The Cat Who... is a series of twenty-nine mystery novels and three related collections by Lilian Jackson Braun and published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, featuring a reporter named Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, Kao K'o-Kung (Koko for short) and Yum Yum. The first was written in 1966, with two more following in 1967 and 1968. The fourth appeared eighteen years later, after which at least one new novel was published every year until 2007. A thirtieth novel, originally announced for 2008, was postponed indefinitely by its publisher and then canceled after the author's death in 2011. It remains unpublished. [1]
James Mackintosh Qwilleran is the main human character in the books. Qwilleran (Qwill to his friends) is a man who goes from late forties to mid fifties over the course of the series. He is often described as looking melancholy or brooding, but he is witty and enjoyable company. His most distinguishing feature is his "luxuriant moustache."
"Kao K’o-Kung" is the full name of the Siamese cat who is almost always referred to as Koko. [2] He is named after a 13th-century Chinese artist whose name is usually written in modern Pinyin as Gao Kegong. He has the appearance of a prize-winning show-cat and an obstinate attitude toward anything he does not like.
Yum Yum is also Siamese, and had a troubled past. Yum Yum is named after a character in the opera The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan who is also the ward of a man named Ko-Ko. Yum Yum is described as being smaller than Koko, and far more affectionate. Her beautiful violet-blue eyes are slightly crossed. [3]
Order Number | Release Year | Title | ISBN | Peak on NY Times Best Seller List | Summary |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1966 | The Cat Who Could Read Backwards | 0-515-09017-4 | -- | Qwilleran and Koko's first meeting. |
2 | 1967 | The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern | 0-515-08712-2 | -- | Qwill is given the interior design beat for his newspaper. He also meets Yum Yum. |
3 | 1968 | The Cat Who Turned On and Off | 0-515-08794-7 | -- | Qwill goes to Junktown to write a Christmas feature series. |
4 | 1986 | The Cat Who Saw Red | 0-515-09016-6 | -- | Qwill gets assigned to the culinary beat and reunites with an old flame. |
5 | 1987 | The Cat Who Played Brahms | 0-515-09050-6 | -- | A contemplative Qwill withdraws from the big city to visit his Aunt Fanny in Moose County. |
6 | 1988 | The Cat Who Played Post Office | 0-515-09320-3 | -- | A bicycling mishap and a brightly painted room have Qwill's mustache twitching. |
7 | 1988 | The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare | 0-515-09582-6 | -- | Fire and death at the newspaper offices. |
8 | 1988 | The Cat Who Sniffed Glue | 0-515-09954-6 | -- | Vandalism appears in Pickax and a couple is murdered. |
9 | 1989 | The Cat Who Went Underground | 0-515-10123-0 | -- | Qwill goes on vacation and carpenters in the area start dying. |
10 | 1990 | The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts | 0-515-10265-2 | -- | One of Qwill's friends is found scared to death in her own home. |
11 | 1990 | The Cat Who Lived High | 0-515-10566-X | -- | Qwill returns to Junktown to try to restore an old apartment building. |
12 | 1991 | The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal | 0-515-10786-7 | 11 | Pickax's principal is found fatally shot after a party at Qwill's barn. |
13 | 1991 | The Cat Who Moved a Mountain | 0-515-10950-9 | 9 | Qwill and the cats go on retreat in the Potatoes. |
14 | 1992 | The Cat Who Wasn't There | 0-515-11127-9 | 11 | Sixteen Moose County residents go on group tour to Scotland. |
15 | 1993 | The Cat Who Went Into the Closet | 0-515-11332-8 | 15 | Qwill attempts to solve a murder mystery long distance. |
16 | 1994 | The Cat Who Came to Breakfast | 0-515-11564-9 | 6 | Qwill and his felines take a trip to Breakfast Island resort. |
17 | 1995 | The Cat Who Blew the Whistle | 0-515-11824-9 | 8 | A railroad buff and president of a local bank disappears. |
18 | 1996 | The Cat Who Said Cheese | 0-515-12027-8 | 5 | A stranger checks into the New Pickax Hotel. Not too long after, the hotel is bombed. |
19 | 1997 | The Cat Who Tailed a Thief | 0-515-12240-8 | 9 | Small actions of theft are occurring in Pickax and a few people are found dead. |
20 | 1998 | The Cat Who Sang for the Birds | 0-515-12463-X | 5 | An old barn across from the new art center burns down. |
21 | 1999 | The Cat Who Saw Stars | 0-515-12739-6 | 6 | Qwill takes a vacation in Mooseville. |
22 | 2000 | The Cat Who Robbed a Bank | 0-515-12994-1 | 9 | A jewelry dealer from Chicago comes to visit and is murdered. |
23 | 2001 | The Cat Who Smelled a Rat | 0-399-14665-2 | 2 | A very dry year and concerns about wildfires have everyone praying for snow. |
24 | 2002 | The Cat Who Went Up The Creek | 0-515-13438-4 | 4 | Qwill and the cats stay at a riverside inn in Black Creek. |
25 | 2003 | The Cat Who Brought Down the House | 0-515-13655-7 | 3 | An aging film star retires to Pickax. |
26 | 2004 | The Cat Who Talked Turkey | 0-399-15107-9 | 4 | The long-absent turkey population begins to return to Pickax. |
27 | 2005 | The Cat Who Went Bananas | 0-399-15224-5 | 14 | A new bookstore opens. |
28 | 2006 | The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell | 0-399-15307-1 | 3 | Moose County prepares for its 150th anniversary. |
29 | 2007 | The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers | 978-0399153907 | 10 | Polly unexpectedly takes a library job in Paris, leaving without even saying goodbye to Qwill, and a gardener's so-called accidental death does not seem so accidental. |
30 | -- | The Cat Who Smelled Smoke | 978-0399154744 | Unpublished. Title supposedly a reference to events in the previous book. | |
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, the second-longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time. By the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.
Time Enough for Love is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1973. The work was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1974.
The Siamese cat is one of the first distinctly recognized breeds of Asian cat. Derived from the Wichianmat landrace, one of several varieties of cat native to Thailand, the original Siamese became one of the most popular breeds in Europe and North America in the 19th century. The carefully refined, more extreme-featured, modern-style Siamese is characterized by blue almond-shaped eyes; a triangular head shape; large ears; an elongated, slender, and muscular body; and various forms of point colouration. Other than colouration, the modern-style Siamese bears little resemblance to the original stock, and the more moderate, traditional, or "old-style" Siamese, with a much rounder head and body, has been re-established by multiple registries as the Thai cat. The International Cat Association describes the modern Siamese as affectionate, social, intelligent, and playful into adulthood, often enjoying a game of fetch. Siamese tend to seek human interaction and also like companionship from other cats.
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television, film, and theater published or produced in the previous year.
Out of the Inkwell is an American major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929.
Lilian Jackson Braun was an American writer known for her light-hearted series of The Cat Who... mystery novels. The Cat Who books features newspaper journalist Jim Qwilleran and his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, first in an unnamed midwestern American city and then in the fictitious small town of Pickax located in Moose County "400 miles north of everywhere". Although never explicitly located in the books, the towns, counties, and lifestyles portrayed in the series are generally accepted to be modeled after Bad Axe, Michigan, where Braun resided with her husband until the mid-1980s.
Koko or KOKO may refer to:
The Cat Who Turned On and Off is the third novel in a series of murder mystery novels by Lilian Jackson Braun.
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast (1994) is the sixteenth mystery novel by Lilian Jackson Braun, one of The Cat Who series.
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards is the first novel in Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who... series, published in 1966.
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern is the second novel in Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who... series, published in 1967. This book introduces Yum Yum, who became a permanent character in the series.
The Cat Who Went Underground is the ninth novel in The Cat Who series of murder mystery novels by Lilian Jackson Braun.
The Cat Who Saw Red is a mystery novel by Lilian Jackson Braun, published as a Jove Books paperback original in 1986. It is the fourth story in The Cat Who... series featuring journalist Jim Qwilleran and Siamese cat Koko, which it resumed eighteen years after a 1960s trilogy. Reissues of the first three stories were promoted on its back cover: "Watch for these other Lilian Jackson Braun mysteries:". 25 further sequels were published from 1987 to 2007.
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare is the seventh book in The Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun, published in 1988.
The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal is the twelfth book in The Cat Who series of mystery novels by Lilian Jackson Braun, published in 1991.
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief is the nineteenth book in The Cat Who series of mystery novels by Lilian Jackson Braun, published in 1997.
The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers is the 29th book in The Cat Who series. It was released in 2007 and is written by Lilian Jackson Braun.
The Cat Who Talked Turkey is the 26th novel in The Cat Who series written by Lilian Jackson Braun.
The Cat Who Went Bananas is the 2005 novel in The Cat Who... series by Lilian Jackson Braun.
The Mars Project is a 1952 non-fiction scientific book by the German rocket physicist, astronautics engineer and space architect, Wernher von Braun. It was translated from the original German by Henry J. White and first published in English by the University of Illinois Press in 1953.