Steve Carella's old nemesis, The Deaf Man, taunts him and the Eight-Seven with riddling clues to solving a crime, or crimes, not yet committed.

An old woman and her cat are shot in an apartment in New York. As officers Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes investigate, they learn the victim was a famous Russian pianist who in her youth gave concerts on both sides of the Atlantic. The killing of the cat tells them it was not a burglary.

After finishing a murder investigation, Fat Ollie Weeks discovers that his car has been broken into and the manuscript for his new crime novel stolen, sending him on a mission of vengeance to catch the culprit.