Frank Abbott's vacations never last very long, and his trip to Field End is no exception. He has hardly enjoyed a moment of Jonathan Field's hospitality before tragedy strikes. A niece ventures into old Jonathan's study at night to ask him a question, and finds him stone cold with a revolver by his hand. An obvious suicide, it seems, but Inspector Abbott is not so sure.

He asks his friend Maud Silver, the brilliant detective, for assistance. She agrees it must be murder. But who is the killer? Assisting their investigation is the dead man's strange habit of fingerprinting all who come to visit. But there are fingerprints all over the house, and solving this murder will require Miss Silver's particularly delicate touch.