With associate Orrie Cather on the hook for the murder of an ex-showgirl, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin must ally themselves with an eccentric showgirl to quash a blackmail plot and reveal the real killer.
Suspects abound during post WWII America, as Wolfe and Goodwin are busy sifting through the mess known as The Bureau of Price Regulations because its leader was found murdered. No one, not even the FBI, nor the NIA, is above suspicion.
When Archie does a private eye associate a favor and tries to recover his P.I. license from a blackmailing girlfriend, he finds the ex-showgirl bludgeoned to death.
In post-War America, where shortages are common, the Bureau of Price Regulations is a very controversial organization, and when its leader is murdered, Wolfe takes the case.
When a baby, allegedly fathered by her late husband, is abandoned on the doorstep of his rich, beautiful widow, she hires Nero Wolfe to locate the mother.
As Wolfe tries to unravel the mystery of a young woman who could be his long-lost adopted daughter, she draws him and Archie Goodwin further and further into a web of deceit, political intrigue and murder.
Two murders seem to be linked to the efforts put forth by Wolfe and Goodwin to find the mother of a baby left abandoned on the doorstep of a wealthy female socialite.
Wolfe defies a summons to testify against a man he believes innocent and incurs a contempt of court charge hunting for evidence to cast reasonable doubt on the case against him.