In cool Manhattan the ad game is both crisp and cutthroat. But when two competing agencies begin producing look-alike commercials for rival soft-drink companies. Mills, an executive with one of the firms, wants to see Nero Wolfe to discuss finding the leak. Then a young executive is found bludgeoned to death in a trendy Village apartment, and the search for an agency mole becomes a search for a murderer. Despite Wolfe's lack of interest in advertising, cherry colas, or work in general, funds are low and a little arm twisting by Archie persuades Nero to take the case. While Archie does the legwork needed to gather clues, Nero Wolfe must digest the facts of one of the most unappetizing - and unsettling - cases he's been served in a long time.
