When a popular crime novelist is found dead at the top of an open omnibus in flapper-era New York City, Detective Van Dusen Ormsberry is called in to investigate. It appears Mr. Anstruther was killed with the same, unusual method as was John Fortescue, the victim of last year's humiliatingly unsolved, publicly sensational murder case, which still rankles in the mind of the usually astute and efficient detective. With his new young protege at his side, Ormsberry vows to finally bring the elusive murderer of both men to justice.