I have received e-mails from several Cozy Mystery site readers asking if I know when the latest Lilian Jackson Braun The Cat Who *** mystery will be released. I am always sorry when I am not able to track down information… and this is a case that has stumped me.
When I got my first e-mail asking for this information, I wrote to her publishing company. But (wouldn't you know it?) I never even received an auto-response form letter telling me they got my letter. This brings me to the reason for this entry:
Do any of you know if they plan to release the latest (The Cat Who Smelled Smoke) in Braun's series? OR Is The Cat Who Had Sixty Whiskers the last in Braun's Cozy Mystery Series? If it is, I know that there are a lot of Braun's fans who will be very saddened by this information.
So, if you have any information on the latest in the mystery of Braun's mystery, please send us a comment!
PS >>>> My husband just did an online search for Lilian Jackson Braun and told me that he found that she was born in 1913 >>> Unfortunately, we can't find a way to verify this information since the Detroit News (newspaper) no longer has the interview on file…
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Danna, on the wikipedia.org site under Lilian Jackson Braun the last book The Cat Who Smelled Smoke says it won't be published in parenthesis with a question mark at the end. Just wanted to let you know. ok.
I seem to remember that the publicity surrounding The Cat Who Had Sixty Whiskers made much of the fact that it would be the last book in the series. If it is in fact the last book in the series, I – like many others – felt the book left some loose ends hanging. The chatter on the Internet says that the publisher has stated that plans to publish The Cat Who Smelled Smoke have been scrapped for confidential reasons.
It would have been nice to have one more book, but LJB is, after all, ninety-six so I guess we can't expect her to keep churning out more titles.
Perhaps someone else will pick up where she left off. But it seems to me that such efforts are seldom as good as the original . . .
I've been following this since the first announced date for "Smelled Smoke" went by with no book published. On one hand, it seems that the project went far enough for the book to have a title and a release date announced, but on the other hand, it doesn't seem that it got much past the manuscript stage. It's certainly a strange situation.
For a bit more background, the website of the Polk County NC Library (where she lives) has a nice page on LJB: http://www.publib.polknc.org/collections/Braun/index.php
This includes details on a tribute that they held for her in 2005. Of special interest is the link for a 2006 Wall Street Journal interview with LJB. This is much more detailed than the interview in the Detroit newspaper that Wikipedia mentions. She indicates that she has vision problems, though she was still writing – at that time on "60 Whiskers".
Searching through LJB sites, message boards and forum postings, there are a few tidbits, some indicating that she is still writing, but more slowly. Still, it appears to be impossible to get a definitive answer to your question at the present time. If there's anything else, I'd certainly like to know too.
I have read all of her books on The Cat Who series and I love them. I hope she does do a final book and answers some of the things that were left hanging. I could see a lot of ways to really end the series. Wonderful books!!
Any update on LJB and if we will see a last book???
I miss Qwill and the cats!!
If anyone hears anything, please let us know!
I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed in the "Sixty Whiskers" book. I've been a fan of LJB for many years and have enjoyed all the "Cat Who…" books. I fear that LJB has lost her edge. I found "Sixty Whiskers" (while indeed cozy) had little plot and very little mystery.
Unfortunately all good things must eventually end, but if so, maybe it will end on a high note.