Lilian Jackson Braun

Author Information
Lilian Jackson Braun
  • Bibliography:
    35 Books (1 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1962
  • Latest Book:
    September 2021
  • Author Rating:
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About the Author

Lilian Jackson Braun is the author of the light-hearted and much loved series of “The Cat Who…” mysteries. It is widely believed that the town of Bad Axe, Michigan where she lived with her husband until the mid-1980s, is the inspiration for the settings and lifestyles described in her books.

She began writing a teenager writing poetry about sports. She became an advertising copywriter and later was the “Good Living” editor for the Detroit Free Press. After receiving critical acclaim for her first three “Cat” novels, she disappeared from publishing for 18 years. In 1986, “The Cat Who Saw Red” was published and Braun was, once again, on the bestseller lists. Much of her private life remains private.

Full Series List in Order

The Cat Who...

1 - The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (1966)
2 - The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (1967)
3 - The Cat Who Turned On and Off (1968)
4 - The Cat Who Saw Red (Apr-1986)
5 - The Cat Who Played Brahms (Jun-1987)
6 - The Cat Who Played Post Office (Dec-1987)
7 - The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare (Jun-1988)
8 - The Cat Who Sniffed Glue (Sep-1988)
9 - The Cat Who Went Underground (Mar-1989)
10 - The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts (Jan-1990)
11 - The Cat Who Lived High (Aug-1990)
12 - The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal (May-1991)
13 - The Cat Who Moved a Mountain (Jan-1992)
14 - The Cat Who Wasn't There (Sep-1992)
15 - The Cat Who Went into the Closet (Apr-1993)
16 - The Cat Who Came to Breakfast (Feb-1994)
17 - Cat Who Blew the Whistle (Jan-1995)
18 - The Cat Who Said Cheese (Feb-1996)
19 - The Cat Who Tailed a Thief (Feb-1997)
20 - The Cat Who Sang for the Birds (Feb-1998)
21 - The Cat Who Saw Stars (Jan-1999)
22 - The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (Jan-2000)
23 - The Cat Who Smelled a Rat (Jan-2001)
24 - The Cat Who Went Up the Creek (Jan-2002)
25 - The Cat Who Brought Down the House (Feb-2003)
25.5 - The Private Life of the Cat Who (Oct-2003)
26 - The Cat Who Talked Turkey (Jan-2004)
27 - The Cat Who Went Bananas (Dec-2004)
28 - The Cat Who Dropped A Bombshell (Jan-2006)
29 - The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (Jan-2007)
The Cat Who Had 14 Tales (Mar-1988)

Book List in Order: 35 titles

  • The Sin of Madame Phloi

    in More Mystery Cats

    Cats and crime make an irresistible combination in this second volume of Mystery Cats. Bestselling author Lilian Jackson Braun uses her favorite breed, the Siamese, to chill us with a tale of a sinister violin-playing villain who gets his comeuppance...

  • The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

    • / Amateur Sleuth
    • Buy Buy
    The Cat Who... - 1

    The world of modern art is a mystery to many. But for Jim Qwilleran it turns into a mystery of another sort when his assignment to cover the art beat for the Daily Fluxion leads down the path to murder A stabbing in an art gallery, vandalized paintin...

  • The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern

    • / Amateur Sleuth
    • Buy Buy
    The Cat Who... - 2

    Jim Qwilleran is not exactly overwhelmed by his new assignment for the Daily Fluxion. Interior design has never been one of his specialties and now he's supposed to turn out an entire magazine on the subject every week! But the first issue of Graciou...

  • The Cat Who Turned On and Off

    • / Amateur Sleuth
    • Buy Buy
    The Cat Who... - 3

    The team of Koko, the brilliant Siamese cat, and Qwilleran, the reporter with the perceptive moustache, is back in action--with an adorable female Siamese, Yum Yum, added to the household. When Qwilleran decides to do a feature series on Junktown,...

  • The Cat Who Saw Red

    The Cat Who... - 4

    Something is amiss at Maus Haus. Not just the mystery of an unsolved "suicide" which hangs over the old mansion, but something ominous in the present-day residence. When Qwilleran moves in to work on his new gastronomical assignment, strange things b...

  • The Cat Who Played Brahms

    The Cat Who... - 5

    Is it just a case of summertime blues or a full-blown career crisis? Newspaper reporter Jim Qwilleran isn't sure, but he's hoping a few days in the country will help him sort out his life. With cats Koko and Yum Yum for company Qwilleran heads for...

  • The Cat Who Played Post Office

    The Cat Who... - 6

    Inheriting unexpected millions has left reporter Jim Qwilleran looking like the cat who swallowed the canary. While his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, adjust to being fat cats in an enormous mansion, Qwilleran samples the life-styles of the rich...

  • The Cat Who Had 14 Tales

    The Cat Who...

    A courageous Siamese bags a cunning cat burglar...a country kitty proves a stumbling block in a violent murder...and an intuitive feline's premonition helps solve the case of the missing antique dealer....

  • The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare

    The Cat Who... - 7

    There's something rotten in the small town of Pickax--at least to the sensitive noses of newspaperman Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. An accident has claimed the life of the local paper's eccentric publisher, but to Qwilleran an...



  • The Cat Who Sniffed Glue

    The Cat Who... - 8

    Living in the peaceful city of Pickax may be restful, but it certainly isn't dull. At least not for one of the most eligible bachelors in town, veteran newspaperman Jim Qwilleran. Having inherited millions, Qwilleran and his two feline companions,...

  • The Cat Who Went Underground

    The Cat Who... - 9

    Jim Qwilleran packs up his old kit bag and his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, for a sun-and-fun summer at his log cabin in Moose County. Their vacation starts off ominously with the disappearance of a handyman hired to patch up Qwilleran's cabin...

  • The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts

    The Cat Who... - 10

    When Mrs. Cobb heard unearthly noises in the antique-filled farmhouse, she called Jim Qwilleran for help. But he was too late. It looked as if his kindly ex-housekeeper had been frightened to death--but by whom? Or what? Now Qwilleran's moved into th...

  • The Cat Who Lived High

    The Cat Who... - 11

    The colorful Casablanca apartment building is in danger of demolition--but not if Jim Qwilleran can help it. He's determined to restore the building to its original grandeur So he- moves in with Koko and Yum Yum--and discovers that the Casablanca is ...

  • The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal

    The Cat Who... - 12

    All the world's a stage--and now Jim Qwilleran's apple orchard has become the stage for a real-life murder scene. The much-disliked director of the Pickax Theatre Club's Shakespeare production, Hilary VanBrook, is found dead after the closing-night c...

  • The Cat Who Moved a Mountain

    The Cat Who... - 13

    Qwill's on top of the world when he rents a house on Big Potato Mountain. The owner, J.J. Hawkinfield, brought real estate development to the once-peaceful Potatoes. But Hawkinfield paid a steep price for his enterprise: He was pushed off a cliff by ...

  • The Cat Who Wasn't There

    The Cat Who... - 14

    Qwill's on his way to Scotland--and on his way to solving another purr-plexing mystery. But this time Kokds nowhere near the scene of the crime. He and Yum Yum are back in Pickax being coddled by a catsitter...but Koko wont sit still once Qwill's tra...

  • The Cat Who Went into the Closet

    The Cat Who... - 15

    Qwill's moved into the old Gage mansion--and the cats are on a treasure hunt! The house's fifty closets are crammed with several generations of junk, and while Qwill investigates two recent deaths--those of the mansion's former occupant and a local p...

  • The Cat Who Came to Breakfast

    The Cat Who... - 16

    Qwilleran and the cats are visiting an island known by many names. Qwill has always called it Breakfast Island, but to the taciturn natives, its Providence Island. To the rich summer residents it's Grand Island--and to the developers and tourists who...

  • Cat Who Blew the Whistle

    The Cat Who... - 17

    Floyd Trevelyan's historic steam locomotive, newly restored, is the newest attraction in Moose County. But the excitement is eclipsed by shock when Trevelyan disappears ... along with millions of investors' dollars. Puzzled and suspicious, Qwill's tr...



  • Mystery Cats 3: More Feline Felonies

    A collection of feline mystery fables features Lilian Jackson Braun's clever Siamese, Phut Phat; Edward D. Hoch's sacred cat with cold ruby eyes; and Patricia Highsmith's mysterious feline creature that serves as one couple's conscience...

  • The Cat Who Said Cheese

    The Cat Who... - 18

    With the approaching Great Food Explo, there's lots of delicious activity in Moose County-restaurant openings, a cheese-tasting, and a bake-off are planned, among other events. But there's nothing as tasty as a morsel of gossip, so when a mysterious ...

  • The Cat Who Tailed a Thief

    The Cat Who... - 19

    There's been a rash of petty thievery in Pickax--ever since banker Willard Carmichael and his flashy young wife, Danielle, moved in. But now Willard's been killed in a mugging Down Below...or so it seems. Qwill's suspicious, especially when Willard's...

  • The Cat Who Sang for the Birds

    The Cat Who... - 20

    As early spring comes to Moose County, Jim Qwilleran is looking forward to the peaceful beauty of nature's rebirth. What he gets instead is a chorus of noisy birds that constantly wakes him from a sound sleep ... especially when Koko insists on joini...

  • The Cat Who Saw Stars

    The Cat Who... - 21

    UFOs in Mooseville? Rumors abound that a missing backpacker has been abducted and it looks like Jim Qwilleran's sedate summer may be interrupted by an investigation--with the help of his own little aliens, Koko and Yum Yum. And when the backpacker's ...

  • The Cat Who Robbed a Bank

    The Cat Who... - 22

    As the Highland Games approach, Jim Qwilleran and the citizens of Pickax prepare to celebrate their Scottish heritage with such events as bagpipe skirling and tossing the caber. But the traditional revelry is marred by troublesome rumors when a visit...

  • The Cat Who Smelled a Rat

    The Cat Who... - 23

    The way Jim Qwilleran sees it, there's nothing worse than being left high and dry. But that's exactly where he's been ever since a record-breaking drought hit Moose County. He's bedraggled. Beleaguered. And, following a rash of fires at local histori...

  • The Cat Who Went Up the Creek

    The Cat Who... - 24

    Jim Qwilleran is enjoying his stay at the Nutcracker Inn in Black Creek. His two Siamese, Koko and Yum Yum, don't seem quite as pleased with the accommodations... though Koko does enjoy keeping a keen eye on the squirrels and other local wildlife. Th...

  • Short and Tall Tales: Moose County Legends

    Dear Reader, When Jim Qwilleran retired to Moose County (400 miles north of everywhere) with his old electric typewriter and his box of yellow lead pencils, he intended to write a book--a novel of crime and investigation with a metropolitan settin...

  • The Cat Who Brought Down the House

    The Cat Who... - 25

    Dear Reader, Twenty-five years ago, Jim Qwilleran walked into my life...huffing into his large moustache, spelling his name oddly, drinking black coffee at the Press Club bar. He was tall but seemed world-weary. His entire earthly possessions fit ...



  • The Private Life of the Cat Who

    The Cat Who... - 25.5

    What could be more purrfect for fans of the Cat Who series than an intimate look at the private lives of those extraordinary Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum--the most unlikely, most unusual, most delightful team in detective fiction! In this charming ...

  • The Cat Who Talked Turkey

    The Cat Who... - 26

    The good people of Moose County are in a fever of excitement. It's almost time for the gala groundbreaking of the Pickax bookstore--and the town of Brrr is preparing for its bicentennial celebration. All the festivities, however, are spoiled by the d...

  • The Cat Who Went Bananas

    The Cat Who... - 27

    Somehow, prizewinning reporter Jim Qwilleran and his extraordinary Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum always land on their feet in the beloved bestselling series... With the opening night of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest fast approachin...

  • The Cat Who Dropped A Bombshell

    The Cat Who... - 28

    Good thing prizewinning reporter Jim Qwilleran has his extraordinary Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum to smell trouble from a mile away... The town of Pickax is buzzing with excitement: its residents are about to celebrate the 150th anniversary of it...

  • The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers

    The Cat Who... - 29

    Times are a-changin' in Pickax, giving Jim Qwilleran some newsworthy notes for the Qwill Pen. A new senior center is in the works as well as a frisky production of Cats. And a local mansion is being converted into a charitable museum. Good thing ther...

  • Qwilleran's Short and Tall Tales

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Lilian Jackson Braun has published 35 books.

Lilian Jackson Braun does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Qwilleran's Short and Tall Tales, was published in September 2021.

The first book by Lilian Jackson Braun, The Sin of Madame Phloi, was published in January 1962.

Yes. Lilian Jackson Braun has 1 series.
Author Series
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