After five years of legal formalities, Jim Qwilleran ha officially inherited freedom and a fortune, which leaves him with a serious dilemma. What should he do now? Seeking a place of peace and isolation to make up his mind, he heads to the Potato Mountains for the summer. But Qwill lands in the middle of controversy, not solitude. The mountains are haven to the independent roughneck descendants of Prohibition-era moonshiners. The valley is home to developers eager to turn the pristine Potatoes into a giant tourist trap. To make matters more complicated, a Tater, as the mountain folk are called, has been convicted of the murder of millionaire developer J.J. Hawkinfield. Some people swear the wrong man was convicted, and Qwill is inclined to agree when he hears what transpired before the trial. But if Forest Beechum didn't do the dirty deed, who did? With Qwill, Koko and Yum Yum on the case, the killer won't get away with murder.

Lilian Jackson Braun composed her first poem at the age of two. She began writing her Cat Who…detective series when one of her own Siamese cats mysteriously fell to its death from her apartment. Since then twenty-four Cat Who…. Novels have been published, all featuring the very talented Koko and Yum Yum, Siamese cats with a bent for detection. Lilian Jackson Braun and her husband, Earl, live with their cats in the mountains of North Carolina.