The novel in which dashing amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey first encounters his formidable future partner in love and crime-solving: the mystery novelist Harriet Vane.

Noted crime writer Harriet Vane claims to have been purchasing fatal poisons under assumed names for an entirely innocent reason: as research for her next novel. Unfortunately for her, the purchases occurred just before her former lover was murdered by arsenic--and she was apparently the last person to see him alive.

Lord Peter Wimsey, amateur sleuth extraordinaire, is initially drawn to the case by curiosity, but upon visiting Harriet in prison he becomes convinced of her innocence--and falls in love with her. Harriet's first trial ends in a hung jury, and Peter must race against time to find the real killer before his beloved's second trial concludes.