It is early December, 1927. Cyrus Skeen has concluded his case in Inquest, in which he was at odds with an Assistant District Attorney in Redwood City, just south of San Francisco. He was subpoenaed by the Assistant D.A. there to appear before an inquest to explain why he had "unlawfully" killed a murderer who incidentally had just murdered his own wife and an Army veteran and had try to kill him. He is ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing. Skeen is now moving into Carmel Towers on Nob Hill, and is beginning to furnish the penthouse he has leased. In the lobby he meets other occupants of the apartment tower, Leona and Lester Phipps, heirs to the Phipps Pharmacy chain. The Phipps invite him to a Society gathering at the home of Maud Skipton, the wife of a shipping millionaire who lives across the Hill. Lester Phipps reveals that his inherited fortune is in jeopardy and that the attorney responsible for representing it may be trying to steal it for himself. The Phipps's ask for Skeen's help, but he tells them he doesn't to "will work," and recommends a lawyer. Then one of the parties is murdered, and Skeen is drawn into a very strange and dangerous case.