The Cat Who

Many years ago, Lillian Jackson Braun wrote the coziest of cozy mysteries about a journalist who lived 400 Miles North of Everywhere and his two Siamese Cats - KoKo and Yum Yum.  The first book I stumbled across was The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts.  I was teaching 3rd grade and having a very rough year of it.  KoKo, Yum Yum, and Qwill were exactly what I needed at the end of the day. Maybe you remember when grocery stores sold best sellers in the store? This book was in one of those cardboard displays as you walked in the door.  I was drawn to the blue cover with cat paw prints all over it.  And the whimsical title was the icing on the cake!  I had found a series and an entire subgenre that I adored. My Dad loved The Cat Who, too, and we used to read the books together, trying the food that was described in the books and speculating about the location of Pickax.

I've researched everything I can find about the mythical town that Qwill lived in - Pickax.  For a long time, I thought that the books were set in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan, but after further research I firmly believe that they were set in the Thumb Region of Michigan, where Lillian lived. There is a town there named Bad Axe. I was planning on dragging the husband out there in 2020. And again in 2021. But that never happened. Thanks, Covid. I still really want to see Bad Axe and see the similarities to the world I found in the Cat Who Books.

With Mom in Hospice, I've been spending a lot of time sitting around.  (When we are not arguing about the switch on table lamps.) I haven't been able to concentrate on reading very much of anything lately. But then I stumbled across a Cat Who book while straightening the house.  Now this, I can concentrate on! Since January, when mom got moved to the hospital, I've read 15 of the books.

I've got a handful of books left to read before I finish out the series.  

Are you a fan of cozy mysteries? What series do you recommend I read next?