Responding to an urgent call from friend and fellow lawyer Vera Langhorne, Antony Maitland rushes to the town of Chedcombe only to find a client with a strong motive, but no alibi. Jeremy Skelton is accused of murdering his wife, Lydia, who had refused to divorce him. To complicate matters, there is another woman and—bizarrely—the method of Lydia’s murder perfectly parallels the famous Wallace case, which Jeremy, a writer, had been researching. Only Vera Langhorne’s belief that something is “queer” provokes Maitland to delve deeper. Despite assertions from all sides that Lydia was well loved, Maitland discovers that there are those who have reason to hate her, among them her brother and several of her friends. As Maitland continues his explorations, a woman’s life is put in danger, but by employing ingeniously unorthodox techniques, Antony Maitland forces the murderer’s hand.