The Cat Who Saw Red

March 20, 2011

The Cat Who Saw Red by Lilian Jackson Braun

This is the first Cat Who book I read and I was hooked- Jim Qwilleran, news reporter for The Daily Fluxion and former crime reporter, is assigned to review restaurants. For his first story, he decides to review Maus Haus, owned by Robert Maus. In addition to a restaurant, the architecturally peculiar historic building is also a boarding house. When Qwill discovers there is an open apartment, he promptly moves in with his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum.


Also in residence at Maus Haus is Joy Wheatley, Qwill's old girlfriend from Chicago. She had a knack for pottery and married a potter named Dan Graham. It soon becomes obvious that the relationship between Joy and Dan is strained, especially when they discuss how Joy’s cat went missing one day. Joy is deeply troubled by this, but Dan jokes about it. Joy is a far more successful potter than Dan; he is missing one thumb and so can only make roll pots, not as appealing as those spun on a wheel. One night she privately tells Qwill that she would divorce Dan if she could afford the court case. Qwilleran decides to lend her $750, the last of the prize money he won for a series of news articles.

I love this book and the series for many reasons, this book mainly because I throw pottery or at least I know how to throw pottery and no you don’t just pick up a plate and hurl it against a wall, this involves clay and a potter’s wheel! I love the series because the “hero”, Jim Qwilleran is fascinating and strives to not be a hero, but he rescued two cats and in the beginning struggled with odd assignments at the newspaper, he’s flawed but wonderful and solves mysteries with the help of KoKo, an amazingly intuitive Siamese Cat!

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 (1995)

18.The Cat Who Said Cheese (1996)

19.The Cat Who Tailed a Thief (1997)

20.The Cat Who Sang for the Birds (1999)

21.The Cat Who Saw Stars (copyright, 1998; published, 1999)

22.The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (2000)

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 (2005)

28.The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell (2006)

29.The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (2007)