Archie Goodwin's very good friend, Lily Rowan, spends much of her time--and considerable financial resources--helping women in need, from underpaid workers to mistreated wives. But at the moment she's particularly concerned about one woman: her best friend, Maureen, a beautiful socialite who's been incommunicado for two weeks.

After Archie helps Lily comb through Maureen's deserted Park Avenue penthouse, and Lily contacts each of her friend's well-heeled suitors, they still don't know much more than when they started. Then Archie tries to track down Maureen's estranged half-brother, but he seems to have vanished as well. Fortunately, Archie's employer, Nero Wolfe, has a soft spot for Lily. He volunteers to step in--just in time, too, as this missing-person case soon becomes a murder case . . .

"[Wolfe is] one of the two or three most beloved detectives in fiction." --Publishers Weekly

"Goldsborough has all of the late writer's stylistic mannerisms down pat." --The New York Times