When Sebastian and Mae arrive at a fabric shop, they discover the owner in a back room, lying in a pool of blood, having been stabbed with a pair of antique quilting scissors. This propels the couple along a sequence of occasionally bizarre investigative paths to track down the killer. Sebastian has more than murder to deal with. A family get-together involving his son and ex-wife (and her partner, Frederick, a police officer) goes awry as Frederick inserts himself into the investigation. Mae on occasion outsmarts Sebastian on the investigative trails, but our private eye is rarely without his trademark sense of humour.