Frank May's law practice is mostly estate planning. Nothing is further from his mind than murder ... but mysterious deaths somehow seem to pursue him anyway. This time, it's the body of a woman, murdered and hidden on the grounds of the home in Los Altos Hills, California, owned by a new, young client, Freddy Lucas. Freddy was adopted by a couple who disappeared in the Amazon jungle; he was raised by his immensely rich great-aunt, Clara Fisk, who left him most of her money--but who also left a sizable gift to Freddy's mother, if she turned out to be alive.

Many women come out of the woodwork to claim this fortune. One of them, with the most plausible story, becomes the murder victim. Who on earth could have killed her, and why? And what role, if any, was played by Aunt Clara's sensational diary, which seemed to describe yet another murder? Almost in spite of himself, Frank seeks to find the solution to this tangled affair.

Part of the series The Frank May Chronicles, by Stanford law professor Lawrence M. Friedman.