The Honourable Phryne Fisher is on her way home, driving past Victoria Docks in Melbourne, late evening when a shot shatters her windshield.
Along with her companion and maid, Dorothy 'Dot' Williams, and her friends, Bert and Cec, she attempts to solve the mystery of who shot and killed this man.
Phryne and her friends assist Inspector Jack Robinson of the Melbourne Police to solve the murder, encountering, in the process, a bank robbing and an abduction.
Reviewing the book for the Historical Novel Society Patrika Salmon stated: "Phryne is the woman we'd all like to be: debonair, independent and brilliant, the Australian private investigator who never turns a hair...It’s a wonderful read, and a delightful glimpse of 1920s Melbourne.
"[2] The novel was adapted for the fourth episode of season one of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, directed by Tony Tilse from a script by Kerry Greenwood and Shelley Birse.