A newly promoted plant supervisor finds himself in the position of having to announce a layoff of his fellow workers.

Rex Stout's portly detective prides himself on solving crimes without venturing outside his comfortable home; here he relies on others to do the legwork in pinpointing who among a number of suspects is responsible for two sudden deaths, which the authorities at first are not convinced were murders.

Ruth Raymond works on the telephone switchboard of a large NYC office building. One day, a private detective informs her that she is actually the daughter of railroad tycoon Luke Carson, and that she had been kidnapped as a baby 14 years ago by Luke's vindictive brother Elwood, and placed with strangers.