd expected, happens on the run and the reader is expected to keep up. There was ongoing mayhem, a little snark, lots of cat humour and a strong dash of supernatural soul-eating threat and that's before we get to tentacles emerging from another dimension.

This story happens in the same universe as the DI Adams and the Beaufort Scales stories so part of the fun for me was getting Gobbelino's slightly cynical, scarred by experience, quintessentially feline view on the world. I liked the changing political culture of The Watch and how scary the Inbetween and the things that live there were. They gave a stimulating sharp edge to the cosy feel of the story.

One of the things that made me smile was that the root cause of the world being driven to the edge of destruction was someone's desire to be nice. I always knew that unbridled optimism and limitless goodwill were dangerous.

I thought the actions scenes, which mostly take place in an environment where time and space are distorted, were very well done. Most of all, of course, I liked the humour which pulses through the story.

I'll be back for more of Gobbelino's brushes with the bizarre (there are seven books in the series) starting with 'Gobbelino London And A Contagion Of Zombies' - how could I resist a title like that? show less

Gobbelino London & a Scourge of Pleasantries is the first in the Gobbelino London, PI series by Kim M. Watt. The story is told entirely from Gobbelino's point of view. Gobbelino is a cat detective who, as we learn as the story progresses, is attempting to keep a lower profile so he doesn't have any other run in's with this world's magical police, the Watch. Still, a cat's got to eat. Gobbelino along with his human, Callum, run a private investigative agency as a way to make ends meet. Cases have been sparse lately so when a mysterious woman wearing Doc Martens and too much perfume offers them a paying job, the detective duo really aren't in a position to turn the work away. The job: recover a stolen book from the woman's ex-husband.

I show more really enjoyed having the story told from the cat's perspective. I like how the author didn't make it easy for Gobs, being realistic about the difficulties his size and lack of thumbs provides. And the advantages a cat has too. The snarky humor was right up my alley as I found myself chuckling many times as I read. Gobbelino has a poor grasp of human idioms. Callum is a good partner for Gobs, being a genuinely nice guy and has the thumbs that a cat lacks. Callum has a history I hope we learn more of as the series progresses. They make a great duo.

I don't want to go into too much detail about the shenanigans that ensue shortly after our crack pair of investigators take the case so I'll keep it brief. The book features a snarky feline humor, a dubious client, a dentist, a feral book, pastel rats, reality bending buildings, a horribly pleasant old lady and a kraken in a sink. This book was right up my alley. I look forward to continuing the series.

Thank you @sakerfalcon for the BB. show less

A scourge of tolerability, really. The premise is mildly encouraging: the straight-laced, down-on-his-luck, broke-as-, private investigator paired with a cat (apparently, all cats can talk but this one is willing to break the rules). A beautiful woman comes to them with a request to retrieve a book and the shenanigans are on.

This feels very first novel. Despite being first person from the cat perspective, the vast majority of the time, the voice felt solidly millennial dude (no judgement implied; just that I doubt cats sound the same). Mostly, though, it just felt okay.

"If anyone had asked how business was going, I could have summed it up like this: currently, a very large man with a very bald head was waving a very heavy tyre iron show more around our office in a very threatening manner. And our office being too small to swing the proverbial cat (and trust me, that'd better be proverbial. Cats do not take kindly to such treatment), he had already cracked the back of the rickety chair on his side of the desk, smashed on of our three remaining overhead fluorescent lights, and had come alarmingly close to my ears where I crouched on top of the rusty old filing cabinet."

The style has a humous approach that keeps it entertaining. The first escapade is more slapstick but eventually it gets more surreal. I liked the hints of depth for the characters, particularly when Gob talked about walking the in-between. I would have liked to dive into Callum's backstory, but I'm guessing that will be a later book. This story develops potential connections, both friendly and otherwise, for both Callum and Gob that feel genuine.

“Dude, my kitty senses are on fire,” I said."

For me, the general writing and the unfulfilled cat premise probably isn't enough to return me to the series, but you never know. Curiosity might strike.

Two and a half stars, rounding up for the humor. show less

A pleasant little fantasy about a talking cat who runs a detective agency with a human friend.