Hi beauties! I hope everything is well with you! For the second instalment of Book of the Month I wanted to share with you this book, which is a very easy read by author Lynne Truss (not to be confused with the new UK Prime Minister, and ex Shell employee, Liz Truss) – Cat out of Hell.

This is not the first book I’ve read by Lynne Truss: I started with Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (a book for grammar-Nazi, and I mean it with all the love as I feel very close to them) and I also read the sequel of Cat out of Hell, which is The Lunar Cats.

What’s in the book?

Clearly, I was drawn up to this book because of the title: it has “cat” in it and that was already a great selling point! And having read Eats, Shoots and Leaves I knew the writing would have not disappointed me.

It is also a short book, and the version that was readily available from the library was in large print, which made it even an easier read (not ashamed of taking a large print book and I encourage you to try them!).

The main characters are a librarian and two “evil cats”: the story follows some deaths connected to sightings of such felines and the librarian is going to solve these mysteries. Love me a story involving a smart detective librarian!

Truss has a very specific sense of humour that you can see in most of her books: it’s dry and very British, so it might not be for everybody. But it’s surely my favourite!

As for the genre, it’s a delicious mix of fantasy and mystery. If you like the idea of a fantasy/mystery book with the main character a detective librarian, there is also the series The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman (and will definitely feature AT LEAST one book of the series here).

Some Quotes

“Since Mary died, I have looked at people bothering about ridiculous things and I simply cannot bear it! How can they be ignorant of the fact that – in a second – we are gone? Any sort of cruelty or stupidity dismays me.” (p.75)

“The smell – well. WE’d noticed the smell, of course, but we didn’t realise it was coming from here. Some of the readers – well, you know what they’re like.” (p.82)

“I was so startled that I giggled. This man can’t have satanic eyeballs, I thought. He’s a librarian.” (p.170)

Conclusion

This is a very easy read and very funny and the writing is impeccable. The plot is perfect, especially for those who love libraries, librarians and cats. A great read for any time of the year, from a cosy Sunday afternoon with a blanket and cup of tea, or for the beach.

Whether you’ve read it or plan to, let me know your thoughts.

Love,

TVCL xx