The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

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  2. I was first introduced to cozy mysteries thru a co-worker, who 18 years ago introduced me to the “Cat Who…” series when I adopted two orange tabby littermates. I have since gone on to read dozens of series and enjoyed many hours of reading because of Jim and Koko and Yum Yum. Thank you Lilian for such wonderful stories. I had one day hoped that they would be made into a tv series starring Tom Selleck – a girl can only dream.

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    • I’ve been reading the Cat Who series for a few months now and one of the first things I thought was that they should make a series or movie with Tom Selleck as Qwill.
      Before he gets too old!
      Great minds think alike..

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  3. Oh no, this is sooooo sad. I love…LOVE…LJB. Her Cat Who books are my sanity in a world out of control. I wrote to her a long time ago and let her know how fabulous her books were and how they meant so much to me. She sent me a most gracious reply. May she rest in peace.

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  4. Kat, I had the same thought when I first read the CAT WHO series … Tom Selleck would be perfect! I’ve never found another cozy mystery series like hers; there are definitely some good ones out there but not like the CAT WHO. It’s a shame someone hasn’t picked up the pen & continued the series. Rest in peace, Miss Lilian.

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  5. I read so many of the Cat Who books and when I ran out of new ones I stopped for quite awhile. I just picked them up again, reading The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers. When I realized there would be no more I literally wept. Although I had not read any for some time I guess I always counted on there being more. The last left so much up in the air and unresolved, it just breaks my heart. I will sorely miss Qwill, Koko, YumYum and the rest of Pickax. But mostly I will miss their amazing creator.

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  6. I haven’t checked the web site in awhile, but have wondered what ever happened to Lillian J Braun. I guess I sort of figured that she passed away, but truly hoping one more book would be written. I loved listening to the audios on my road trips and find myself playing them over and over. I even bought some audios that were performed by Geo Gudill, but it wasn’t the same. It was Lillian’s amazing story telling. I’m glad I finally have this resolved, but am saddened. What talent she had.

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  8. I just found your website today. I knew if you had Lilian Jackson Braun as one of your favorite authors, I would be able to trust your suggestions. How sad to find out that Ms. Braun had passed away. Her books have brought me a tremendous amount of joy.

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    • Welcome to the Cozy Mystery site, Kelly! When I first started the site, it was with the intention of sharing it with just a few of my Cozy Mystery-reading friends. It has taken off since then!

      At the beginning of the site, I could vouch for every one of the authors. Since then, I have gotten recommendations from many site readers who tell me about authors they think belong on the site. Many, many of these, I have not read… so I can no longer vouch for every one of the authors on the site.

      Hopefully, you will be able to find a few authors who you enjoy so much that you will want to add them to your list of favorite authors…

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  9. I missed reading The Cat Who; I get going in other directions at times. But, I have never failed to be enthralled by each story the author wrote. It came alive so well with her talent.
    I was stunned and sad to just see that she has passed away.
    A wonderful author, wherever she has gone, I know her stories will continue to delight. Our loss we will not be there, too.

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  10. I will really miss her and her Cat Who stories. I have read every one of them and I so Love Yum Yum & Koko and of course Jim. I am so sorry to hear of her passing. She will be greatly missed. I have three cats and understand the love a person can feel for them and that’s what made her stories come so alive for me.

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    • LaDonna, I have been surprised at how many people have written to either the site or me and told me that they have read Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who *** Mystery Series – over and over.

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  11. I just found out about Lilian Jackson Braun’s passing and was brought to tears. Her last book was sad in a way I never thought her books could be so I had to investigate more into this matter. I have feelings maybe she didn’t write the last book, she would have been in her 90’s and sent Polly on a trip that made it like she had never gone on a trip before and in one of the other books she had traveled out of the country. Does anyone else know which of the books that was??

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      you are so right about the strange last book. it left me cold and stunned about the apple barn burning down and no feelings for it’s demise and then polly going away. i will miss the characters so much. they were great friends. my favorite book was when he went to potato mountain and all the people he met and charmed. love them all x 100.

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      • Ditto all you said. The bizarre last book continues to excite theories that it was the effort of one of her publisher’s people… Or something. I’m very pleased to have THE CAT WHO…COMPANION by Sharon A. Feaster, a wonderful resource for fans, although published in 1998 and so only covered from …READ BACKWARDS through HAD 14 TALES. More fun than the more famous ‘bios’ of Holmes, Poirot and Marple. THE CAT WHO COOKBOOK (If I got the name right) has the most delicious-sounding recipes I’ve ever seen! Haven’t checked in years, but there once were more than one website devoted to Cat Who fandom–they still may be out there.

        THE CAT WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN is a favorite of mine, too, for a special reason: The frisson of pure eloquent accuracy delineating Qwilleran’s lost-in-the-woods-as-it-gets-late experience (Been there myself a few times). Same for Earlene Fowler’s description of (Benni Harper’s) feeling an earthquake! There are those who think mysteries, especially cozies, aren’t ‘real literature’. Toward them, the motto of the Knights of the Garter: ‘Shame on them who think it shame!’

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  12. Polly went to Scotland with Jim in “…..Wasn’t There”.

    I’m hooked on the series and managed to put together the complete bundle. I’ve completed 23 of them (mostly in order but not all) and dread the day I finish the last one.

    I wasn’t aware that Ms. Braun had passed and was hoping for even more in the series.

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    • Sandi, I know Lilian Jackson Braun had a whole lot of fans. Some people miss her so much that they re-read her books. She has a very loyal following.

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  13. I did know Lillian Jackson Braun passed away. Will miss looking forward to her new books but I read and reread the old ones. I always pictured Tom Selleck as Qwill and I see many others of you did also!

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    • Diane B, isn’t that something how so many people envisioned Tom Selleck as Qwill? That says a lot about Selleck!

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      • The Hallmark channel should make a series out of the Cat Who books, starring Tom Selleck! It would be a whole lot better than those Jesse Stone (?) movies. Mom is a huge fan of Selleck ever since Magnum PI (I always preferred Pierce Brosnan in Remington Steele, something we argued about a lot back in the day 🙂 ) but even she can’t watch the Jesse movies. She says they are too crude for her tastes. Yes, Selleck as Qwill would be perfect! Or should that be, purr-fect?

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        • Donna, I have watched all of the Jesse Stone movies, and can see that they wouldn’t be for everyone.

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          • I thought the Jesse Stones on TV were extraordinarily good. Produced by Michael Brandman and Selleck. Brandman all too briefly took over the Jesse Stone books after the death of the great Robert B. Parker. He made a good try at Parker’s style, though not able to reach the uncanny perfection of Ace Adams (of the very different and UNcozy Quinn Colson novels) in taking over the Spenser (book) series. If you like anything about the Jesse Stones (like the Spensers, half-cozy), be warned that they have unfortunately been taken over by L. Coleman, who’s remade them to fit his grim, noir view.

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        • Donna, I was just thinking about another actor who I think has the same “Tom Selleck” feeling about him: Brian Dennehy. I wonder if he would be a good Quill…

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          • I think Alfred Molina would make a perfect Quilleran, he had a short lived sitcom a long time ago where was a writer with a cat and also played Hercule Poirot once. I have read all of these books many times, I wish they could become a Hallmark series…

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  14. I have read many of her books and connect my cats to Koko and Yum Yum . Always check in the library for new books but now know I won’t find any. Will keep looking for some of her books I haven’t read.

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    • Barb, I hope you’re able to find more of Lilian Jackson Braun’s mysteries at your library. (Does your library do interlibrary loans?_

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  15. I am so sorry to hear this. I loved her books and was introduced to them when I was pregnant with my son now 40. She will be surely missed and I hope she is writing The Cat Who series from a new place now.

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  16. As I read the Cat who had 60 whiskers, it was like a cliff hanger to the next book and I knew back couple of years that the author passed away and was in the middle of the last book when she passed. I also read somewhere that she told her husband that no one will finish her last book for her. That is a shame.
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    Because I would like to know if Qwill marries Barbara the lawyer.

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  17. I was so sad, too when I first heard of Mrs. Braun’s passing. I actually named my daughter after her, spelling & all! LILIAN, not LILLIAN, lol! My consolation is re-reading her books, which I am doing right now…

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  18. I discovered The Cat Who books on a vacation in Michigan – someone left a copy of one book in a cabin. Over the years I’ve read and listened to her books mostly in sequential order. I know she passed away while ago, and as I come to the last books, I feel like many of her fans that I am going to miss all the wonderful characters of Moose County. A sincere thanks to Miss Lilian Jackson Braun in the afterlife.

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