Lilian Braun

Lilian Jackson Braun is the author of thirty mystery novels. As a teen she wrote sports poetry for the Detroit News. She wrote three novels between 1966 and 1968 which were not accepted. As a cat lover and owner of two Siamese cats it was natural to base her writings on cats. Those three novels were entitled "The Cat who Could Read Backwards," "The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern" and "The Cat who Turned On and Off." They weren't successful because they weren't vulgar or bloody enough. She dropped out of sight for 18 years. In 1986 the Berkley Publishing Group returned her to publicity again with "The Cat Who Saw Red" in paperback. Four other paperback novels were then written. The group picked up the first novels and made them instant sellers in paperbacks.

Lilian Braun lived most of her life in a small town in Michigan. She retired as an editor for the Detroit Free Press. Her "The Cat Who..." series are based on a fictional crime solver, James MacIntosh Qwilleran, a big city newspaper reporter and his cats KoKo and Yum Yum. These two cats help him solve the crime in the witty and fun loving series. She considers herself a classic writer and some fans call it a light escape from reality. She is read abroad also, but in translation some of the titles are lost. For instance, in Japanese "The Cat Who Went Underground" is "The Cat Who Goes Under the Floor."