Mrs. Vina Gregson should be sitting pretty. Acquitted of murdering her husband, she has inherited his money, and can afford to dress in latest styles. Unfortunately, her fashionable ensembles go largely unseen, as the Widow Gregson remains essentially a prisoner, trapped in her elegant New York apartment with occasional furtive forays to her Connecticut estate. A jury may have found her innocent, but Mrs. Gregson remains a murderess in the eyes of the public and of the tabloid journalists who hound her every step. Worse, she has recently begun receiving increasingly menacing letters - letters written, she is certain, by the person who killed her husband. Taking the matter to the police would only heighten her notoriety, so she calls on Henry Gamadge, the gentleman-sleuth who earlier featured in Murders in Volume 2, and who is known both for his discretion and for his ability to solve problems that baffle the police.