Death stalks through the residential district of Hill Green, carrying off two prominent members of the community in two days. The first is a man found hanging from a lamp-post; the second, a young woman found hanging from a beam in the roof of a barn. When found, both corpses have a small card pinned to their clothing, bearing the same pencilled message: WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE HANGMAN. Detective-Inspector Shadgold of Scotland Yard soon realises this is going to be one of his toughest cases...