Cat Who Book

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Cat who series.jpg A Cat Who... Book is a book in a series of murder mystery novels by Lilian Jackson Braun. This series is called the "Cat Who..." series because each book title in this series begins with the words "The Cat Who. . .".

"Cat Who..." books feature a reporter named James Qwilleran and his Siamese cats Kao K'o-Kung, Koko for short, and a queen cat, Yum-Yum. Qwilleran solves local murders in Moose County, probably in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, "four hundred miles north of everywhere," with the help of his cats, who always provide indispensable clues. The tone is light and playful. In later books, Qwilleran becomes wealthy, but writes for the pleasure of it.

The first book in the series was written in 1966. Eighteen years passed until Jackson Braun published the series, and today new "Cat Who..." books are still being published. The titles in the series are, in order:

1. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, 1966 (ISBN 0515090174): Qwill and Koko's first meeting.
2. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, 1967 (ISBN 0515087122): Qwill is given the interior design beat for his newspaper.
3. The Cat Who Turned on and Off, 1968 (ISBN 0515087947): Qwill goes to Junktown to write a feature series.
4. The Cat Who Saw Red, 1986 (ISBN 0515090166): Qwill gets assigned to the culunary beat and reunites with an old flame.
5. The Cat Who Played Brahms, 1987 (ISBN 0515090506): Qwill leaves the big city to move to Pickax.
6. The Cat Who Played Post Office, 1988 (ISBN 0515093203): Someone seems to be trying to get rid of Qwill, and a brightly painted room has his moustache twitching.
7. The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare, 1988 (ISBN 0515095826): Fire and death at the newspaper offices.
8. The Cat Who Sniffed Glue, 1988 (ISBN 0515099546)
9. The Cat Who Went Underground, 1989 (ISBN 0515101230)
10. The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts, 1990 (ISBN 0515102652)
11. The Cat Who Lived High, 1990 (ISBN 051510566X)
12. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal, 1991 (ISBN 0515107867)
13. The Cat Who Moved a Mountain, 1991 (ISBN 0515109509): Qwill and the cats go on vacation.
14. The Cat Who Wasn't There, 1992 (ISBN 0515111279)
15. The Cat Who Went into the Closet, 1993 (ISBN 0515113328)
16. The Cat Who Came to Breakfast, 1994 (ISBN 0515115649)
17. The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, 1995 (ISBN 0515118249): A railroad buff and president of a local bank disappears.
18. The Cat Who Said Cheese, 1996 (ISBN 0515120278)
19. The Cat Who Tailed a Thief, 1997 (ISBN 0515122408)
20. The Cat Who Sang for the Birds, 1998 (ISBN 051512463X)
21. The Cat Who Saw Stars, 1999 (ISBN 0515127396)
22. The Cat Who Robbed a Bank, 2000 (ISBN 0515129941)
23. The Cat Who Smelled a Rat, 2001 (ISBN B00007D03T)
24. The Cat Who Brought Down the House, 2002 (ISBN 0515136557): An aging film star retires to Pickax.
25. The Cat Who Went up the Creek, 2002 (ISBN 0515134384)
26. The Cat Who Talked Turkey, 2004 (ISBN 0399151079)
27. The Cat Who Went Bananas, 2004 (ISBN 0399152245)
28. The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell, 2005 (ISBN 0399153071)

In addition, Braun published two collections of short stories based on the same characters: The Cat Who Had 14 Tales (ISBN 0515094978), and Short and Tall Tales: Moose County Legends Collected by James Mackintosh Qwilleran (ISBN 0515136352).

Other authors have published books related to the series: The Cat Who...Companion (ISBN 0425186423), The Cat Who... Quiz Book (ISBN 0425191877), and even a Cat Who... Cookbook (ISBN 0425176746). The series has inspired a parody as well: The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun (ISBN 1893224848) by Robert Kaplow.

Braun's Private Life of the Cat Who... (ISBN 0515138320), a collection of pieces from several previous works, was released in September, 2004.fr:Lilian Jackson Braun