Journalist/philanthropist James Qwilleran and his clue-sensitive cats return with crime-solving talents intact in New York Times bestselling author Lilian Jackson Braun's twenty-third Cat Who... title.

October arrives in Moose County on the heels of a long drought, and the citizens of Pickax worry about wildfires.

Their fears are realized in an unexpected manner, with a case of arson -- and the shooting of a volunteer fire-watcher as he is reporting the blaze. The crime wave continues as the president of the curling club is pushed to his death down a flight of stairs, and it's up to Qwilleran & Co. to sniff out the rat who is responsible for it all