Cat Mystery Novelist Dies

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Lilian Jackson Braun, a mystery novelist whose best-selling "Cat Who" series repeatedly plumbed the hearts, minds and digestive tracts of her crime-solving feline heroes, died on Saturday in Landrum, S. C. She was 97, according to a New York Times obituary.
Lillian Jackson Braun.jpg

Lillian Jackson Braun



The series began in 1966 with "The Cat Who Could Read Backwards" and concluded in 2007 with "The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers," its 29th volume. In between were, among other titles, "The Cat Who Played Brahms;" "The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare;" "The Cat Who Sniffed Glue;" "The Cat Who Said Cheese;" and "The Cat Who Smelled a Rat." Not only did Braun begin her 'career' relatively late in life, she pretty much invented her own genre. The novels, which have sold millions of copies and been translated into 16 languages, appeared regularly on The New York Times's best-seller list. 

Their human protagonist is Jim Qwilleran, a newspaperman, amateur sleuth and all-round sensitive guy who lives in an unspecified northerly state that seems to have a disproportionate share of homicide.

Qwilleran's sidekick -- in the opinion of many, the book's real star -- is his intrepid, preternaturally intelligent Siamese shamus, Koko. Koko's sidekick is Yum Yum, also a Siamese. (Like her namesake of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, Yum Yum is dainty and not precisely a cognitive giant, but she proves useful throughout the series for her dexterous, conveniently larcenous paws.)

An indication of just how fully Ms. Braun's series had insinuated itself into popular culture came in 2003 in the form of a satirical mystery novel by Robert Kaplow. Its title: "The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun." Leave it to Ms. Braun to leave us during June, American Humane Association's Adopt A Cat Month. 

10 Jun, 2011


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Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/steve-dale-pet-world/2011/06/cat-mystery-novelist-dies.html
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