Nothing beats curling up with a cat and a good book. And book publishers are starting to wake up to this fact. According to the multivolume reference Books in Print, there are more than 500 published cat-themed books. The most popular being the growing line of cat-themed mysteries.

[While] not all mystery fans like cats, all cat fanciers seem to like mysteries, says Author Lillian Jackson Braun, in her biography.

That makes for a large audience, since 26 percent of all American households own 53.9 million cats between them, Braun says.

Braun has written more than 29 bestselling novels in her Cat Who series, involving the mystery-solving exploits of Koko, Yum Yum and their journalist owner. She is the forerunner of a large sub-genre of bestselling cat mysteries, which includes Rita Mae Browns Sneaky Pie series (co-written by her cat Sneaky Pie Brown) and the Midnight Louie mysteries authored by Carole Nelson Douglas.

But mystery isn't the only genre in which cat-inspired fiction flourishes. Cats are a popular theme in science fiction and fantasy as well.

**For the full article, pick up the August issue of CAT FANCY.**