Milwaukee, 1948. Joe Sonntag, ace investigator for the police department, faces a riddle: a lovely young woman is found dead at the zoo, near the lion cages, lying in a bed of ferns. She has been carefully laid out there, her arms folded. Nearby, a lioness prowls her cage. Plainly, whoever put her there cared for her. Detective Lieutenant Joe Sonntag, the brains of the Milwaukee Police Department, tries to get the scoop on her: why she was placed there in that fashion, and who or what killed her. A lucky break puts him on the trail to a summer camp outside of the city, where girls discover...