Lily Brewster and her brother Robert were living high on the hog in Manhattan until the Crash of '29 took the family fortune south. Abruptly penniless, they have taken up residence in their late great-uncle Horatio's upstate estate on the banks of the Hudson and are slowly getting used to small-town life. But while tearing down a dilapidated ice house on the property, Robert inadvertently stumbles upon a well-dressed, mummified human corpse, the obvious victim of foul play. And as Lily works hand-in-hand with the disarmingly attractive Chief of Police howard Walker on the local front and Robert pursues the Manhattan connection in search of their well-heeled John Doe's identity, a second dead body turns up to complicate an already complexly murderous matter -- tying the Brewsters up in a knotty mess of deception and betrayal . and leaving them dangerously exposed to the watchful eyes of a killer.