Lilian Jackson Braun

Lilian Jackson Braun (1913-2011) was an American writer, born in Chicopee, Massachusetts, best known for The Cat Who... series of light mystery novels. She wrote sports poetry as a teenager for The Detroit News, worked in advertising copywriting and public relations, and spent about three decades at the Detroit Free Press, where she edited the Good Living section.

Her first three novels, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern and The Cat Who Turned On and Off, appeared between 1966 and 1968. After a gap of nearly two decades she resumed the series in 1986 with The Cat Who Saw Red.

The books follow newspaper reporter Jim Qwilleran and his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, in the fictional small town of Pickax in Moose County. The series reached 29 novels, ending with The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers in 2007, plus three story collections. She married Earl Bettinger in 1979 and lived in Tryon, North Carolina.

The Mystery Writers of America created the Lilian Jackson Braun Award for cozy mysteries in her memory.