A companion-narrator recounts how an urbane, analytical amateur detective assists the District Attorney in solving the murder of a well-known man found dead in his home. The account follows crime-scene inquiry, witness interviews, forensic testimony, forged papers, and the piecing together of alibis as suspects are eliminated and motives exposed. Emphasis is placed on close observation of manner, dress, and behavior, methodical reasoning, and cross-examination, culminating in the detective’s detailed outline of how seemingly disconnected clues form a coherent explanation and lead to an arrest.