An Ethel Thomas Detective Story A little shoving and pushing on Sale Days at a major New York department store is not unusual, and murder is definitely something out of the ordinary. But when one of the buyers at Doane’s Department Store is found dead at her desk it becomes a matter not just for the police, but for Miss Ethel Thomas, who, at seventy-five, becomes a most unlikely detective as she attempts to unravel not only the murder, but the mysterious losses that have been plaguing the store.

Are the two related? And if so, who is the culprit? Charlie Doane, the owner of the store, Herbert Hastings, Doane’s brother-in-law and manager of the store, or the dead woman’s son? Or was the murder a woman, Beth Oliver or Eva Sutton, both of whom are more than just store clerks? And what does Mrs. Kelly know that has made her a target?