It is mid-March, 1930. Cyrus Skeen has concluded his case in The Gumshoe Guild. In this, the 38th Skeen novel, Skeen and his wife, Dilys, are attending a party at the mansion of Maud Skipton, their wealthy Nob Hill neighbor, when they are introduced by the society dowager to the Blaines. Serenity Blaines is an admirer of Skeen and in May of the previous year waged a letter-writing campaign in his defense against the CCCPD or the Committee of Concerned Citizens for Public Decency, which wanted to have his investigators license revoked and Skeen jailed for the way he treated criminals. She tells Skeen she is writing a book and would like to include a chapter about how he defeated the CCCPD, and would like to peruse his case files relating to that episode for information that is not public knowledge. The next day, she tells Skeen she would like to write the book about all his cases, going back to 1927. On the next day, Skeen hears from Serenity''s husband, Roger, who objects to her project, and accuses Skeen of having an affair with his wife. Then the trouble begins.