MacReedy, after two years abroad, returns to the town where his love, Victoria Landy lives. They split up when he refused to commit to a relationship, but he want to see her again. When he reaches town, he discovers that her brother Al is on death row for the murder of Jane Ann Paulson that Vicky is convinced he didn’t commit. MacReedy agrees to look into it. He finds out that Al was dating Jane Ann’s sister Nancy. He soon runs into a lot of opposition — from Jane Ann’s friends and father and from Quillan the local deputy who arrests him and beats him. But MacReedy persists and finally figures out that the murderer was Macklin, a friend of the Paulson’s who abused Nancy when she was young and wants to marry her now that his wife is dead. He killed Jane Ann and framed Al because he didn’t want Nancy to marry Al. Macklin is caught, Al is freed and marries Nancy and MacReedy marries Vicky.

Too many characters and too unlikely a plot. MacDonald’s writing is pithy and keeps my interest, but the plots don’t thrill me nearly as much as they did years ago when I read these books.