Note: The book credits two authors: Ellen MacGregor, the author of the first 4 "Miss Pickerell" books who had died in 1954, and Dora Pantell. According to SFE3, "Dora Pantell [...] at least initially used MacGregor's story notes, and signed herself in collaboration with the elder writer until 1983." This was the 15th and last Miss Pickerell story published by McGraw-Hill, and the last published as by both Ellen MacGregor and Dora Pantell.

Synopsis: Publisher-provided description: "Miss Pickerell and her nephew Euphus set out to discover why the blue whale population is decreasing and find themselves involved with the space shuttle, skydiving, and pirate ships." [Note that a number of online sources erroneously claim that the plot involved the Space Shuttle "hauling a spy satellite programmed to spread nuclear reactor fragments."]