When solicitor Jim Frobisher gets a letter from the brother-in-law of a rich female client asking for an advance on her will, he is worried - especially when the man threatens an awkwardness if he doesn't get the money. He doesn't... and the promised trouble arrives. The sick woman dies and her niece, Betty, who has been looking after her in the South of France, is accused of murder. Frobisher hurries to Dijon and together with the extraordinary Inspector Hanaud, finds himself in an intriguing and dangerous situation.