Is Lillian Jackson Braun dead or alive? She is the author of the Cat Who books.?

Question

She started writing in the '60's and took a break and I think she started writing again in the '80's. I think she is dead because if you look at her picture on the jacket even from her earliest books she looks like she is in her late 60 to early 70. What do you think?

Answer 1

Latest is she is still alive. However, her books have been going downhill the last 5 years or so. She's around 90.

Answer 2

She is still alive.

Lilian Jackson Braun was born in 1911. She is renown for her light-hearted series of "The Cat Who..." mystery novels. The "Cat Who" books center around the life of former newspaper reporter James Qwilleran, and his two Siamese cats, KoKo and Yum Yum in the fictitious small town of Pickax located in Moose County, "400 miles north of everywhere." Although never formally stated in the books, the towns, counties and lifestyles described in the series are generally accepted to be a modeled after Bad Axe, Michigan (located in the "Michigan Thumb") where she resided with her husband for many years until the mid 1980's. Many also believe that the culture and history of the Upper peninsula of Michigan are represented in the series as well, which is quite possible as it is indeed a fictitious location.
Lilian Jackson Braun began her writing career as a teenager, contributing sports poetry for the Detroit News. She later began working as an advertising copywriter for many of Detroit's department stores. After that stint, she worked at the Detroit Free Press as the "Good Living" editor for 30 years. She retired from the Free Press in 1978.
The history of Lilian Jackson Braun is perhaps as exciting and mysterious as her novels. Between 1966 and 1968, she published three novels to critical acclaim: The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern and The Cat Who Turned On and Off. In 1966, The New York Times labeled Braun, "the new detective of the year." The rising mystery author disappeared from the publishing scene for 18 years. The blame came from the fact that mystery novels were starting to focus on sex, violence, and foul language, and Braun's light-hearted books were not welcome in this new territory. It wasn't until 1986 that the Berkley Publishing Group reintroduced Braun to the public with the publication of an original paperback, The Cat Who Saw Red. Within two years, Berkeley released four new novels in paperback and reprinted the three mysteries from the sixties. Braun's series became an instant best seller once again. In January 2006 the twenty-eighth novel in the series, The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell, was released in hardcover by Putnam Publishing.
Not much is really known about Braun, as she prefers to keep her private life that way. For years, publishers have given inaccurate accounts of her year of birth, which has remained unknown until she openly acknowledged her age in an interview for the Detroit News in January 2005.
Like many writers from her generation, Braun is an admitted technophobe, and still uses a typewriter. She currently resides in North Carolina with her husband, Earl Bettinger, and their two cats.