As The Cat Who Blew the Whistle begins, Qwill and the Siamese have recently returned from Breakfast Island (The Cat Who Came to Breakfast), and the preceding novel's conflict between historical preservation and modern commercial development continues in this novel. As usual, Qwill works to find worthwhile modern uses which will allow him to preserve genuinely significant historic structures, just as he has adapted the old Goodwinter Boulevard mansions to house Moose County Community College and restored an old apple barn to create ideal living quarters for himself and the cats.

Nature, too, seems to resist development; when Edward Penn Trevelyan bulldozes a part of the orchard, he is attacked by the great horned owl Qwill calls Marconi.

Murder is always present in The Cat Who mysteries, but in this novel underlying issues are fiscal mismanagement at the Lumbertown Credit Union, the sale of drugs in...