Louis Delmar, Police Chief of the quiet Southern California town of San Margaret, is up to his ears in a sensational murder case and finds himself with too many suspects. Harassed to the point of desperation, he asks his old friend, Justine Carmichael, lately retired from the police, to help him. The murder victim-elderly rich Mrs. Constance DeVoors-was disliked by practically everyone-'friends', servants, and relatives. Only Count Ivanov professed to have found the lady 'charming'. But then, the Count's veracity is open to question. Chief Delmar's prime suspect, Carmichael finds, is the murdered woman's nephew, with whose tie the deed was done. But the evidence is flimsy; practically any of Mrs. DeVoors's houseguests (characterized by the Chief as 'a bunch of oddballs') could have been the killer. Nor are the employees-a surly chauffeur, a Bible-reading maid, a cheerful cook, and a tanned, blonde secretary-exempt from the list of suspects. Despite the complications, Carmichael has faith that the System' will untangle the case. Only when the murderer strikes again does his confidence waver. But murder will out, and Carmichael scores a personal triumph by fusing his years of police experience with a brilliant analysis of the case, to trap the killer.