Val Carew had come a long way—from Oklahoma to Wall Street—only to be clubbed to death at his wife’s tomb. The wealthy financier had built the magnificent crypt in memory of his beautiful Cherokee bride, whose premature death left behind a lot of unanswered questions. Now Carew himself is dead, struck down by a reminder from his past: an Indian war club.

The case lands in the capable hands of Inspector Cramer of the New York Homicide squad. The cigar-chomping detective has to follow the only clue left behind—a piece of red thread found in the dead man’s hand that no doubt leads to his killer.