Lilian Jackson Braun
(1913–2011)

Born on June 20, 1913, in Massachusetts, and passing away on June 4, 2011, in South Carolina, Lilian Jackson Braun was a trailblazer from an early age. As a teenager, she already worked as a sports reporter for the Detroit News, later becoming an advertising copywriter and spending 30 years as an editor at the Detroit Free Press until her retirement in 1968.

Her literary journey began between 1966 and 1968 with the first novels in her iconic "The Cat Who..." series—mysteries featuring the brilliant Siamese cats Koko (short for Kao K'o-Kung) and Yum-Yum. After a hiatus, she revived the series in 1986, turning it into a bestselling phenomenon. The stories follow journalist Jim Qwilleran and his feline companions, with Koko often playing a pivotal role in solving the most baffling crimes.

Photo credit: Published by catsparella (no further details available).

 

And here her books:

The Cat Who... Series by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards1966

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern1967

The Cat Who Turned On and Off1968

The Cat Who Saw Red1986

The Cat Who Played Brahms1987

The Cat Who Played Post Office1987

The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare1988

The Cat Who Sniffed Glue1988

The Cat Who Went Underground1989

The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts1990

The Cat Who Lived High1990

The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal1991

The Cat Who Moved a Mountain1992

The Cat Who Wasn’t There1992

The Cat Who Went Into the Closet1993

The Cat Who Came to Breakfast1994

The Cat Who Brought Down the House1997

The Cat Who Saw Stars1999

The Cat Who Robbed a Bank2000

The Cat Who Smelled a Rat2001

The Cat Who Went Up the Creek2002

The Cat Who Brought a Friend2003

The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers2007

 

Once you start this series, there’s no stopping—you’ll devour all 29 books like a cat with a bowl of cream. And then, just like that, it’s over, and you’re left feeling oddly homeless, as if you’ve lost a world you’d only just begun to call your own.

Yet that’s the magic of it: slipping into Moose County is effortless, like returning to a place you never knew you missed. So why not give it a try, dear guest?

The door is wide open…