anyway. Macauley shoots her dead and tries to make it seem as though Wynant is the one to blame for the murder. He plants the other man's watch-chain in the corpse's hand. This is why Macauley disguised Wynant's body; he wanted people to believe he was still alive and therefore a possible suspect.

Nick Charles solves the murder. He has been told to meet with Wynant for scheduled appointments, but Wynant never appears. This, combined with the fact that Macauley is Wynant's attorney, puts Nick on the path to finding the identity of Wolf's killer. The truth is cemented when Mimi Wynant, Clyde's widow, reveals Macauley has been paying her off to ensure her silence.

The death of Julia Wolf occurs early in the novel; she had been shot. Mimi Wynant Jorgensen, the ex-wife of Julia’s employer, Charles Wynant, arrives at her apartment in time for Julia to die in her arms. Before Julia’s killer is revealed, a dismembered body is found in suspicious circumstances: the body is that of a man, buried in a basement. At first, it is not obvious that the dead man is Clyde Wynant, who had been reported missing, because the clothes seem too big for the thin Wynant. Julia was his secretary. Nick and Nora Charles, as well as the police, attempt to find the killer or killers of both victims. Nick correctly concludes that Herbert Macaulay, Wynant’s lawyer, killed him for financial gain and provided false information about his missing status.

Along with Mimi, there are several possible suspects for Julia’s murder. Primary among them are her boyfriend, who is a gangster; Mimi and Clyde’s adult children, Dorothy and Gilbert; and Mimi’s current husband, Christian Jorgensen. Morelli is under suspicion primarily because of his known criminal activity. And as long as the corpse is not identified, Wynant is believed to be alive, so he is a suspect as well.

Nick finally puts all the pieces together. Mimi knew that Macaulay was the killer but was shielding him in order to blackmail him. With Nick’s prompting, she turns Macaulay in, thus enabling her inheritance of Wynant’s estate. Julia had been in league with Macaulay, who killed her to ensure that she would not betray him. Nick recalls from the army that Macaulay was a poor shot, so he had to shoot her several times.

Julia Wolf was foolish enough to get herself involved in a plot by the crooked lawyer Herbert Macauley to steal from Clyde Wynant, Julia's employer. She was even more foolish in scamming Macauley out of his share of the heist's proceeds. As he realized he could no longer trust Julia, Macauley was worried that she'd tell on him. With the prospect of serious jail time staring him in the face, Macauley decided to have Clyde and Julia murdered.

After he killed Clyde, Macauley continued to wire himself money in Wynant's name, making it seem that he was still alive. In one of the phony messages, "Wynant" told Macauley to shut up shop. Macauley then buried Clyde's body in the shop; the body was dressed in another man's clothes so as to throw the authorities off the scent. He even placed a belt buckle with an "R" on the body to make it seem that it was Wynant's old adversary Rosebreen. This was a smart move on Macauley's part, as Rosebreen had dropped out of sight years before.

After disposing of Clyde Wynant, Macauley cleverly staged Julia's death. He did this to make it seem like Clyde was still alive and that he'd killed her. Macauley framed Clyde by leaving the already-dead man's watch chain in Julia's cold, dead hand.

Julia Wolf's death is the result of a criminal scheme she helped concoct against her employer and lover, Clyde Wynant. Wolf may have been his mistress, but she sought to squeeze more money out of him. Allying herself with Herbert Macauley (Wynant's attorney), the two cooked up a scheme to fleece Wynant out of large sums of his money, but they were discovered. When Wynant confronts Macauley over the matter, Macauley shoots him to death, maims the body, dresses it in different clothes, and then hides it.

For a while, Wolf and Macauley both take money from the dead Wynant, hiding his death. Nick Charles starts investigating Wynant's disappearance, complicating the plan. To make matters worse for Macauley, Wolf starts threatening him. He kills her so she cannot betray him by going to the police. Then he makes it seem as though Wynant is her killer by planting Wynant's watch-chain in the hand of the dead Wolf.

Unfortunately for Macauley, his plan fails. Nick Charles realizes that Wynant is dead once he notices that Wynant never appears for any of their scheduled appointments together. He learns from Wynant's widow, Mimi, that Macauley has been paying her off to keep her quiet about her husband's disappearance.