Detective Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover is the most idle and avaricious hero in all of crime fiction. Why should he even be bothered to solve the case? When Mrs Dover witnesses a young policeman's suicide and has the bad taste to report it, Dover's vacation ends abruptly at the seaside wasteland of Wallerton. As he sluggishly investigates the matter, an earlier case of murder and mutilation turns up as well. Suspecting that the town's Ladies' Club may be oddly involved, Dover devises an elaborate and utterly wicked trap. His bait: his overworked, unsuspecting assistant MacGregor.