Lilian Jackson Braun

All the world's a stage--and now Jim Qwilleran's apple orchard has become the stage--for a real-life murder scene. The much-disliked director of the Pickax Theatre Club's Shakespeare production, Hilary van Brook, is found dead after the closing-night cast party ... and with the help of his super-smart Siamese, Qwill must cast a suspicious eye on all the players--especially the ones pussyfooting around behind the scenes.

On verso: This Large Print edition, prepared especially for Doubleday Large Print Home Library, contains the complete, unabridged text of the original Publisher's Edition. Koko's strange new hobby of dropping himself from balconies has landed him in the oddest of places--a young visitor's head whose wealthy relatives soon fall deathly ill, making Qwill have his work cut out for him.

As the Highland Games approach, Jim Qwilleran and the citizens of Pickax prepare to celebrate their Scottish heritage. But the revelry is marred when a visiting jewelry dealer is found dead in his hotel room. His assistant is missing, and the winner of the caber-tossing contest disappears as well. Qwill has a lot of mysteries to sort out, including Koko's sudden interest in photos, pennies, and paper towels.

The big one is on it's way, and none too soon for the resdients of an unusually arid Moose County, who are becoming increasingly anxious about wildfires as they await for the first snowstorm of the season. A Citizen's Fire Watch is formed, and volunteers go out on shifts to patrol areas of concern, particularly.

Floyd Trevelyan's historic steam locomotive, newly restored, is the newest attraction in Moose County. But the excitement is eclipsed by shock when Trevelyan disappears ... along with millions of investors' dollars. Puzzled and suspicious, Qwill's trying to make a connection between the missing millionaire and a recent murder at a nearby railroad tavern. Now, with the help of Koko and Yum Yum, he's about to prove that the police are on the wrong track.......

Newspaperman Jim Qwilleran and his two cats, Koko and Yum Yum, investigate a suspicious fire which killed a woman in her nineties. The 20th volume in the series, the novel introduces a new character, a swearing parrot.

Qwill's on top of the world when he rents a house on Big Potato Mountain. The owner, J.J. Hawkinfield, brought real estate development to the once-peaceful Potatoes. But Hawkinfield paid a steep price for his enterprise: He was pushed off a cliff by an angry mountain dweller Qwilleran, however, suspects the man is innocent--and Koko's antics have him convinced something's wrong. He may be making a mountain out of a molehill ... but he's determined...

With the approaching Great Food Explo, there's lots of delicious activity in Moose County-restaurant openings, a cheese-tasting, and a bake-off are planned, among other events. But there's nothing as tasty as a morsel of gossip, so when a mysterious woman moves into the New Pickax Hotel, the locals indulge in lots of speculation. Even Qwill is distracted. And when a bomb explodes in her room, killing the hotel housekeeper, Qwilleran, Koko, and Yum...

Fictional columnist James Qwilleran, hero of the best-selling Cat Who mysteries, presents a collection of intriguing stories that spotlight the colorful world of Moose County and its residents in such legends as "The Secret of the Blacksmith's Wife" and "The Trevelyan Curse." Simultaneous.