Lilian Jackson Braun


Lilian Jackson Braun was an American writer well known for her light-hearted series of The Cat Who... mystery novels. The Cat Who books center on the life of former newspaper reporter, James Qwilleran, and his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, in the fictitious small town of Pickax located in Moose County "400 miles north of everywhere." Although never formally stated in her books, the towns, counties and lifestyles described in the series are generally accepted to be modeled after Bad Axe, Michigan, where Braun resided with her husband until the mid-1980s.

Life and career

Born Lilian Jackson in Willimansett, Chicopee, Massachusetts, to Charles Jackson and Clara Ward Jackson, she began her writing career as a teenager, contributing sports poetry for the Detroit News. She went on to write advertising copy for many of Detroit's department stores. For the Detroit Free Press she worked as the "Good Living" editor for 30 years, and retired from that post in 1978.
Between 1966 and 1968, she published three novels to critical acclaim: The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, and The Cat Who Turned On and Off. In 1966, The New York Times labeled Braun "the new detective of the year." The rising mystery writer then disappeared from the publishing scene for 18 years. In 1986, the Berkley Publishing Group reintroduced her work to a new generation of fans with the publication of an original paperback, The Cat Who Saw Red. Within two years, Berkley released four new novels in paperback and reprinted her first three from the 1960s. Braun's series again rose to the top of best seller lists. Penguin Group released the 29th novel in her series, The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, in January 2007. Like many writers of her generation, Braun was an admitted technophobe; she wrote all of her books in long hand and then typed them herself.
Little was known about Braun, who was protective of her private life. Publishers long gave an incorrect year for her birth date, which remained unknown until she finally gave her true age during a 2005 interview with the Detroit News. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Louis Paul Braun, a sister, Florence Jackson, and a brother, Lloyd Jackson. She resided in Tryon, North Carolina, with her husband of 32 years, Earl Bettinger, and their two cats. Each of her books is dedicated to "Earl Bettinger, the Husband Who..."

Death

Braun died at the Hospice House of the Carolina Foothills, in Landrum, South Carolina, from a lung infection.

"The Cat Who..." novels

  1. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards - In 1966, The New York Times labeled Braun "the new detective of the year."
  2. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern
  3. The Cat Who Turned On and Off
  4. The Cat Who Saw Red
  5. The Cat Who Played Brahms
  6. The Cat Who Played Post Office
  7. The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare
  8. The Cat Who Sniffed Glue
  9. The Cat Who Went Underground
  10. The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts
  11. The Cat Who Lived High
  12. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal
  13. The Cat Who Moved a Mountain
  14. The Cat Who Wasn't There
  15. The Cat Who Went into the Closet
  16. The Cat Who Came to Breakfast
  17. The Cat Who Blew the Whistle
  18. The Cat Who Said Cheese
  19. The Cat Who Tailed a Thief
  20. The Cat Who Sang for the Birds
  21. The Cat Who Saw Stars
  22. The Cat Who Robbed a Bank
  23. The Cat Who Smelled a Rat
  24. The Cat Who Went up the Creek
  25. The Cat Who Brought Down the House
  26. The Cat Who Talked Turkey
  27. The Cat Who Went Bananas
  28. The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell
  29. The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers
  30. The Cat Who Smelled Smoke

    Short stories

  31. The Cat Who Had 14 Tales
  32. The Private Life of the Cat Who...
  33. Short and Tall Tales