The collection includes two of the most interesting cases of Albert Campion. The investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Joyce Blount's elderly uncle on his way home from church turns into a murder case when his bound and mutilated body is found in the river. However, as soon as Campion gets to work, the first murder is followed by a second, and then an attempt on a third. Who is killing the members of the venerable Cambridge family? Paul Brand, one of the co-owners of a large London publishing house, is found murdered. The police suspect Michael, Paul's cousin, who is in love with his wife, of committing the crime. However, an old friend of the Campion family believes that the causes of the tragedy should be sought in the mysterious disappearance of another of the co-owners of the publishing house, Tom Barnabas. He disappeared twenty years ago, and the police have never been able to find him...