When two respected officers of the court are murdered, Brackenreid fears he’s next on the hit list.

By all appearances, Martians are responsible for the hanging death of Rouge Valley landowner Henri Gaston, a Martian-obsessed loner with a shop full of telescopes, charts and journals.

Murdoch is called to Station House Five when a decorated constable is murdered and the local detective is ill. Murdoch finds that everyone is ready to blame an elderly Chinaman named Fong Choy because of something to do with his granddaughter, but she is nowhere to be found and Fong Choy won't talk.