Much had been risked, and the murderer had escaped by such a rare combination of chances.

Elderly invalid Simon Ewing was bludgeoned in his maisonette, and a stranger was seen exiting the building by several of the residents. The murderer had entered—and escaped—in just a few minutes when Ewing was left unattended, implying that someone knew the movements of both his household and the neighbours. Who would run such a risk in a building with multiple comings and goings? Robbery appears to be the motive, but why was only one ring taken from Ewing's secret hoard of valuable jewellery? A second death leads Detective-Inspector Woods to untangle exactly who was where in the crucial minutes before the murder.

Dorothy Erskine Muir (1889–1977) was one of seventeen children of John Sheepshanks, Bishop of Norwich. She attended Oxford, worked as an academic tutor, and began writing professionally to supplement the family income after the unexpected death of her husband in 1932. Muir published historical biographies and local histories, as well as three accomplished detective novels: In Muffled Night (1933), Five to Five (1934) and In Memory of Charles (1941). Each is an intricate fictional account based on an unsolved true crime.