While outside on Manhattan's Midtown streets a fierce snowstorm rages ferociously, nothing can dampen the excitement inside the elegant ballroom of Manhattan's Pierre Hotel. Hunt clubs from all over North America have gathered for their annual gala, and nobody is in higher spirits than Sister Jane, Master of the Jefferson Hunt in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. Braving the foul weather, Sister and her boyfriend, Gray Lorillard, pop out to purchase cigars for the celebration at a nearby tobacco shop, finding themselves regaled by the colorful stories of its eccentric proprietor, Achilles Alonzo. Yet the trip's festive mood goes to ground the next morning with the grisly discovery of Alonzo's corpse."--Jacket flap.