Lilian Jackson Braun, creator of the beloved "Cat Who..." mysteries, has died

Tue, 06/07/2011 - 2:18pm by sernabad

Lilian Jackson Braun, whose writing career included a 30-year stint with The Detroit Free Press before she launched her wildly popular The Cat Who... mysteries, has died.

Ms. Braun used her own felines as inspiration when writing her fun mysteries which were light on violence and gore and rich in engaging dialog. She wrote all of her books in long hand, and always claimed to pay little attention to the details of the publising world. "I just write my kitty-cat stories."

Her first Cat Who... mystery, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, was published in 1966. The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (2006), the last in the series to feature Koko, Yum Yum and their human, Jim "Qwill" Qwilleran, was number 32.

Ms. Braun, who was 97, died in Landrum, South Carolina, where she had lived for more than 20 years..