Mystery of the Fat Cat by Frank Bonham

Mystery of the Fat Cat Reviews

• 
  Chazzi

  Dogtown is a neighbourhood of a larger city, like Los Angeles. It is a rough area made up of small, poor houses, surrounded by hills that cut it off from the main city making it its own world. The world of Buddy, Ralphie, Little Pie, Cool and Rich; known as the Oak Street Boys.
  
  The Oak Street Boys Club is where the local boys can swim, workout, play sports and hangout. But problems of rats, cockroaches, and deterioration of the structure itself keeps it constantly on the verge of being shut down. If this were to happen, the only place left for the boys to be is on the streets. Streets that have their own dangerous and bad elements.
  
  Mr. Hannibal is the manager and jack of all trades in keeping the club open. When word is received that the building is to be condemned, Mr. Hannibal and the boys decide to send out another request for donations for money to repair the building and get rid of the vermin.
  
  While going through the list, Ralphie is rattling off names and addresses. Ralphie is Buddy's younger brother who is autistic but has a fantastic memory; a memory that contains the complete list of Boys Club donors. The name of 'the Estate of Harriett Adkins' is mentioned, and brings up the subject of Buzzer. Buzzer is Harriett Adkins' cat and was the beneficiary of her half-million dollar estate when she died. The cat lives on the property with a live-in caretaker and a high priced vet on call. When Buzzer dies, the estate then goes to the Boys Club. The question is "is Buzzer still alive?" No one has seen the cat and he is quite old by now. This becomes the mystery in the story.
  
  The estate is on top of one of the hills surrounding Dogtown, and is enclosed by high fencing and gates. The only know visitor is the vet. Otherwise no one sees or hears of the cat. The lengths and methods the boys go to to solve this mystery shows ingenuity, creativity and humours.
  
  The action is good and I enjoyed the writing. The action keeps moving with progress and a few setbacks. There is humour and lessons to be learned.
• 
  寿理 宮本

  This is one of the worst mysteries I've ever finished reading. (I'm sure I've started ones that were too terrible to finish but have blocked them from memory.) It's not as such bad writing, just... the mystery itself is trash.
  
  In principle, it would actually be a reasonably good mystery: rich eccentric leaves her fortune to her cats, upon the death of which the local Boys Club will get the remaining estate. Catch is, the last living cat seems to be immortal, at ***28 YEARS OLD.***
  
  The actual execution of the mystery... I don't know. A very lot of things rub me the wrong way about it, including the reason nobody has caught on to the suspiciousness of this cat's eternal youth. Also the twist of how nobody could tell the archival photo of the cat at a younger age was mirrored.
  
  Good things:
  - accurate depiction of the effects of poverty on children (and the fact that boredom increases crime, so closing the Boys Club has undesirable secondary effects)
  - acknowledgement of casual racism and how it's often easier to just ignore it to keep the peace than speak up when the "affected" party isn't there (though nowadays, it's better to speak up ESPECIALLY when the affected party isn't there, which Buddy seems to start to realise)
  - the black man whose property had been trespassed nevertheless looked extremely uncomfortable in the police station (never changes, huh)
  - Dad's words of wisdom, paraphrased: "The shotgun trap may be illegal, but that won't matter if you get your fool head blown off by it."
  
  Bad things:
  - nobody in the book other than the ONE girl seems to like cats, not even when the rat problem is what finally shuts down the Boys Club for good (okay, that's a lie, the EXPLOSION is what shutters it for GOOD)
  - frankly, the rat attack seemed ridiculous (even if hyperbole)
  - villain had HOW many years to find a perfect lookalike and went with the easiest to prove a fake?
  - repeated use of a slur for someone who possibly has autism but at the very least has a learning disability ("product of its time" doesn't make it any more palatable, regardless of period accuracy)
  - (why did they even take Ralphie along, someone who cannot lie and will announce your guilt at the drop of a hat)
  
  I guess it's an okay read if you're after a period piece. I just happen to have not enjoyed it as much as I had been hoping, after finding a familiar yet unread title after all this time.
• 
  Karen GoatKeeper

  Harriet Atkins left her estate to care for her five cats. When they died, the money went to the Dogtown Boys Club.
  The Boys Club is falling down, only open because the town doesn't want the boys out on the streets looking for amusement and trouble. The rats and cockroaches are honorary members.
  When disaster strikes, Buddy, Johnny, Rich and Cool are sent on a mission to see if 28-year-old tomcat Buzzer is really still alive. That's when things really start happening in Dogtown.
  This is an easy to read, fun, fast paced book with an unlikely hero.
• 
  Cody Spurlock

  Mystery of the Fat Cat by Frank Bonham, is a great book that was enjoyable to read. The characters were each written well and it very rarely had a boring moment. The books story was easy to follow and was understandable at all times. The plot of the book was interesting and fit really well with the entire setting. Overall I would recommend Mystery of the Fat Cat to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.
• 
  Benjamin Kahn

  I read every Frank Bonham books that the library had when I was a kid. I loved them. They were a little bit like S. E Hinton's book, but there was a little more humour and fun in them. I don't remember a lot of the plots now - just pieces here and there - but I remember enjoying them all greatly.
• 
  Amy Wang

  The book suspended me into my seat, while actions was everywhere