The Mystery of the Cat Mystery

"The books are well written and charming, but I am surprised to be an adult reading for many hours about two Siamese cats, Koko (male) and Yum Yum (female). They have dark backstories: KoKo lived with a cruel art critic who was murdered and Yum Yum was witness to an attempted murder. Now they both live with Qwill, a mustachioed recovering alcoholic who, at the start of the series, is a small-town journalist, and then becomes a gentleman detective in possession of a country estate."

"One day I will die. When that happens, I will have read only a finite number of books. These cat mysteries, from the " Cat Who . . . " series, by Lilian Jackson Braun, published between 1966 and 2007, will account for a couple of dozen on the list. I ask myself: Why am I reading this? It can't be for the mysteries, which are mostly about murders. I find murder the least interesting kind of crime to read about. It is the least remediable."

A middle-aged reader spends hours with Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who series, captivated by Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum. The cats have dark backstories: KoKo lived with a cruel art critic who was murdered, and Yum Yum witnessed an attempted murder. Both now live with Qwill, a mustachioed recovering alcoholic who transitions from small-town journalist to gentleman detective. Qwill performs legwork while Koko provides insights by pawing at dictionary words or yowling; Yum Yum is affectionate but marginal to investigations. The reader acknowledges mortality and concludes that the feline characters, rather than the murders, drive the reading habit. A daughter prefers the Warriors series for its battles and dynastic scope.

Read at The New Yorker