Robert Blair was about to knock off from a slow day at his law firm when the phone rang. It was Marion Sharpe on the line a local woman of quiet disposition who lived with her mother at their decrepit country house The Franchise. It appeared that she was in some serious trouble: Miss Sharpe and her mother were accused of brutally kidnapping a demure young woman named Betty Kane. Miss Kane s claims seemed highly unlikely even to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard until she described her prison -- the attic room with its cracked window the kitchen and the old trunks -- which sounded remarkably like The Franchise. Yet Marion Sharpe claimed the Kane girl had never been there let alone been held captive for an entire month! Not believing Betty Kane s story Solicitor Blair takes up the case and in a dazzling feat of amateur detective work solves the unbelievable mystery that stumped even Inspector Grant.