Intro: The Other Cats of Moose County

Anyone who has spent time in the pages of The Cat Who... series by Lilian Jackson Braun knows the stars of the show: Koko, the brilliant Siamese with a flair for detecting the scent of scandal, and his dainty companion Yum Yum, equal parts elegant and endearing. Across twenty-nine novels, Braun built an unmistakably cozy—yet surprisingly twisty—world of small-town mystery, anchored by these two cats and their human, Jim Qwilleran, the journalist with the legendary mustache.

For decades, readers followed Koko’s mysterious yowls, cryptic clues, and uncanny instincts that often led Qwill to uncover murder, deceit, and hidden truths in Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere. Yum Yum, while less dramatic, brought heart and domestic charm to the home they shared at the converted apple barn.

But anyone paying close attention to the richly populated world of Pickax and beyond will notice that Koko and Yum Yum aren’t the only felines in town.

There’s Toulouse, the tough ex-stray with aristocratic taste buds who’s adopted food editor Mildred Hanstable-Ryker. There’s Jetstream, the weatherman’s thundering meteorological sidekick. Brutus and Kata, another pair of Siamese, now live with Polly Duncan. Winston keeps watch at Ed’s Bookstore. The Bamba family has a whole purring alphabet of troublemakers. And who could forget the visiting cat program at the senior center as well as the Tipsy Look-Alike Contest?

These cats may not get the spotlight, but they live lives just as rich—perhaps even wilder—than the Apple Barn's famous residents.

This fan fiction series is for them. For the cats who haunt the edges of Moose County’s mysteries. For the strays who turned smugglers’ plots to sawdust. For the bookstore loungers, the dockside prowlers, and the ones whose mischief never quite made the headlines.

Because if we’ve learned anything from Koko and Yum Yum, it’s that cats always know more than they’re letting on. 

Toulouse and the Autumn Smugglers

Main Characters:

• Toulouse: Tough, elegant, unflappable. A former stray turned gourmet sleuth, he uses his street smarts and refined instincts to sniff out trouble along the lakeshore.

• Mildred Hanstable-Ryker: Retired art and home economics teacher; now the Moose County Something’s food editor. Devoted to Toulouse, culinary perfection, and community kindness—though often a little too trusting.

• Dwayne and “Beebs” Shroat: Supposed handymen renting a run-down boathouse. Beneath their rough exterior lies a shady operation involving nighttime deliveries and questionable cargo.

• Willa Yarrow: Proprietor of Mooseville’s general store/post office. Sharp-eyed and well-connected, Willa suspects something fishy but isn’t one to gossip—unless prompted by feline interference.

• Officer Pratt: New to Mooseville but earnest and observant. He’s slowly earning the town’s trust, and Toulouse’s silent guidance might just be what he needs to prove himself.

Plot Summary:

Mildred is enjoying her quiet lakeside days, making duck confit and baking pumpkin tarte tatin for The Moose County Something’s fall recipe issue. Toulouse, however, is restless. He has taken to patrolling the windowsills at night, sniffing the wind, and tracking the comings and goings of the new “neighbors” down the road. Their boat, curiously, only goes out in bad weather. They never seem to fish, yet the cooler they carry to and from the docks smells off.

Toulouse’s first warning sign comes when he noses through Mildred’s recycling bin and finds a discarded bottle of codeine syrup with no label, one Mildred never used. Then he begins leaving gifts at her doorstep—shredded latex gloves, a wet plastic bag, a crumpled receipt for duct tape and bleach. Mildred assumes he’s being quirky. But when a delivery goes awry and a mysterious plastic-wrapped package floats to her dock, Toulouse goes full operative mode.

He slips out one evening, trails the Shroats to their hidden stash beneath the boathouse, and, using a combination of distraction (dead fish on a motor) and precision sabotage (knocking over a gas can near a citronella torch), sets the stage for a scene that draws the attention of both Officer Pratt and the ever-curious Willa Yarrow. Toulouse is found—wet but proud—curled next to the evidence like a lion beside a kill.