When Norda Allison saw her husband-to-be slap his young son, she immediately called off the wedding. Now she is terrified. Her ex-fiance has beat up her new boyfriend. Anonymous newspaper clippings are flooding her mailbox - articles graphically depicting what jilted men do to the women who leave them. Then Norda’s life takes an even darker turn. It begins with a barking dog, a child’s scream, a gunshot, and the discovery of a very dead body - and ends when Norda is arrested, charged with a brutal murder.

Now only brilliant courtroom strategist Perry Mason stands between Norda and a sentence of certain death.