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Former
crime reporter Jim Qwilleran is spending his birthday alone with his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum when they
hear strange sounds coming from outside. The members of the Pickax Theater Club decided to invade Qwill’s apartment and throw a surprise birthday party for him after one of their rehearsals. Harley and David Fitch are twin brothers who work at the local bank with their father, and happen to be two of the finest assets of the Theater Club. The brothers enjoy confusing people, but they can’t fool Koko. For some reason he takes a special interest in Harley during the party.
The next night Qwill goes to the offices of the county’s new newspaper to celebrate the first edition coming out the next day. Excitement is high, and the paper is ready to go to press - except for the front page. Arch Riker, Qwill’s lifelong friend and veteran newspaper editor, wants to hold off until the last possible minute just in case a big story breaks. When it does, everyone is saddened by it: Harley Fitch and his pregnant wife were found shot to death in their
home. The Fitch Family has always been civic-minded and involved in several community causes. This tragedy is just the beginning of their sorrows. Margaret Fitch, mother of the slain man, has a massive stroke. After she passes away her husband goes out to his car and commits suicide while still in the hospital parking lot.
Perhaps it’s the excitement of the tragic story of the Fitch Family, or the unsolved case, or the prospect of working with his longtime friend, for some reason Jim Qwilleran finally admits that he is a journalist - not a novelist. He agrees to write for the new newspaper, much to Arch Riker’s delight. Since there isn’t enough
crime in Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere, to justify a crime reporter, Qwill will be writing a column twice a week. Qwill’s first column features a local bookseller, Eddington Smith. The rather timid, modest man lives in the back of his store with Winston Churchill, his feline companion. Qwill learns many fascinating things about his subject, and is shocked to see that he owns a gun.
Iris Cobb invites Qwill and the cats to her home for dinner, and on the way home Qwill is run off the road and the car flips over. Qwill is all right, but the Koko and Yum Yum are missing. A couple driving by stops to help Qwill, and so does a sheriff’s deputy. Qwill decides to stay on the scene all night, hoping that the cats will come to him. His friend Polly Duncan spends several hours with Qwill so he doesn’t have to wait alone. Shortly after dawn he finds the cats - after they find a skunk.
While Qwill is waiting for the cats to be cleaned up at the animal clinic he is overwhelmed with feelings of guilt for having put his feline companions in danger. He decides that he is going to stop meddling in criminal investigations. Then the phone rings and he accepts an invitation from Eddington Smith to visit the Fitch Mansion where Harley and Belle were killed.
Qwill takes Koko with him to the Fitch Mansion, and the cat points out some fascinating clues, and finally leads Qwill right to the evidence needed to prove the truth about the murders and the murderers. Qwill finds out why Eddington Smith carries a gun, and he is very grateful that he does, even though he has never bought any bullets.