A serial killer is on the loose, going round strangling women with their own tights and removing their right shoes. Various suspects turn up but, with no obvious motive, the police are impotent and the murders continue. The only link they can find concerns a 'religious' meeting, regularly held at the local civic centre, which was attended by at least two of the victims.
Amateur detective Samantha Powers is dating Jack Parkinson who, it transpires, is seeing another woman behind her back. He comes under suspicion when that young woman becomes another victim of the strangler as it seems he was the last one to see her alive.
There are other suspects, including a vicious, depraved copper and a creepy vicar. As the story unravels, the real culprit remains hidden until almost the last page.