Serena Austen's husband frightens her badly and locks her in her room. Escaping, she turns to Henry Gamadge for help. What was in the two books that made her husband so furious?

Poor Gray Austen. Scion of a rich and respectable old New York family, lamed during a heroic wartime action, his first wife had been – well, it was perhaps fortunate that she passed away so soon, the silly little lush. His second wife was another story, for she was intelligent, well-educated, and alas for Captain Austen and his greedy relatives, acquainted with bibliophile detective Henry Gamadge.

When an innocent remark on her part enrages her husband, where else should Serena take refuge but with the Gamadges? Because some very ruthless people with a lot to lose want to find her and make sure she keeps silent.