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." Then, discouraged by the market's seemingly insatiable demand for sex and violence in mystery novels, she set the series aside for 18 years.

After retiring from the The Detroit Free Press, where she was the "Good Living" editor for 29 years, she took up the series again with the publication of The Cat Who Saw Red (1986). Within two years her publisher, Berkley, released four new novels in paperback and reprinted the three mysteries from the sixties. The 29th novel in the series, The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, was published in 2007 when she was 93 years old.

Lilian lived in Tryon for many years with her second husband Earl Bettinger. She died in 2011.