At the private library of the Bentley foundation, a woman is found slumped and wounded against a litter of books. The woman's name is Amelia Lane. She has been shot and is going to die. After interviewing the man who discovered her body, he admits that she was a lovely kind lady, and Detective Danny Clover finds it hard to understand why someone would want to so violently end the life of a woman so well liked. Who would want to shoot the spinster librarian at close range?