The Cat Who Blew the Whistle opens with a scene on board Floyd Trevelyan's Lumbertown party train, then moves backward in time to explain how Qwill and his fellow Moose Countians came to be on the excursion.

This essentially theatrical approach is characteristic of Braun, as is the sequence of dramatic scenes through which the plot unfolds. Like all the novels in this series, The Cat Who Blew the Whistle is also characterized by fastpaced action described with a reporter's eye for vivid detail and a discerning listener's keen ear for language, especially the dialect Qwill calls Old Moose and the distinctive jargon of the retired railroad men.

As has been the case with all the series since The Cat Who Played Brahms, the symbolic center of this novel is Moose County, an essentially self-contained community "400 miles north of everywhere." The residents consider their area healthier, cleaner, and...