Excerpt from The Cat Who Smelled A Rat by Lilian Jackson Braun, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Wetherby Goode was a husky, happy-go-lucky fellow, always ready for an adventure—no questions asked. Settled in the passenger seat, he asked casually, "Where to?"

"I think there's another fire—to the southeast. Open the window and see if you smell smoke."

"Not a whiff ... but southeast would be across the river. Turn right at the gate and right again at the bridge."

That took them to the intersection of Sprenkle and Quarry roads. They stopped and looked in three directions and sniffed hard. There was no traffic on these back roads at this hour.

"Go east another mile to Old Glory Road," Wetherby said.

"There's a mine down there," Qwilleran said. "Has it occurred to anyone that these fires are at minesites?"

"Well, the theory is that these abandoned mines are bordered by secluded dirt roads that kids use as lovers' lanes. The chances are that they smoke and throw cigarettes out the window.... You don't hear of any fires starting in daylight."

Approaching the Old Glory Mine, they could see the taillights of a car receding in the distance.

"See what I mean? I see a red glow just ahead!"

Qwilleran stopped the van and used his cell phone to report a brush fire at Old Glory mine. They waited until they heard the emergency vehicles on the way, then drove back to the Village.

"It was my cat who smelled smoke," Qwilleran said. "Koko sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and smells the unsmellable."

"Jet Stream never smells anything unless it's food," Wetherby said.

Have you met the new guy in Unit Two?"

"I introduced myself out on the sidewalk one day, and we had a few words. I asked what had happened to the Jaguar he drove when he came here. He said it was too conspicuous among all the vans and pickups, so he disposed of it in Lockmaster and bought a station wagon, four-wheel-drive."

"Has he discovered our dirty little secret?" Qwilleran asked. "If the roof leaks on his thirty-thousand-dollar books, XYZ Enterprises will get sued for plenty."

"The roofs have been fixed!" Wetherby said. "Just in time for the worst drought in twenty years—wouldn't you know? But you were at the beach this summer when they reroofed the whole Village!"

"How come? Did Don Exbridge have a near-death experience?"

"You missed the fun, Qwill. A few of us got together and vandalized the XYZ billboard at the city limits—the one that says, `We stand behind our product.' A prime example of corporate hogwash! Well, we went out after dark and pasted a twelve-foot patch over it, saying. `We stand under our roofs with a bucket.' We tipped off the newspaper, of course. The sheriff's night patrol stopped, and the deputy had a good laugh. It didn't hurt that one of the vandals was a city council member. The roofers were on the job the next day!"

Qwilleran said, "That story's good enough for a drink, Joe. Do you have time?"

"Next time, Qwill. I have to get up early tomorrow and drive to Horseradish for a family picnic—last get-together before snow flies. I hear you're driving a limousine in the Shafthouse Motorcade."

"Yes, and I may live to regret it."

From The Cat Who Smelled a Rat, by Lilian Jackson Braun, Lillian Jackson Braun. © January 29, 2001 , Lilian Jackson Braun, Lillian Jackson Braun used by permission.