Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Page

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This page was made in loving memory of Lilian Jackson Braun. Lilian Jackson Braun Bettinger, 97, author of The Cat Who mystery series for more than 40 years, died of natural causes Saturday, June 4, 2011, at Hospice House of the Carolina Foothills in Landrum, S.C. She had lived in Tryon for the past 23 years.

She wrote all of her books in long hand. They were published with limited editing. "I don't pay attention to the publishing business. I just write my kitty-cat stories."

She died with one regret, her husband of 33 years said Monday. Because of her failing health, she was unable to finish her last novel, “The Cat Who Smelled Smoke.”.

“She regretted it most of all because so many fans wanted another book,” her husband Earl Bettinger said.

Lilian Jackson Braun, ‘Cat Who’ Writer, Dies at 97
By MARGALIT FOX - (New York Times)



Published: June 7, 2011



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.Her death was announced by her publisher, G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

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”; “... Knew Shakespeare”; “... Sniffed Glue”; “... Said Cheese”; and “... Smelled a Rat.”

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.)

Critical response to the books was generally favorable, with many reviewers praising their essential warmth and cozy charm. Others, however, faulted what they saw as scanty plotting and an overreliance on formulaic set pieces.

But for cat lovers, those set pieces offered dependable pleasures. In book after book, readers could luxuriate in tenderly described scenes of cats purring, cats grooming, cats eating — Qwilleran fed them high-end fare like lobster and crabmeat — cats frolicking and, of course, cats sleeping.

At opportune moments, Qwilleran’s cats throw up clues, as when they pull highly significant books down from shelves. They also throw up hairballs, as cats are wont to do.

Lilian Jackson was born on June 20, 1913, in Willimansett, a village within the city of Chicopee, Mass. The Depression put a college education out of reach; as a young woman, she worked as an advertising copywriter and public-relations executive before spending many years as a lifestyle writer and editor at The Detroit Free Press.

Ms. Braun’s first husband, Louis Paul Braun, died before her. A longtime resident of Tryon, N.C., she is survived by her husband, Earl Bettinger.

After writing “The Cat Who Could Read Backwards,” Ms. Braun quickly followed the book with two more, “The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern” (1967) and “The Cat Who Turned On and Off” (Dutton, 1968).

Then, discouraged by the market’s seemingly insatiable demand for sex and violence in mystery novels — her books have little of either — she set the series aside for 18 years. After retiring from The Free Press, she resumed with “The Cat Who Saw Red,” which appeared in 1986.

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.”