Perry is sueing a gutter trash newspaper that is running a story about a love affair between him and Della. The editor also has "dirt" files on an Army General, his banker and other "clients". All of them make little-concealed verbal threats to him at a party but the person that hated him most is a female reporter who the editor had just fired from the paper for attempting to write a serious story. She threatens him and soon after the editor is found, floating in his pool, shot. The reporter is arrested for the crime and Perry, who has a personal stake in this matter, with the aid of Della and Paul set out to solve the mystery. But the other suspects just want the case over with and will go to any lengths to protect their pasts and their secrets