In the fourth Rosa Epton mystery, Underwood's protagonist, whom Mystery Magazine declared 'one of mystery fiction's most talented attorneys', is called upon to defend the scapegrace younger brother of an acquaintance. Then the acquaintance himself is murdered, his skull crushed with a statuette of the Indian goddess Lakshmi, and Rosa must divide her time between manipulating a magistrate smitten with her charms and divining the culprit's identity.