It is June, 1928. There are signs that the Roaring Twenties will end in October with the stock market crash. However, in the wake of the coming economic catastrophe, Cyrus Skeen, private detective, scion of East Coast wealth, and a figure in San Francisco Society, will be secure. In this thirtieth Skeen outing, Skeen encounters one of the most eccentric, evil, and abnormal villains in his early career, the head of a cult that worships a strange god, Zonda, and practices the ritualistic kidnapping, torture and murder of children and young adults who are lured to their fates with ice cream. Skeen has just hired Dilys Jones, his new secretary, to replace Martha Happer, who resigned to take care of relatives in Illinois. Dilys is proving to be every bit as competent and foresighted as one of Skeen's earlier secretaries, Casey Armitage. But there is an extra dimension to her that he has not yet grasped.