I love cats (I have 3 of them)! I also like mysteries but I've never read any of the cat detective series. I was just wondering which series is the best? I know it's a matter of personal taste but it would be good to get some input from other readers.

It looks like the main ones are Lillian Jackson Braun (Cat Who), Rita Mae Brown (Mrs. Murphy), Carole Nelson Douglas (Midnight Louie) and Shirley Rousseau Murphy (Joe Grey).  Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

I really like The Cat Who series. I tried to read Midnight Louie, but just didn't care for the writing style. I haven't read any of the others.

I LOVE  LOVE and LOVE Joe - he's got to be my favorite. :)  Very cute stories. In fact my daughter and I like them so much we have everyone she's written so far - probably as keepers too. The cat's expression on the cover is what initially sucked me into the books!

I have some Midnight Louie and Mrs Murphy but I haven't started them yet.  I've read a lot of the Cat Who books and the earlier books are best. The newer ones just aren't good at all in my opinion.

There is also Ophelia and Abby by Shirley Damsgaard. They're like Joe  because of the paranormal twist.  I have all those books too (just got the last 4) but haven't started them either. They're way up on my list to start real soon.

Anyone else have anymore? I'm always open to anything staring a cat!

Thanks for the responses. I'm leaning towards Joe Grey and Mrs. Murphy but I know the Cat Who books are very popular.

I think I'll try the first few of each and see which I connect with best. It seems the Mrs Murphy and Cat Who series' both have an omnibus edition of the first three books, so I added them to my wishlist ....

Thanks again for the input.

I've only read the rita mae brown books and liked those..there are 2 cats-Mrs Murphy and Pewter  and a corgi named Tucker.

I like the older Cat Who books.  I've liked the Mrs. Murphy books that I've read, although being able to read the animals thoughts/conversation was a little weird at first.

I have only tried the Cat Who series but didn't really like them.

I might try some of the other suggestions, as they sound interesting.

I really like the Joe Grey series and highly recommend those.  I like the Cat Who, but as a friend of mine put it: "They are bubblegum for the mind", pretty light reading and totally implausible.  I didn't care for the Midnight Louie books at all.

And I know - Joe Grey can talk, dial the phone, etc., and yet I call the Cat Who books implausible?   Somehow it's different!

deanie, that is exactly right! I read Cat Who books when I need to fluff up my brain a bit and take a break from more heavy reading.

Big Joe Grey fans here, both of us, my wife more so. Somehow it doesn't seem all that strange that Joe can talk. The mysteries are quite good. The author got bogged down a little bit in some folklore about mid-way through the series, but she's dropped most of that now, to my relief, although my wife enjoyed that part, too.

My wife loved the Midnight Louie mysteries up to about K and hasn't bothered with the rest of the alphabet. She finds the love triangle too tedious and the plot turns in the more recent books have been eye-rollers. She really likes Louie's attitude as macho cat about town, but she likes the old noir PI novels that he is a take-off on as well.

We used to enjoy the Cat Who mysteries, and the first four or five of them are first-rate, but then first the author began mass producing them, and the plots and writing suffered as a result, and honestly, I think the last 3 to 5 have been ghost-written and are in my opinion terrible. Start with the early ones.

The early Mrs. Murphy books are cute and are decent light mysteries. Lately the author spends too much time on a political soapbox to please either one of us, but the early books are quite good if you don't mind cats and dogs who talk to one another.

I have read the Cat Who series, Midnight Louie, and Mrs Murphy. I love each of these in their own ways.  I never heard of Joe Grey before.  I think I may have to look him up now...