“Gets going full speed with customary Tolefree aplomb, shrewdness, and bafflement.”—The Saturday Review

“When [Tolefree] finally learns the truth about the killing, he does not tell the police, and for a very good reason. To the reader he drops a hint, and that is all. Is that mysterious enough? Then go to it.”—The New York Times

Philip Tolefree returns from the war to the most baffling case of his career.

The trouble began over money. Frederick Trivett, squire of Porthgover, wanted it; his beautiful wife Emily had it; their charming daughter, Margaret, was going to get it.

The trouble came to a head with the influx of newcomers to the village. There were the Vanes, recluse widow and morose, tongue-tied son—both of obscure origin; the couple named Standish who seemed much better suited to big-city life than to a remote farm in the country; Dr. Colin Duncan, ostensibly there on the district's hush-hush project, but privately a man with an old score to settle; and Captain Andrew Collins, an uninvited guest with a habit of appearing and disappearing in a highly disconcerting fashion.

Alive, Frederick Trivett was thoroughly disliked; dead, he was unlamented; murdered—but thereby hangs the tale.