Lilian Jackson Braun - dead, dying...or alive?

[Jackie Houchin]

Has anyone read the latest "Cat Who--" book? (60 Whiskers) What's your opinion? Do you think the author is still alive and writing them? If so, she must be in her nineties. Or...do you think the last several books have been written by writers using her name, like Carolyn Keene with the Nancy Drew mysteries?

[Anne Johnston]

I'm telling ya'll...LJB wrote the final book years ago, with explicit directions to not publish it until she passes away!
...AND, I think she wrote the first dozen or so within a very short time period and that's why those earlier books flow so nicely with one another. So, IF she wrote the final book around the same time as the earlier ones in the series, doesn't it kind of make sense that these last few would be hard to "fit" and then segue into the final one?
But anyway...whether the publisher pulled this one b/c of poor reviews or some other reason, we'll just have to be patient. The truth will eventually come out!

[Marija Unrau]

Ahhhhh, patience. So hard to come by. Anyway, sure got people talking and there is now continued discussion on all forums. That's good :)

[Anne Johnston]

Yes, it's nice to see the discussion pick up. My theory could be all wet, and the information my friend mentioned could very well be someone else's theory; but it makes sense, so that's what I'm hanging onto until I learn the "truth".
In the meantime, I'm half-heartedly looking for another mystery writer in whose books I can get lost and fall in love with their "Moose County".

[Marija Unrau]

If you find one, please let us know, I am sure that there is more than one person looking for a :Moose County" to fill the void!

[Sarah Joy Rhodes]

Visit Huron County Michigan. Its where Moose County is based out of:)

[Jon Johnson]

When I discovered Ms. Braun and the Cat Who books, I bought the entire series to that point and read them all in a week's vacation. I sent Ms. Braun a note through her publisher telling her how much I enjoyed all her books and would look forward to all her future work. In about six weeks I received a beautiful hand-written note back from her signed by her, KoKo and Yum Yum. ;)

[cbeach]

I've read the entire series and firmly believe that Miss Braun did not author the last three books at least. As others have mentioned here, Miss Braun's whole writing flair and minute details that only faithful readers would know are MISSING!

I sorrowfully believe Miss Braun is deceased or feeble at this point. And I think there should have been a major protest to the publisher when "60 Whiskers" went public. Qwilleran deciding not to press the point of Koko's 60 whiskers? Come now, we all know Qwill loved a lively story for the community of Pickax!! I will miss the whole of Moose County. As someone else here suggested, The Cat Who Brought Down the House was her last personally written story in the series, I'm sure.

[Bruce White]

I have only physically read about 2 or 3 of the "Cat Who ..." books, but have listened to all of them in audio format, read by George Guidall. I just started "60 Whiskers" this morning. Unfortunately, I saw some of the spoilers in the posts here last week.

I have enjoyed the "Cat Who ..." books. They aren't great literature but they are nice, light mystery fiction. I would like to know Jim Qwilleran and some of the other Pickaxe characters. I'd like to live in Pickaxe. For a smallish city, it certainly has a lot of amenities--thanks to the K Fund.

I have a few questions and comments though, about the books and the author:

1) At what point, or in what story, did Koko start being known as "Cool Koko"? I didn't care for the references to "Cool Koko". It was just too ... something. Can't find the right word.
2) What's with Braun's aversion to the word "people"? She kept using "persons" all the time. Sometimes it was appropriate, other times it was just awkward. Although, I think she slipped up in "Dropped a Bombshell" because there was an instance of "people".
3) I read some of the conjectures here about maybe someone else wrote the last 3 or so books. I happened to listen to "Bananas", "Bombshell", and now "60 Whiskers" back to back after not listening to any of the "Cat Who" books for a few months. I thought the ending of "Bananas" was rushed and unsatisfactory. "Bombshell" ended before I realized it was ending. Again, it seemed abrupt, but I seem to recall some of her earlier books had abrupt endings as well.
4) Did Ms. Braun just like to read about stuff and then think "how can I use this in a story" or did she have an idea in the story and then go research it? Sometimes I felt like elements of the story were just meant to educate the reader about antiques or crows or some other, often obscure, topic.
5) Pickaxe had to be located in northern MN or WI. And therefore had to be near Lake Superior. But hurricanes in the "Northeast Central United States"? I don't think so.
6) Pickaxe also had to be one of the deadliest places to live in the US. The per capita murder rate had to be astronomical.
7) If Recorded Books had ever gotten a different reader than George Guidall, I would never have listened to another "Cat Who" book. He WAS the voice of Jim Qwilleran. I really like his reading style and his voice. Excellent work, Mr. Guidall!

Thanks for reading this!

[Sarah Joy Rhodes]

I feel that 60 whiskers was her way of saying goodbye to the series but leaving questions unanswered for the detective in all of us to figure out in our own way. I loved how most of her series is based on the upper thumb of Michigan where I live. I actually saw the Bay Port Hotel up for sale with its famous sign "Food Booze Rooms" still showing proudly. I believe and I could be wrong that the apple barn that Qwill lived in is the Octogon Barn in Gagetown Michigan. Google it and you can see why I think that:) She is an excellent writing and if 60 whiskers is truely her last book, I hope a new writer will do the series justice.

[Caroline McKenzie]

I did a search and the New York Times reported that Lilian Jackson Braun died at age 97 in June of 2011. I love this series and can read them over and over!