photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Dashiell the cat is pictured Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at The Raven Book Store in downtown Lawrence.

If your working life has consisted of loafing in the sun with your nose in a book and being admired by nearly everyone who lays eyes on you, can you even imagine what splendor retirement holds?

Dashiell, the longtime bookstore cat at The Raven, is about to find out. In June, he’ll be retiring after a distinguished career in downtown Lawrence, where he has delighted customers for 13 years and dramatically enhanced the coziness of the popular book shop.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Dashiell the cat is pictured Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at The Raven Book Store in downtown Lawrence with his co-workers, from left, Adela Solis, PJ Moon and Chris Luxem.

Dashiell and his sister Ngaio — both named after famous detective authors: Dashiell Hammett and Ngaio Marsh — came to the shop in 2011 from the Lawrence Humane Society. The siblings, believed to be around 15 years old now, quickly became local celebrities as they prowled the stacks, endured loads of petting and baby talk and catnapped in windows and unlikely nooks.

Early in their tenure, they were already drumming up business with their aristocratic looks and charm, and they even made an appearance in a book about store pets.

photo by: Journal-World

Topekan Barb Jordan pets Ngaio, one of the cats meandering around The Raven Book Store during a reading by author Cathy Callen on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013.

“They are very well-loved by the customers,” Heidi Raak, then-owner of the store, told the Journal-World in 2013. “We have people who exclusively come into the store to talk to the cats.”

And that hasn’t changed in the years since, though Ngaio retired in 2021.

Dashiell usually begins his mornings with the zoomies, says his co-worker Adela Solis — running around the shop getting ready for the workday. When the store opens, he makes his way around the inventory in a more leisurely fashion, keeping an eye on business and leaning into — or dodging — the affection of customers as the mood strikes him.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Dashiell the cat is pictured Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at The Raven Book Store in downtown Lawrence.

On occasion — even once earlier this week — he wanders out of the store, but finding the world boring and unpleasant, he hastily retreats back to the comfort of his books and bed.

Anyone who has visited The Raven, either at its former location on East Seventh Street or its current location at 809 Massachusetts St., has likely caught a glimpse of Dashiell, a mackerel tabby, or overheard someone in the store cooing at him, unless you were there in December when the Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade — the bane of his existence — is happening.

“The horse parade causes him to hide,” says Chris Luxem, an owner of The Raven.

Luckily, that clopping, neighing horror is behind him. Come Christmas, he’ll be far from the indignity of barnyard smells and jingling bells.

The Raven plans to celebrate Dashiell’s retirement not with a mere party — don’t be silly — but with a whole “spirit week” of events, June 17-22, that will also benefit the Lawrence Humane Society. During that time, customers will be able to receive discounts if they bring in pet bedding (a clean towel, blanket or pet bed) on June 17, dress up like a cat on June 18, buy a book with a cat in the title or on the cover on June 19, or bring in unopened cat food on June 20.

On June 21, from 2 to 3 p.m., the store will host a book signing of “Sound and Purry” with Dashiell, the real author, whose narrative skills might surprise you, and on June 22, all day, patrons can get a photo with Dashiell, “cat permitting.”

The day after that, Dashiell will move to his new home with his co-worker Kelly Barth, where more rest and relaxation await, along with, hopefully, a steady stream of tasty chicken. Luxem says that Dashiell is in good health but is just ready to retire like his sister, who is still enjoying her golden years at the home of a former bookseller.

Dashiell will hand the baton to a new cat, who will soon be “hired” to carry on his important work, though Luxem says the store is still in the process of reviewing resumes.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Dashiell the cat is pictured Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at The Raven Book Store in downtown Lawrence.

photo by: Contributed

Dashiell the cat’s “author photo,” pictured Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at The Raven Book Store in downtown Lawrence.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

An excerpt from Dashiell the cat’s “Sound and Purry,” Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at The Raven Book Store in downtown Lawrence.

photo by: Nick Krug

Ngaio sprawls out in one of her favorite haunts, the front window display of the Raven Bookstore, 6 E. Seventh St., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014.