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A week of "mayhem-as-usual" at Hillside Manor kicks off with the arrival of a mysterious "Mr. Smith" and his floozie "Mrs." from New York City--and it accelerates into chaos when Mr. Smith himself kicks off, a victim of the foulest of plays. Hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn is shocked to learn that her now-defunct roomer was actually "Legs" Benedict--hit man for the notorious Ronzini Family--and that virtually every other guests at her B&B had good reason to want Legs broken. Judith's policeman-hubby Joe is understandably peeved that homicide happened (again!) under his own roof. And when the FBI moves in--more interested in nabbing a Nazi nutcase than a malicious mobster murderer--the local cops clear out, leaving Judith, Joe and irrepressible cousin Renie to find out who whacked the wiseguy before the hits keep coming.… (meer)
Legs Benedict is book fourteen in Mary Daheim's Bed-and-Breakfast mysteries. Our middle-aged heroine, Judith Grover McMonigle Flynn, has her Hillside Manor B&B filled with guests who may not be what they first seemed. Indeed, one of them could be an infamous Mob assassin. That's just what you want to have in your life when you're awaiting the birth of your first grandchild, right? According to chapter one, Judith has been married to her second husband, handsome Joe Flynn. She still hasn't told her son, Mike, that Joe is his bio-dad. (Perhaps the only thing Dan McMonigle was good at besides eating himself to death was being a dad to Mike.)
If that's not enough, there's FBI Agent Bruce Dunleavy comes to investige Judith's mother, the cantankerous Gertrude, claiming she was a Nazi in her youth. Of course it's not true, but Gertrude is enjoying herself egging him on.
NOTES:
Chapter 1:
a. Renie is smoking instead of eating messily. Her husband, Bill, retired from the university and has also taken up smoking.
b. Sweetums the cat has his own way of telling Judith it's lunchtime. (At least he's a good mouser.)
c. Joe Flynn plans to retire from being a homicide detective at the end of the year. It's June.
d. We meet the Schwartzes. (Minerva Schwartz reminds Judith of her piano teacher, Mrs. Grindstein.)
e. The preschool school teachers, Perl and Williams, have arrived. (Pam and Sandi)
f. Here come Pete and Marie Santori, the probable honeymooners. (Their pet names for each other are gag-worthy.)
Chapter 2:
a. Roland de Turque of Kansas City, Missouri, the only African-American guest, has arrived.
b. Room 2 is decorated with daguerreotypes taken in Cincinnati (removed from a family album). One group is of Gertrude's Hoffman ancestors.
c. Renie's kids are currently 29, 28, and 26 years old.
d. Mr. and Mrs. John Smith have arrived.
e. Well, the cancellation last chapter is taken care of by the arrival of Mal and Bea Malone, from Chicago, Illinois.
f. When Judith asked Auntie Vance for a Thelonius Monk record for her birthday back in the 1950s, her aunt was unable to find a 'Loneliest Monk' record.
g. We learn about three cases of Judith dealing with rude guests in the first three months of her B&B. (My favorite was what she did to the woman who attacked Sweetums with a butter knife.)
Chapter 3:
a. Judith finds a piece of paper that puzzles her.
b. Among things guests have mislaid over the years was a baby.
c. The Jones live on the north slope of Heraldsgate Hill. (Their living room is green, blue, and off-white.)
d. Bill is still a consultant to the university psychology department.
e. It's been two years since Mike McMonigle married Kristen Kristen Rundberg (see book 12, Wed and Buried). Their first baby's due date is July 2nd. The couple are currently working in a national park about an hour away from Judith's neighborhood.
f. Judith's safe is behind a false panel in the cherrywood cupboard in the family sitting room on the third floor.
Chapter 4:
a. The disc jockey named John Smith appeared in Wed and Buried.
b. Three of the jigsaw puzzles Judith keeps around are described.
c. Joe broke his leg during their honeymoon in book four, Dune to Death. Their first fight, described here, involved Gertrude.
d. Sweetums' pet door has been broken since Auntie Vance got her foot stuck in it on Memorial Day (she was trying to kick the cat).
Chapter 5:
a. Armenian war refugees came to the USA after World War II.
b. Joe directly addresses Gertrude Grover as "Mrs. G". The author says he's never felt up to calling her anything more intimate.
c. That fortune teller died at the B & B in book one, Just Desserts.
d. The divan in the more expensive room 3 is the one Grandma Grover used to nap on when it was in the front parlor.
e. I do not remember in which book Gertrude started a fire.
Chapter 6:
a. Judith is taken aback when Renie tells her that she and Bill are part of something called the key club.
b. Neighbors Carl and Arlene are away, so they can't help.
c. Phyllis blames Sweetums for what has happened.
Chapter 7:
a. Pity Jesus Jorge Martinez as you read his attempt to interview Gertrude about the murder.
b. Grandma Grover braided rugs that are so thick, Judith had to have a sixteenth of an inch removed from the bottom of room 4's door so it would clear the rug.
c. Aunt Deb once broke three sewing machines in two weeks.
d. When her English class was supposed to write a term paper on legendary American heroes, Judith wrote about Al Capone. Her paper was titled, 'Scar-Face: Robin Hood or Robbing Hood'. (She got a C-. We don't learn what she got for her paper on Ma Barker for her Modern Family course.)
e. Mal mourns the loss of Tagliavini, Albanese, McCormack, and Corelli.
f. Joe's ex-wife, Vivian Flynn, enters the book. Judith's cup of troubles runneth over.
Chapter 8:
a. Vivian has a guest named DeeDee. They sang together in Panama City as the 'V. D. Girls'. [If you're too young to remember, the initialism 'VD' was short for 'venereal disease,' the old name for sexually transmitted diseases/infections.]
b. Renie's current project for Boring Airplane Company is called 'Planes, Trains, and Pedophiles'.
c. FBI Agent Bruce Dunleavy shows up, His interview with Gertrude doesn't go as planned, either,
d. Gertrude was born in Boppard, Germany. Her Hoffman parents brought her to the USA when she was 18 months old.
e. What's stored in Hillside Manor's basement is described, including a rusty lawn mower Grandpa Grover used (Judith is sentimental).
Chapter 9:
a. Once the IRS thought Deborah Grover, Renie's mom, was a taxidermist.
b. Judith is ill.
Chapter 10:
a. Renie and Judith discuss opera and classic killers.
b. Judith and Arlene Rankers are no longer caterers.
Chapter 11:
a. "Quinsy" is an old name for throat inflammation, especially if one has an abscess near the tonsils. Current term: "peritonsillar abscess".
b. "Headcrusher" is defined. (Ick)
c. Renie cries only when her favorite baseball team doesn't make it into the postseason.
Chapter 12:
a. Joe learned to cook before he was married.
b. In chapter six of book 12, Wed and Buried, we learned that Joe's mother died young. Here we learn he was in his teens.
c. Agent Dunleavy is interviewing Gertrude again.
d. Sweetums eats from a can of Feline Feast.
Chapter 13:
a. Once Judith had a couple from Iowa as guests in Room three. They sneaked in their pot-bellied pig, Gustav into their room.
b. Room six has a hooked rug Gertrude made before her eyes got bad.
c. According to the cousins' steward (when they were single and took a trip to Europe), their cabin has set a transatlantic disorder record.
d. Pamela Perl's address is 309 Parker Street, Newark, New Jersey. Cassandra Williams (Sandi) has the same address.
e. This chapter has some biographical information about Legs Benedict.
f. Blanche Rexford, head librarian at the Heraldsgate Hill Library, trained with former librarian Judith 20 years ago.
Chapter 14:
a. White brick Central Hospital is where Grovers have gone for almost 50 years. Mike and two of his Jones cousins were born there. Judith's father, Donald, died in the since-demolished old wing.
b. Renie and Bill bought a Toyota Camry they call 'Cammy" after Renie totaled their blue Chevrolet on a mountain pass two winters ago. The Jones are about as attached to Cammy as they are their bunny, Clarence.
c. Renie and Judith have an argument over Sweetums sneaking into Cammy that grows to include Renie tucking in and singing a bedtime song to her bunny, Clarence.
d. Mike and Kristin have named their red-haired newborn 'Dan McMonigle II'. He weighs 8 pounds, 9 ounces.
e. None of Vivian's children have had had children, not even the two older ones who have been married twice.
f. Blanche calls back with more information.
Chapter 15:
a. Judith has to ask the unpleasant Ingrid Heffleman of the state B&B association for help.
b. We learn why Renie won't go to the Heraldsgate Library. (That's a hefty amount of fines owed!)
Chapter 16:
a. Judith stayed in the hospital for two weeks when Mike was born, according to Gertrude, who says she stayed even longer because she had some problems. (Judith said it was five days.)
b. Here the three remaining trees of what had been the Grover orchard are said to be cherry. Judith's garden currently has foxglove, rose bushes, oriental poppies; with dahlias, Peruvian lilies, and gladiola coming up by the back fence.
c. Joe has decided he'll call little Dan 'Mac".
Chapter 17:
a. Athens Pizza has a similar no-nonsense approach to business as Cal the cobbler.
b. Joe tells Judith that every so often it occurs to him that she could have been a detective.
c. Judith was born, two months to the day, before the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Donald was an air raid warden because a rheumatic heart kept him out of active duty. Gertrude volunteered.)
d. Judith tells Dunleavy about Aunt Deb and Gertrude's trouble with Hannah and Esther Greenberg in their Bridge club.
e. Grandma Grover's nickname was Cora Fat Tail. Neither Judith nor Renie know why.
f. Judith remembers her father and Uncle Cliff arguing about the best way to kill slugs. (Donald's pans of beer never got as many as Uncle Cliff with his flashlight and sharp shovel.)
g. The Dooleys' dog is named Venerable Bede.
Chapter 18:
a. Judith remembers when Mike, now carrying a carton of baby stuff, was carrying a G. I. Joe doll, then a football, then the Blonde du Jour.[of the day, if you weren't forced to take French in school].
b. Renie finally explains about the Key Club.
c. Judith has been an innkeeper, caterer, bartender, librarian, and she sold roller skates while she was in college.
d. The white wicker bassinet that served Renie and Judith, and then their children, is in the garage, along with the stand Uncle Cliff made. He also built the loft in the garage to store a small rowboat he and Grandpa Grover eventually had to abandon. (He built it 60 years ago.)
Chapter 20:
a. Cammy is champagne colored.
b. Judith and Renie look at some photographs of the Malones.
c. Gertrude tells Sweetums she tried to teach him cribbage [and failed].
d. Gertrude hoards worn-out girdles. She has special candy b0oxes in that same middle drawer, under the girdles.
Chapter 21:
a. Gertrude manages to smile when she meets her great-grandson for the first time.
b. Judith and Dan had a black lab named Oliver (badly behaved) when they lived on Thurlow Street (which is in Seattle's south end).
c. The Rankers had a pesky dog named Farky who met a suspicious end many years ago.
d. We find out how the mobster "Fewer Fingers" lost some of his.
e. Mike notices something during the family picture taking.
I've read almost all of the Bed-and-Breakfast mysteries and Legs Benedict is a very good entry. I enjoyed what Judith learned about her guests along the way as well as the interactions between Judith and Agent Dunleavy regarding Gertrude. The birth of her first grandchild prompts memories of our heroine's dismal life with her first husband. Cousin Renie is as rude as ever. Definitely read this one!
Dog lovers will not be happy.
Cat lovers will get the antics of Sweetums (quite amusing since he's not OUR cat). ( )
I got this on a foray into "Gimmick" murder mysteries; where I tried to find books with cat detectives, murders with crossword puzzles, murders with chocolate, or recipes, or antiques, etc, and from the title and the name of the series I was sure I had a winner. It turns out that this one, at least, is surprisingly gimmick-free. If there is a gimmick, it's that the detective runs a little B&B and all the murders and suspects come to her, which, while not an unreasonable assumption for a one-off, would probably start to get silly over the course of several books.
If you're willing to take a few leaps of faith the plot holds together fairly well. It relies a bit on the foolishness of the police, and some characters that combine a kind of schizophrenia with a sunny sociability that doesn't seem realistic. But you may be very comfortable in judging this book by its cover. ( )
This book is extremely Interesting. How many books do you read where a cute bed and breakfast turns into a gathering place for undercover mobsters, and becomes the location of yet another murder? It's an exciting and crazy book, full of strange twists, historic references, and cooky characters. It's fun, fictional, and a story that may make you re-consider your next trip to a bed and breakfast. ( )
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
Judith McMonigle Flynn stared at the blank computer screen, hit several keys in succession, and swore out loud.
Citaten
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
[Phyllis has quit.]
But Phyllis was vehemently shaking her head. 'Godless doings, murder, blood lust, pillage, and the Lord only knows what else. I tell you, it's that cat. He's in league with the Evil One.'
'Phyllis, please.' Judith tried to take the cleaning woman's hand, but she yanked it away.
'Don't add lies to the list of sins. I can't be around such infamy. Who knows, I could be next. That cat is always trying to put me under a spell. He wants me to do bad things, like fornicate and tap dance in short skirts.' (chapter 6)
[Renie is driving Judith to the hospital where her daughter-in-law is giving birth. Judith hears a strange noise.]
'Sweetums!' Judith shrieked. ' Good God! How did he get in here?'
Renie was so startled that she momentarily lost control of the steering wheel. The Camry veered to the right, just missing a blind man and his guide dog.
'Get that damned cat out of here!' Renie yelled. He'll get Cammy hurt!' Grappling with a hissing, clawing Sweetums, Judith finally managed to put him in her lap. 'He doesn't like to ride in cars,' Judith muttered. 'He thinks he's going to the vet.'
'I wish he were going to the pound,' Renie asserted... (chapter 14)
Laatste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
Joe looked back at Mike, and grinned from ear to ear.
A week of "mayhem-as-usual" at Hillside Manor kicks off with the arrival of a mysterious "Mr. Smith" and his floozie "Mrs." from New York City--and it accelerates into chaos when Mr. Smith himself kicks off, a victim of the foulest of plays. Hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn is shocked to learn that her now-defunct roomer was actually "Legs" Benedict--hit man for the notorious Ronzini Family--and that virtually every other guests at her B&B had good reason to want Legs broken. Judith's policeman-hubby Joe is understandably peeved that homicide happened (again!) under his own roof. And when the FBI moves in--more interested in nabbing a Nazi nutcase than a malicious mobster murderer--the local cops clear out, leaving Judith, Joe and irrepressible cousin Renie to find out who whacked the wiseguy before the hits keep coming.
)
)
)
Google Books — Bezig met laden...
(3.44)
1
If that's not enough, there's FBI Agent Bruce Dunleavy comes to investige Judith's mother, the cantankerous Gertrude, claiming she was a Nazi in her youth. Of course it's not true, but Gertrude is enjoying herself egging him on.
NOTES:
Chapter 1:
a. Renie is smoking instead of eating messily. Her husband, Bill, retired from the university and has also taken up smoking.
b. Sweetums the cat has his own way of telling Judith it's lunchtime. (At least he's a good mouser.)
c. Joe Flynn plans to retire from being a homicide detective at the end of the year. It's June.
d. We meet the Schwartzes. (Minerva Schwartz reminds Judith of her piano teacher, Mrs. Grindstein.)
e. The preschool school teachers, Perl and Williams, have arrived. (Pam and Sandi)
f. Here come Pete and Marie Santori, the probable honeymooners. (Their pet names for each other are gag-worthy.)
Chapter 2:
a. Roland de Turque of Kansas City, Missouri, the only African-American guest, has arrived.
b. Room 2 is decorated with daguerreotypes taken in Cincinnati (removed from a family album). One group is of Gertrude's Hoffman ancestors.
c. Renie's kids are currently 29, 28, and 26 years old.
d. Mr. and Mrs. John Smith have arrived.
e. Well, the cancellation last chapter is taken care of by the arrival of Mal and Bea Malone, from Chicago, Illinois.
f. When Judith asked Auntie Vance for a Thelonius Monk record for her birthday back in the 1950s, her aunt was unable to find a 'Loneliest Monk' record.
g. We learn about three cases of Judith dealing with rude guests in the first three months of her B&B. (My favorite was what she did to the woman who attacked Sweetums with a butter knife.)
Chapter 3:
a. Judith finds a piece of paper that puzzles her.
b. Among things guests have mislaid over the years was a baby.
c. The Jones live on the north slope of Heraldsgate Hill. (Their living room is green, blue, and off-white.)
d. Bill is still a consultant to the university psychology department.
e. It's been two years since Mike McMonigle married Kristen Kristen Rundberg (see book 12, Wed and Buried). Their first baby's due date is July 2nd. The couple are currently working in a national park about an hour away from Judith's neighborhood.
f. Judith's safe is behind a false panel in the cherrywood cupboard in the family sitting room on the third floor.
Chapter 4:
a. The disc jockey named John Smith appeared in Wed and Buried.
b. Three of the jigsaw puzzles Judith keeps around are described.
c. Joe broke his leg during their honeymoon in book four, Dune to Death. Their first fight, described here, involved Gertrude.
d. Sweetums' pet door has been broken since Auntie Vance got her foot stuck in it on Memorial Day (she was trying to kick the cat).
Chapter 5:
a. Armenian war refugees came to the USA after World War II.
b. Joe directly addresses Gertrude Grover as "Mrs. G". The author says he's never felt up to calling her anything more intimate.
c. That fortune teller died at the B & B in book one, Just Desserts.
d. The divan in the more expensive room 3 is the one Grandma Grover used to nap on when it was in the front parlor.
e. I do not remember in which book Gertrude started a fire.
Chapter 6:
a. Judith is taken aback when Renie tells her that she and Bill are part of something called the key club.
b. Neighbors Carl and Arlene are away, so they can't help.
c. Phyllis blames Sweetums for what has happened.
Chapter 7:
a. Pity Jesus Jorge Martinez as you read his attempt to interview Gertrude about the murder.
b. Grandma Grover braided rugs that are so thick, Judith had to have a sixteenth of an inch removed from the bottom of room 4's door so it would clear the rug.
c. Aunt Deb once broke three sewing machines in two weeks.
d. When her English class was supposed to write a term paper on legendary American heroes, Judith wrote about Al Capone. Her paper was titled, 'Scar-Face: Robin Hood or Robbing Hood'. (She got a C-. We don't learn what she got for her paper on Ma Barker for her Modern Family course.)
e. Mal mourns the loss of Tagliavini, Albanese, McCormack, and Corelli.
f. Joe's ex-wife, Vivian Flynn, enters the book. Judith's cup of troubles runneth over.
Chapter 8:
a. Vivian has a guest named DeeDee. They sang together in Panama City as the 'V. D. Girls'. [If you're too young to remember, the initialism 'VD' was short for 'venereal disease,' the old name for sexually transmitted diseases/infections.]
b. Renie's current project for Boring Airplane Company is called 'Planes, Trains, and Pedophiles'.
c. FBI Agent Bruce Dunleavy shows up, His interview with Gertrude doesn't go as planned, either,
d. Gertrude was born in Boppard, Germany. Her Hoffman parents brought her to the USA when she was 18 months old.
e. What's stored in Hillside Manor's basement is described, including a rusty lawn mower Grandpa Grover used (Judith is sentimental).
Chapter 9:
a. Once the IRS thought Deborah Grover, Renie's mom, was a taxidermist.
b. Judith is ill.
Chapter 10:
a. Renie and Judith discuss opera and classic killers.
b. Judith and Arlene Rankers are no longer caterers.
Chapter 11:
a. "Quinsy" is an old name for throat inflammation, especially if one has an abscess near the tonsils. Current term: "peritonsillar abscess".
b. "Headcrusher" is defined. (Ick)
c. Renie cries only when her favorite baseball team doesn't make it into the postseason.
Chapter 12:
a. Joe learned to cook before he was married.
b. In chapter six of book 12, Wed and Buried, we learned that Joe's mother died young. Here we learn he was in his teens.
c. Agent Dunleavy is interviewing Gertrude again.
d. Sweetums eats from a can of Feline Feast.
Chapter 13:
a. Once Judith had a couple from Iowa as guests in Room three. They sneaked in their pot-bellied pig, Gustav into their room.
b. Room six has a hooked rug Gertrude made before her eyes got bad.
c. According to the cousins' steward (when they were single and took a trip to Europe), their cabin has set a transatlantic disorder record.
d. Pamela Perl's address is 309 Parker Street, Newark, New Jersey. Cassandra Williams (Sandi) has the same address.
e. This chapter has some biographical information about Legs Benedict.
f. Blanche Rexford, head librarian at the Heraldsgate Hill Library, trained with former librarian Judith 20 years ago.
Chapter 14:
a. White brick Central Hospital is where Grovers have gone for almost 50 years. Mike and two of his Jones cousins were born there. Judith's father, Donald, died in the since-demolished old wing.
b. Renie and Bill bought a Toyota Camry they call 'Cammy" after Renie totaled their blue Chevrolet on a mountain pass two winters ago. The Jones are about as attached to Cammy as they are their bunny, Clarence.
c. Renie and Judith have an argument over Sweetums sneaking into Cammy that grows to include Renie tucking in and singing a bedtime song to her bunny, Clarence.
d. Mike and Kristin have named their red-haired newborn 'Dan McMonigle II'. He weighs 8 pounds, 9 ounces.
e. None of Vivian's children have had had children, not even the two older ones who have been married twice.
f. Blanche calls back with more information.
Chapter 15:
a. Judith has to ask the unpleasant Ingrid Heffleman of the state B&B association for help.
b. We learn why Renie won't go to the Heraldsgate Library. (That's a hefty amount of fines owed!)
Chapter 16:
a. Judith stayed in the hospital for two weeks when Mike was born, according to Gertrude, who says she stayed even longer because she had some problems. (Judith said it was five days.)
b. Here the three remaining trees of what had been the Grover orchard are said to be cherry. Judith's garden currently has foxglove, rose bushes, oriental poppies; with dahlias, Peruvian lilies, and gladiola coming up by the back fence.
c. Joe has decided he'll call little Dan 'Mac".
Chapter 17:
a. Athens Pizza has a similar no-nonsense approach to business as Cal the cobbler.
b. Joe tells Judith that every so often it occurs to him that she could have been a detective.
c. Judith was born, two months to the day, before the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Donald was an air raid warden because a rheumatic heart kept him out of active duty. Gertrude volunteered.)
d. Judith tells Dunleavy about Aunt Deb and Gertrude's trouble with Hannah and Esther Greenberg in their Bridge club.
e. Grandma Grover's nickname was Cora Fat Tail. Neither Judith nor Renie know why.
f. Judith remembers her father and Uncle Cliff arguing about the best way to kill slugs. (Donald's pans of beer never got as many as Uncle Cliff with his flashlight and sharp shovel.)
g. The Dooleys' dog is named Venerable Bede.
Chapter 18:
a. Judith remembers when Mike, now carrying a carton of baby stuff, was carrying a G. I. Joe doll, then a football, then the Blonde du Jour.[of the day, if you weren't forced to take French in school].
b. Renie finally explains about the Key Club.
c. Judith has been an innkeeper, caterer, bartender, librarian, and she sold roller skates while she was in college.
d. The white wicker bassinet that served Renie and Judith, and then their children, is in the garage, along with the stand Uncle Cliff made. He also built the loft in the garage to store a small rowboat he and Grandpa Grover eventually had to abandon. (He built it 60 years ago.)
Chapter 20:
a. Cammy is champagne colored.
b. Judith and Renie look at some photographs of the Malones.
c. Gertrude tells Sweetums she tried to teach him cribbage [and failed].
d. Gertrude hoards worn-out girdles. She has special candy b0oxes in that same middle drawer, under the girdles.
Chapter 21:
a. Gertrude manages to smile when she meets her great-grandson for the first time.
b. Judith and Dan had a black lab named Oliver (badly behaved) when they lived on Thurlow Street (which is in Seattle's south end).
c. The Rankers had a pesky dog named Farky who met a suspicious end many years ago.
d. We find out how the mobster "Fewer Fingers" lost some of his.
e. Mike notices something during the family picture taking.
I've read almost all of the Bed-and-Breakfast mysteries and Legs Benedict is a very good entry. I enjoyed what Judith learned about her guests along the way as well as the interactions between Judith and Agent Dunleavy regarding Gertrude. The birth of her first grandchild prompts memories of our heroine's dismal life with her first husband. Cousin Renie is as rude as ever. Definitely read this one!
Dog lovers will not be happy.
Cat lovers will get the antics of Sweetums (quite amusing since he's not OUR cat). (