With World War II only barely in the rear view mirror, New York apartments are scarcer than hen's teeth.
Janice Cameron has moved to the City to be a writer, trading Honolulu's sun and flowers for Manhattan in the grip of icy winter. She's imagined her own cunning little flat, a little table by the window, a little lace cloth...fat chance! Her own flat is completely out of the question, and in fact she's going to have to share a boarding-house bedroom with a perfect stranger.
At least the stranger is perfect: Lily Wu is beautiful, exquisitely dressed, and swathed in mystery. But Janice hasn't even unpacked before a rather less exquisite mystery intrudes. True, the handyman wasn't brilliant at maintaining the boiler, but murder seems a rather extreme response.
In the best Golden Age tradition, the rooming house is crammed with intriguing suspects, from the tortured musician to the French emigree to the actress with a face for radio. Lily and Janice would much prefer to leave, but they've nowhere to go. Solving the murder seems the best possible option, especially since if someone were arrested and taken away...well, that would free up a room, now wouldn't it?