Plot Summary

Lew Archer goes to Gordon Sable’s house, and, upon arriving, Archer and Sable begin discussing the case that Archer was brought in to solve, and during their talk, Archer notices that Sable’s assistant is quite clumsy and generally a poor servant. Sable says the case is a missing persons case that is over 20 years old involving the son of a very wealthy woman, Mrs. Galton. She believes her son, Anthony Galton, is still alive somewhere and wants Archer to find him even though he has been gone for so long. After going to the Galton house, Archer spoke with Dr. Howell and Mrs. Galton. He finds out that Anthony Galton used to hang around the streets of San Francisco, which is where he met his wife, who Mrs. Galton was not fond of. Mrs. Galton reveals that she has no real reason for wanting to find Anthony besides that she wants to see him again.

While at Mrs. Galton’s house, Sable receives a phone call from his wife crying and Sable rushes home to see what has happened. Archer asks Cassie Hildreth about Anthony and she gives him a poem that Anthony had written titled “Luna” and signed John Brown, an alias he was known to use. Archer gives Sable a call to see what he’s doing and Mrs. Sable comes in on the line during their conversation asking for the police. Sable explains that his servant, Peter Culligan, has been murdered. On his way to Sable’s house, a man stops Archer and steals his car and Archer was left with a wrecked car that has been driven into a ditch. The cops pull up and being to question him because they assume he is the murderer and Archer sarcastically answers their questions. Investigations at the crime scene show that Culligan was likely a gang member. Archer goes in Culligan’s room and finds a letter written from his ex-wife, who he calls for more information and the two meet, but Archer gains little form their conversation.

Archer calls Chad Bolling, the editor of the magazine the John Brown poem was published in and a poet himself. He talks about when he met John Brown, his wife, their son, and the practical nurse that lived in the house, whose name he can’t remember, but Archer suspects was Marian Culligan. Bolling and Archer leave for Luna Bay the next day and Archer searches for the doctor who would have helped give birth to John Brown’s son. He ends up at Dr. Dineens office where the doctor mentions that John Brown’s son had just recently stopped in, confirms that Marian Culligan was the nurse living at the house, tells Archer the bones that are likely Browns show decapitation by an ax,  and gives up the address of the gas station John Brown Jr. works at. Archer takes Bolling to the gas station to see John Brown Jr. for himself and get Bolling’s opinion on whether or not he is the son. Archer seems skeptical, but everything in the scene points to him being the son.

An inspection of the bones at the sheriff’s office shows Archer that there was a repaired break in the right arm, which Archer confirms through Sable and Dr. Howell is an injury Galton had suffered, proving the bones are his. The police identify the stolen car used by the man who robbed Archer of his car as Roy Lemberg’s car. Roy’s wife tells Archer that Roy’s brother, Tommy, took the car. Archer goes to Marian Matheson’s house, previously Marian Culligan, and finds out that a man named “Shoulders” might have been the one to murder Brown. Sable and Archer set out to find out if John Brown Jr. is really the son of Anthony Galton. The alleged John Brown Jr. tells a story of living in an orphanage which has burned down and then moving to Michigan where he attended university before starting to look for his father, and after hearing his story, Archer takes him to see Mrs. Galton.

The next morning, Archer follows Roy Lemberg to Reno where he is knocked unconscious and taken to Otto Schwartz who does enough damage to put Archer in the hospital. Archer confronts a desk worker at the hotel the Lemberg’s stayed and finds out that the Lemberg’s are in Los Angeles and that Culligan worked for Schwartz as recently as a year ago. Archer learns from Roy’s wife that he and Tommy have escaped to Canada to hide. Dr. Howell had spent the last few days trying to contact Archer to have Archer investigate the background of John Brown Jr. because Howell does not approve of how much time Brown has been spending with his daughter, and Archer suspects that Galton/Brown could have crossed the Canadian border with Culligan while Culligan was in Michigan.

A visit to the Galton household shows Archer that the entire family has taken a liking to the assumed Anthony Galton Jr. however Archer makes a scene when he visits because Brown knows the reason he’s there. In Ann Arbor, Archer finds more about Brown’s background, including the name he went by, John Lindsay, and a girl he was friends with, Ada Reichler, who opens up about Brown’s past. Archer finds out from her that Brown’s real name is Theodore Fredricks and he grew up in a boardinghouse run by his mother in Canada.

Archer visits the boardinghouse and meets the parents. Mrs. Fredricks tells Archer about how Theo stabbed his father and ran away with Culligan. The Lembergs have been rooming in the boardinghouse and Archer waits for them to return. When they do, Archer finds out from Tommy that he was sent by Schwartz to scare Alice Sable, but Culligan surprised him by being there because he had a previous relationship with Alice and shot Tommy, who then knocked Culligan out, but did not stab him.

Archer explains to the sheriff who goes after Theo, leaving Archer to use Dr. Howell, the Sable family doctor, to question Alice. Howell reveals that Alice has been blaming herself for the murder all along, but never told anyone because she is considered mentally unstable. When Archer and Howell go to Sable’s house, he is uncooperative and threatens them with a gun. After Archer restrains Gordon, Alice confesses to the murder, but then has a revelation and remembers that Gordon was the one who stabbed Culligan. Gordon explains that Alice had run away with Culligan and acquired a massive gambling debt before coming back to Gordon. He continues that Schwartz was pressuring them for the money back, when Culligan arrived with a plan. Culligan had met Theo and paired up with Gordon to invent a back story so that Theo could inherit the Galton fortune.

Sable had his wife convinced she killed Culligan because he constantly blamed her and put the idea in her head. Sable told Archer that Theo had visited the previous night and Sable had sent him to Marion Matheson’s house who had already told Theo everything she knew and informs Archer that Theo had taken off for Canada. After making it to Canada, Archer learns from the Fredricks that Theo had stopped by and is staying in a nearby hotel. Archer goes to their room where Theo/John Galton tells his story. He explains that Mr. Fredricks is Fred “Shoulders” Nelson, his mother’s former lover before she married Anthony Galton, who returned from prison to murder Anthony Galton. Archer, Galton, and Sheila return to the boardinghouse to confront the Fredricks. The group hears from John’s mom that Mr. Fredricks has hung himself and John Galton reunites with his mom.