The book starts with the gruesome discovery of the dismembered body of an unidentified man in a milk churn outside the premises of a suitably surly farmer. He denies all knowledge of the headless corpse or the churn and Arnold and Merrion set off on the trail, which leads them all over the country. Obviously, the first question to arise is one of identity and in this our detectives are aided by various clues left with the body. Merrion quickly deduces that some have been left by the murderer in order to set the police on the wrong track while others appear to have been planted by someone trying to help the police apprehend the culprit. More hints follow, and despite some false trails, various red herrings and another brutal murder the villain is run to earth in an exciting finale.