White Birches was virtually impregnable. An old, expansive estate that had been in the Arnold family for generations, it was surrounded by a tall stone wall with broken glass embedded in the top, while the mansion itself had the latest in alarms and locks. So when the owner, Justin Arnold disappears during the course of a house party he was giving for his fiancee it poses a complete mystery. Was it a joke, a kidnaping, or murder, or was the explanation more mundane. But when Arnold fails to reappear, foul play appears more likely. The walls and alarms would make an outside force seem unlikely, throwing suspicion on the guests. But which of them is responsible, the private secretary, the cousin who stands to inherit the estate and fortune, or the fiancee who finds her affection have wandered? With no clues in hand, it falls to the famous detective, Fleming Stone to unravel the mystery of . . . The White Alley.