Murder lurks in the wings of the sprawling Fifth Avenue penthouse of multimillionaire Otis Jarrell, who has just retained the incomparable Nero Wolfe on a case of the utmost confidentiality. But even the master detective cannot prevent tragedy when it inevitably arrives wielding Jarrells missing revolver. Soon a second victim meets his maker, and Wolfe must piece together the truth behind Jarrells scandalously ill-behaved family. And for one member of that charmed circlea two-time killer sleeping the fitful sleep of the guiltyit could prove a deadly awakening.