Still not completely recovered from the two broken legs she suffered in her previous adventure, Fremont Jones learns that her father, Leonard Pembroke Jones, is gravely ill and hospitalized in Boston. Deeply distressed, and always suspicious of her detested stepmother, Augusta, Fremont sets out at once with her life-partner, Michael Archer, to be at her father's side." "Their arrival finds Leonard slightly improved, and despite his physician's doubts about the possibility of a full recovery, he is sent home - much to Fremont's dismay - only to die shortly thereafter in the middle of the night. Could Augusta be complicit in his illness? Fremont is certain of it, and she immediately begins to search the house for possible poisons. But then Augusta herself is shot to death, which would seem to exonerate her from blame - or does it? Determined to uncover the truth, Michael and Fremont embark on their own private investigation and soon discover potential suspects in some of the least likely places.