For amateur sleuth Jim Qwilleran and his two Siamese detective companions, Koko and Yum Yum, a trip to the city 'down below' brings not only rosy memories of good times, but also a whole heap of trouble . . . A plea for help from SOCK, a tenants' organisation determined to save the decaying art deco glory of the Casablanca apartment building from the philistine attentions of the developers, is no strain on the trio's talents. But macabre bloodstains beneath Qwill's penthouse rug prove to be a telling message from SOCK's former leading light. It appears that Dianne Bessinger was stabbed to death in a lovers' tiff, but the combined twitching of Qwill's and Koko's curious whiskers proves that all is not what it seems. Only when Qwill begins to investigate the suicide of Dianne's killer do the strands of the mystery unravel . . . but will Koko sniff out the truth in time to return the Casablanca to it's original glory?
