The Cat Who Books in Order

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Long before “cat cozies” were their own genre, Lilian Jackson Braun basically invented the template with The Cat Who… series. Jim Qwilleran — a former big-city crime reporter — moves to the small town of Pickax with his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, and somehow a body turns up wherever they go.

With 29 books spanning over 40 years, it’s one of the longest-running cozy series ever written. Here’s the complete reading order.

The Complete Cat Who Reading Order (29 Books)

  1. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (1966)
  2. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (1967)
  3. The Cat Who Turned On and Off (1968)
  4. The Cat Who Saw Red (1986)
  5. The Cat Who Played Brahms (1987)
  6. The Cat Who Played Post Office (1987)
  7. The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare (1988)
  8. The Cat Who Sniffed Glue (1988)
  9. The Cat Who Went Underground (1989)
  10. The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts (1990)
  11. The Cat Who Lived High (1990)
  12. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal (1991)
  13. The Cat Who Moved a Mountain (1992)
  14. The Cat Who Wasn’t There (1992)
  15. The Cat Who Went into the Closet (1993)
  16. The Cat Who Came to Breakfast (1994)
  17. The Cat Who Blew the Whistle (1994)
  18. The Cat Who Said Cheese (1995)
  19. The Cat Who Tailed a Thief (1997)
  20. The Cat Who Sang for the Birds (1998)
  21. The Cat Who Saw Stars (1999)
  22. The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (1999)
  23. The Cat Who Smelled a Rat (2001)
  24. The Cat Who Went Up the Creek (2002)
  25. The Cat Who Brought Down the House (2003)
  26. The Cat Who Talked Turkey (2004)
  27. The Cat Who Went Bananas (2004)
  28. The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell (2006)
  29. The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (2007)

Do You Need to Read The Cat Who Series in Order?

Not strictly — each book is a self-contained mystery, and Braun does a good job re-introducing characters and their history early in each book. That said, reading in order lets you watch Qwilleran’s relationships and Pickax itself evolve over the decades, which is part of the fun of a series this long.

Worth knowing: there’s an 18-year gap between book 3 (1968) and book 4 (1986) — Braun stopped writing the series for nearly two decades before her publisher convinced her to return to it. The tone and style shift noticeably once the series picks back up in the 1980s.

Where Should I Start?

New readers can comfortably start with The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (book 1) for the original setup, or jump straight to The Cat Who Saw Red (book 4) — the first of the “modern era” books and a common recommended starting point, since it reads well without the earlier three.

FAQ

Is the series complete?
Yes — Lilian Jackson Braun passed away in 2011, and book 29 is the final published entry. A 30th book, “The Cat Who Smelled Smoke,” was planned but never published.

Do Koko and Yum Yum actually solve the mysteries?
Not directly — but Koko in particular has an uncanny habit of drawing attention to objects, books, or places that turn out to be significant clues, which Qwilleran gradually learns to trust.

Is this the same as other “cat detective” cozy series?
The Cat Who… series is widely considered the series that started the cat-cozy subgenre — many later series (see our roundup of cozy mystery series with cats) cite it as a direct influence.

Where did you start with The Cat Who series? Tell us in the comments below!

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