First, Braun sets the scene — a blustery December day in a large Midwestern city. Then, as in a play, the major characters enter: first a middle-aged male reporter, then his two Siamese cats. The identity of the man is not established until the desk clerk calls him Mr. Qwilleran, and the cats' names are not given until Qwilleran [Qwill] begins talking to them.

The similarity to a drama continues with Braun's handling of violence in this novel. As in Greek tragedies, the first and most gruesome murder has already taken place when the novel opens, and it is described succinctly: Andrew Glanz has been impaled on a roof finial. Since Qwill learns the circumstances of this death from Glanz's girlfriend and his landlady, who are reluctant to discuss the supposed "accident," almost no details are given.

Although Qwill finds the body of the second victim, again there...