Framed for burglary, Leonidas Witherhall turns to a former employer for help, only to find him murdered.

This time the mysterious arrival and subsequent disappearance of a brown paper package sets Witherall off on a furious chase around Dalton and environs, only briefly interrupted by the discovery of the corpse of banker Fenwick Balderston, bashed in the head by a small bust of Shakespeare a treasured gift from Leonidas himself. The reluctant sleuth suddenly becomes primary murder suspect as well, and a fascinating assortment of rescuers lines up to spirit Witherall from one precarious situation to another on the way toward a frenetic and quite surprising solution."