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When the widow of a renowned painter invites Campion to the unveiling of one of his unseen paintings, the detective finds himself investigating the murder of another guest.

Jimmy Sutane, a popular musical comedy star, is to appear in a show based on a book by a friend of Campion's. He is also being plagued by a series of practical jokes that are beginning to undermine his self-confidence and asks Campion to his house, White Walls, to investigate. Associates of Sutane and his wife Linda number 'Squire' Mercer, a talented musician and Chloe Pye, a washed-up actress. When Chloe is run over and killed by Jimmy Sutane in his car he swears it was an accident, but others are not so sure.

At the Golden Quill publishing house Paul Brand is at odds with his partners the Barnabas cousins - notably stuffy senior partner John - over publication of a rare manuscript by William Congreve. Then he is found murdered, locked in the firm's basement with a hose piping poisonous car fumes through a hole in the window. Michael Barnabas, a friend of Campion, is in love with the dead man's wife who, at the inquest, makes it clear that she and her husband were filing for divorce. Consequently Michael is charged with the murder.

Campion and Lugg help protect a prominent family's name, fortune, and a priceless heirloom from thieves, cutthroats, and witchcraft.

Campion meets an American judge, while on a transatlantic cruise, whose life is being threatened by an enigmatic crime kingpin known as "Mr. Sinister."

Campion is asked to investigate a disappearance.

When oil is discovered in an obscure Balkan country creating a valuable harbor, Campion is tasked in proving it is legally under charter to a British citizen.

Campion attends the funeral of an old schoolmate whom he disliked but months later finds himself investigating the murder of someone who may be the same man.

Campion discovers that the murders and art thefts are designed to hide the fact that Tom Dacre's paintings have been substituted for John Lafcadio's.

A second death occurs, that of Sutane's under-study, who had been playing the tricks on him to get out of the way so that he could take the lead role. Attracted to Sutane's wife Linda, Campion is not wholly convinced of Sutane's innocence until it is discovered that 'Squire' Mercer and Chloe Pye had once been a married couple and that she had come onto the scene to get back with him.

Trying to prove his friend's innocence Campion makes several discoveries, including the fact that the murder was an exact copy of one in a book published by the Golden Quill. The dead man also had a mistress, who tells Campion that there was more than the one key to the basement and that Paul Brand had recently had one cut for himself. Plainly Brand was murdered because he had found out something about the William Congreve manuscript which somebody wanted keeping quiet.

After capturing the neighborhood witch in the act of haunting a woodland glade, Campion learns the name of the gang leader who is trying to steal the Gyrth's chalice. Campion is captured and imprisoned in a stable with a murderous horse while the gang readies to assault the Gyrth's stronghold.

Campion helps the threatened Judge Lobbett to disappear for his own safety and gives himself a chance to expose master criminal "Mr. Sinister."

Campion is convinced that the murderer is part of the Faraday household.

When Savanake's henchmen arrive in Pontisbright posing as archaeologists, Campion goes undercover.

Campion investigates the murder of 'Pig' Peters.