When the newest member of the Federal Treasury Board is found naked in his Georgetown townhouse with a hole in his head and an earring belonging to his latest mistress on the floor next to him, Lt. Kennelly of the Washington, D.C., police force is convinced he's looking at an easy conviction. Which probably would have been the case if Eleanor Roosevelt hadn't gotten involved.

Jessica Dee, the dead man's mistress, claims she had nothing to do with the murder. Mrs. Roosevelt believes her, which gives her no choice but to open her own investigation. She gradually uncovers a trail of clues that lead from the bloody back alleys of Washington to the genteel duplicity of the Boston banking world, a web of deceit and passion which centers on a mysterious woman with flaming red hair and a fondness for murder.