Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

The residents of Pickax eagerly await the start of Pickax Now, a festival celebrating the 150th anniversary of the town's founding. In the midst of preparations for parades and performances, newspaper columnist James Qwilleran must make time to entertain Harvey Ledfield, an aspiring architect visiting from out of town. Qwill welcomes Harvey into his home to sketch, but strange occurrences seem to follow Harvey around. Why, for example, did the extraordinary...

Times are changing in Pickax, and it all makes for some newsworthy notes for the "Qwill Pen." A new senior center is in the works, and a frisky production of Cats is set to delight Moose County residents, human and feline alike. Polly Duncan is off to Paris, momentarily leaving Qwill without a companion for his apple-barn concerts, and The Librarians Who Lunch are getting ready to put on a show of their spectacular Art Hats to help unite Pickax with...

The resort development on Pear Island makes local residents, summer people, and mainland fishermen hopping mad, but who is angry enough to commit murder?

Quill embarks on a crusade to clear a friend's name of murder and win back Polly Duncan's heart.

James Qwilleran and his talented team of feline sleuths, Koko and Yum Yum, investigate the supposedly accidental death of a cast member in a car crash on the eve of the Theatre Club's performance of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."

The discovery of a body slows down the groundbreaking of a new store, and on Qwill's own property no less. Then comes the sudden appearance of wild turkeys which haven't been present in Moose County for thirty years.

Everyone is stymied when two of Pickax's most prominent citizens are found murdered in their home. But even more puzzling to Qwill is Koko's sudden and unaccountable attraction to rubber cement.

When Mrs. Cobb heard unearthly noises in the antique-filled farmhouse, she called for help, but Jim Qwilleran didn't get there in time. It looked as if his kindly ex-housekeeper had been frightened to death--but by what or whom? Qwill moves in with Koko and Yum Yum, and they all put noses to the trail...

"It all began when someone spray-painted WITCH on the side of Widow Coggin's barn on Trevelyan Road. Then someone stole some sketches of nudes from Pickax's new Art Center across the way. A few scattered drops of blood on the floor near the cage of a resident parrot - a parrot who happens to have a penchant for talking dirty - indicate that the thief did not escape without a mark."--BOOK JACKET. "When a fire erupts on the Coggin farm, taking the life...