Freelance indexer and North Dakota farm wife Marjorie Trumaine is summoned to New York City by her publisher to write the index for a reclusive author’s book. Still reeling from the death of her husband, Marjorie flees the wintry Western plains in an attempt to hang on to the only thing she has left in life- her indexing career. Thrust uncomfortably into the upper echelons of 1960s’ New York literary society, Marjorie feels painfully out of place. Plus, her editor, Richard Rothstein, is demanding and the author difficult to work with.
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But these minor anxieties pale in significance when the publisher’s son is murdered and Marjorie finds herself in the middle of the investigation. She is shocked to find out that the police have charged Rothstein with the killing. Though she’s never liked him personally, Marjorie is convinced of his innocence and works to defend him.

Alone in the big city, Marjorie senses that the real killer wants her out of the way, intent on seeing her editor pay for a crime he didn’t commit.